While he may have not finished in the top two, Bathurst Cycling Club's Will Hodges claimed his first podium in the Bathurst2Bathurst men's 100km long course event on Sunday.
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The Greenthorpe native finished fifth at last year's event and while he may have not won this year's edition, he was still happy to claim a podium, especially considering the quality in front of him.
"With Ben and Sam [Hall] here being two of the best riders in the country, to be in the move with them in how the race panned out, I was pretty happy with that," he said.
"It was full gas all day and I was pretty happy because third was the best I could do today, given who was here and what was happening in the race.
"I'm happy with the legs and kudos to the Hill brothers, they were the best on the day."
Sam Hill took victory in the race, just ahead of his brother Ben Hill in second.
Since the inception of the B2B, the race has always started in Blayney, however, this year marked the first time the town was dumped from the event.
With the race no longer starting at Blayney, it meant a new course was developed, with input from Bathurst Cycling Classic ambassador Mark Renshaw.
Hodges said the new course was "insanely hard".
"I don't think there was a point in the first 60 kilometres were it was easy at all. It was full gas all day and everyone was suffering all day.
"It was a good race though and made for exciting racing."
Hodges finished third in a time of 2:27:29.10, ahead of Goulburn Cycling Club member Cam Roberts, who was almost a minut behind in a time of 2:28:24.90.