But on his first attempt at the gruelling 267-kilometre race from Avalon Airport to Warrnambool's Raglan Parade he quickly realised that dream on Saturday when he crossed the line as its newest champion.

The 20-year-old Melburnian won clearly ahead of Team Bridgelane teammate Ben Hill and Oliver's Real Food Racing's Liam White.

"I'm feeling on top of the world," Plowright said after the victory.

"I can't believe I won that and also Ben Hill in second. I came into this feeling good and wanting to win it but there is 200 dudes in the race and it's 270k long, what are the chances?"

The multi-disciplined cyclist's last thought before bed on Friday night was winning the iconic 'Warrny'.

"I thought about it, everyone dreams it. I did sleep on it last night and I did want to win it," he said.

"I know it's my first time but I have always been good at long distance races and rides and I always thought I would win this one day but to go first time, one-from-one, is pretty good."

Breakaways and splits dominated the race from the opening stages with a nine-strong group working hard through the first 100-kilometres.

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Sam Hill and Raph Freienstein eventually attacked from that group and were on their own until a much-reduced peloton reeled them in with under 80 kilometres to go.

Plowright was part of the 15-strong selection split from the peloton as it made its way along Hopkins Point Road and into the finish in Warrnambool.

His final attack on Raglan Parade gave him enough of a gap to streak away and hold onto the win.

"I wanted to stick around the sprinters in (Sam) Welsford and Leigh (Howard) and try let them guide me to the finish but I was feeling so good and probably stupidly kept being in the moves and attacking and it ended up splitting," Plowright said of his tactics.

"I was feeling really good and had been eating well all day and that probably got me through.

"Then I got a sniff in the end their coming around the corner (onto Raglan Parade) and everyone sat up and I had good legs so I gassed it.

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"Probably around 15k to go I was going too deep but not into the red. I wouldn't have been as quick as usual but the way it panned out I had the legs and that's what counted."

Plowright became the second Team Bridgelane rider in three years to win the race, joining 2019 winner Nick White on the honour roll.

The Australian points race national champion said his Warrny win would springboard him forward.

"It gives me huge confidence and I wasn't lining up for Grafton (to Inverell) but hopefully I can get myself a spot now," he said.

"It's good for the track stuff to show my strengths for AusCycling and beyond. It's a good one to have in the books."

Nero Continental's Sam Hill went on to win the 200-kilometre title, king of the mountain and sprint classification jerseys. Giant Racing Team's Henry was the best young rider.

The grade races were taken out by Penrith's Nicholas Spratt (A), Alpine's Christophe Baudry (B) and Seymour Broadford's Dan Johnson (C).

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