Race win and series lead for young Kiwi

Another success for Hamish Elley-Brown today  ©Jean-Marie Picard (file photo)

Sep 5th, 11. Two weeks ago 18 year old Kiwi international Hamish Elley-Brown took his first Euro victory, he earned another one today and in doing so took over the Ronde du Jura series lead.

The Ronde du Jura is an eleven race series around the Jura region of France raced from March through to September.

In the first nine races, Elley-Brown had not managed a win, but consistent top placings had him sitting second before today's penultimate race.

"I knew it was more than possible to take the leaders jersey and was confident before the start," the young Kiwi told RoadCycling.co.nz

In pouring rain, Elley-Brown and his VC Morteau Montbenoit teammates lined up for the Prix de St. Claude.

"It was on a tricky wee circuit of 3.2km, 23 times for a total of 75kms, shorter than most races we do. There was virtually no flat in the circuit and it included several nasty corners," he explained.

Unusually for French racing, the decisive break got away straight from the gun. Elley-Brown was in the break and unlike other riders, the Auckland Grammar old-boy kept his bike upright on the many tricky wet corners.

In the break of seven riders were five from VC Morteau Montbenoit, but with only a 25sec gap by the second lap, they knew they needed to work harder. It took until the 10th lap before they established a solid gap on the rest of the field.

After dropping two companions along the way, Elley-Brown attacked on one of the tricky corners on the 7th to last lap.

"One of my teammates also attacked and broke free on the next climb and bridged up to me. We established a gap quite quickly and shared an even amount of work. We managed to stay away and by the finish we had 5min from the bunch.

"Because I was highest on the points between me and my teammate, he let me have the win so I could take the Malliot Blanche (White Jersey) for the series."

3rd placed across the line was teammate and fellow Kiwi Joel Macmillan, with Elley-Brown putting the day's success down to great teamwork.

The final race in this series is next Saturday. The following day Elley-Brown is also defending the lead in another series - the seven race Credit Mutuel series.

"I'm pretty happy to be leading both series but more so focused on finishing with [the lead] next weekend. I am motivated and confident," he said.