IT was a day decided by a notorious climb, but for Bathurst-based cyclist Tom Bolton the third stage of the Santos Festival of Cycling was about testing his sprint legs.
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Before he had to fight his way up Willunga Hill to the finish line on Saturday afternoon, Bolton won the first intermediate sprint for the stage at Snapper Point and placed second in the other.
It was an effort which gave him hope he could snatch the overall sprint jersey in Sunday night's tour concluding criterium.
"I felt alright, it was pretty hot but it was a nice stage and good to be part of the race," Bolton said.
"I'm only a couple of points off the lead in the sprint jersey so I'll probably have a crack at that in the intermediate sprints [on Sunday night] to try and pull on that jersey at the end of the tour. I'll see how it goes, it will be a pretty tough ask I think."
After this year's Tour Down Under was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it was decided to stage a National Road Series event in South Australia instead. Held over four days, it has been called the Santos Festival of Cycling.
Though the course is shorter than what the WorldTour riders face at the Tour Down Under, the iconic climb up Willunga Hill was still included to test the legs of the peloton.
"It's pretty surreal to be honest just doing the same stages. It's definitely not the same crowds you would expect for the Tour Down Under, but it's still a lot bigger than a standard NRS race," Bolton said.
"It's pretty intense the level. The first race of the season is usually just people getting back into it and figuring out what they're doing, but not here.
"Everyone has turned up with form of the year because it's only a couple of weeks out from nationals and probably the biggest tour of the year. There are others who are super strong guys, so it's pretty hard."
Bolton, who is riding for the Oliver's Real Food Racing team, is not the only Bathurst Cycling Club regular in the event, with Will Hodges (Giant Racing) also part of the peloton.
On stage one the duo finished in the same bunch as Australian cycling star Richie Porte, which meant they can boast clocking the same stage time as a man who has stood on the Tour de France podium.
The second stage was a 116km ride from Birdwood to Lobethal, with Bolton and Hodges finishing in 61st and 62nd spot respectively.
However, on day three the duo were more active as they got in a nine-man breakaway on the 88.2km ride from McLaren Vale to Willunga Hill.
"It was nice to be in a break with him [Will] and we did manage to have a couple of chats for the day, nothing too long, just a few words here and there, but it was pretty cool," Hodges said.
"Another guy who was on our team last year was also in the break, he's riding for a different team now, so it was a bit of a reunion."
Being in the break allowed Bolton to attack at the intermediate sprint points. He came off the wheel of Cyrus Monk to take maximum points on the first, and at the second Monk attacked and despite a late throw from the Oliver's rider, held on.
Having amassed five sprint classification points, Bolton went on to finish the stage in 66th, crossing the line 6:49 after stage winner Porte.
"It was pretty solid, but I sort of knew at that point I could just cruise up to the finish, so it wasn't too bad, it just took me longer than I wanted it to," Bolton said of the Willunga climb.
Hodges was one of the last riders in the breakaway to be reeled in. He fared better up the climb as he placed 28th, 1:46 behind Porte.
The tour concludes on Sunday evening with the Victoria Park criterium. Hodges and Bolton will battle it out on a 1.1km course, doing 60 minutes plus one lap.
