Levi Hone (front) backed up his fourth place finish in the national under-18 road race last year with an identical result in the under-23 event. Photo: ZW Photography/AusCycling.
Twelve months ago, Levi Hone was coming off a fourth-place finish in the AusCycling National Road Championships Road Race, and a year later he repeated the feat.
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This year, in Perth, the performance may have been even more impressive, with the odds stacked against the Echuca Moama Cycling Club star.
Hone’s preparation was interrupted by a broken collarbone in October, the injury also tearing ligaments in his shoulder and requiring surgery just as he was getting into preparations for the championships.
Adding to that, Hone found himself without a team to support him after BridgeLane, one of the country's most successful cycling teams, shut its doors at the end of 2024, leaving a host of cyclists, including Hone, without a contract.
Having finished fourth in the under-18 event in 2024 as a top-age participant, this campaign Hone graduated to the under-23 event as a bottom-age rider, competing against cyclists up to four years his senior.
The 136km road race was a test of endurance and tactics, with Hone’s pre-race strategy put into action on race day.
“When I first saw the course in person it seemed very similar to other courses I've raced on, where a breakaway has lasted the whole race,” Hone said.
“The nature of the up and down terrain and being quite twisting and turning meant you can get out of sight.”
Hone worked hard to stay in touch with the breakaways through the 136km race. Photo: Chris Auld/AusCycling.
With this knowledge, Hone was looking to join any breakaway groups of riders but missed out on joining the first three-man splinter group which attacked early.
“It wasn't until the next lap where I got into a group that bridged across to them and then another half-a-dozen guys came to us as well,” Hone said.
The group held steady until things started to break down late, another group of five surging ahead as the leaders, leaving Hone and one other rider in a chasing effort.
“We were lucky to have Fergus Browning — he was probably the race favourite, he won the year before — bridge across to us and I was able to hang with him,” Hone said.
“We kept working and then we eventually caught the front group and tried to ride back to the leader, but we couldn't get him.”
Julian Baudry ended up taking the race in just under three hours and four minutes, Hone coming through in fourth, 57 seconds off the pace.
“I think I can be content with it given the run in that I had, and riding as an individual as well, I can be not too disappointed,” Hone said.
Another local rider, Lenny Griffiths, also made the trip to Perth, competing in the under-18 road race, where he placed 36th.
The race was the culmination of a packed 12 months for Hone, who rode in Europe after securing an international contract and also enjoying a brief stint with the Australian under-19 squad before another injury ruled him out of the rest of the tour.
Now heading into surgery again to remove the plate added to his shoulder, Hone is next targeting the Tour of Tasmania which begins in four weeks.
He remains on the search for a local contract but says there aren’t many opportunities in the scene right now with the closure of BridgeLane and other riding team Trinity racing.
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