TOM Bolton might not have challenged for the overall sprint classification honours on the final stage of the Santos Festival of Cycling on Sunday night as he'd hoped, but he could still drew plenty of positives from the event.
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Held over four days in South Australia, the Santos Festival of Cycling acted as the opening event of this year's National Road Series.
It is a series in which Bolton will represent Oliver's Real Food Racing, while fellow Bathurst-based rider Will Hodges forms part of the Giant Racing Team.
For Bolton, the Santos Festival of Cycling was his first major race since a horror crash at the National Tour in late December left him bruised and bloodied. It's an incident he has clearly recovered from.
After winning one of the intermediate sprints on stage three and placing second in another, Bolton went into the final stage criterium at Adelaide's Victoria Park hoping to pressure for the jersey.
It was hot as the temperature sat at a fraction over 35 degrees field set off on the first lap of the 1.1km course, while the riders also faced wind gusts of up to 35km/hr.
Though unable to add any more points to his tally, Bolton still produced his best overall finish of the tour as he crossed the line in 18th. Those behind him included the men who had won the first three stages - Luke Durbridge, Luke Plapp and Richie Porte.
The stage win belonged to national criterium champion Sam Welsford, who had the benefit of a strong lead out from his Team Garmin Australia team-mates.
Bolton ended up equal fifth in the points classification, 30th in the young rider classification and 63rd overall. It is an effort which should put him in good stead for the Cycling Australia Road Nationals which commence next week.
Hodges placed 55th in Sunday evening's final stage and in the overall tour rankings ended up just outside the top 50 as he made a strong debut for his new team and also warmed up nicely for nationals.
