Craig Hutton lands pair of top 10 stage finishes at Tour of Gippsland to end NRS career on a high

He wanted to ends things with a big performance and in Sunday's final stage he fulfilled that goal, riding to eighth place in the criterium at Warragul.

Hutton also added a 10^th place in Friday's opening stage to his name.

Three years ago Hutton made the call to step away from the NRS but was lured back for another dig.

He's confident there won't be another start in the national stint, though that doesn't mean he's lost his competitive edge.

"It's definitely time to say goodbye to the NRS but I won't stop riding. I'll still race in state level stuff but I'm stepping back from the national level," he said.

"I might not be racing at the top level of the state series but I always to race, stay fit and compete.

"I'd made the decision a few months ago to try and finish at the Tour Of Gippsland and make sure I had good legs for that to try and finish on a high instead of flapping around at the back.

"I was able to do that, which was really good."

The final 48 kilometre stage was the ideal setup for criterium specialist Hutton, and the GPM-Stulz rider got himself well positioned on the final tight turn to contest the sprint.

The Bathurst rider was right among a select bunch contesting the victory but he narrowly missed a top five finish as Matthew Rice won the stage.

"It was tough conditions out there. We started in good weather but it soon turned. There was rain and the wind picked up and made things greasy," Hutton said.

"Being able to finish off inside the top 10 is a really good feeling. Doing that at this stage of my career is really nice."