Australian neo-pro and NSW Institute of Sport (NSWIS) scholarship holder Matthew Dinham has astonished the cycling world by riding to seventh place in the elite men’s road race world championship.

The 23-year-old Sydneysider was in the morning breakaway, yet managed to follow the favourites deep into the high-intensity race in Glasgow.

Dinham was a late call-up for the ARA Australian Cycling Team after the withdrawal of NSWIS athlete Caleb Ewan. The plan had been to get him into an early move, but that was for the sake of supporting his team’s experienced leaders, principally Michael Matthews.

When Matthews dropped out of contention, Dinham seized the opportunity to prove himself against the sport’s biggest superstars.

The 271-kilometre race from Edinburgh to Glasgow featured a long run-in through narrow country roads before the peloton tackled 10 laps of a technical urban circuit.

Dinham was part of a nine-rider breakaway that gained seven minutes’ lead, until the race was halted by protestors.

After the restart and some ferocious pace-setting by the Belgians and Danes, the favourites launched their fireworks incredibly early: defending champion Remco Evenepoel attacked with over 100 kilometres remaining on the twisting streets and sharp climbs of Glasgow’s city centre.

The pace ate rapidly into the breakaway’s lead until Dinham’s group was caught by a bunch containing the likes of Mathieu van der Poel and Wout van Aert.

When Van der Poel attacked, the other favourites followed, and somehow Dinham was able to bridge across, placing himself among such lofty company as former world champion Mads Pedersen and two-time Tour de France winner Tadej Pogacar.

After more attacks and counter-attacks over a high-octane final 50km, Van der Poel emerged as the decisive solo winner of the rainbow jersey, followed by Van Aert, Pogacar and Pedersen in a league of their own.

After six hours in the saddle and some 200km near the front of the race, Dinham arrived at the finish in the next elite group. He delivered a strong sprint to pick up a top-10 finish, matching his seventh place in last year’s under-23 race.

Sports director Mathew Hayman was full of praise.

“I’m a bit blown away myself, at the moment,” Hayman said.

“Every lap that went by, he continued to show he was as good as the guys he was racing against. Seventh at the world titles, that’s pretty bloody impressive for a neo-pro.”

While Plan A had been for Dinham to support his teammates, the former national cross-country champion proved he can hold his own in a world-class peloton.

“The expectation was to come here and work for others,” Hayman said.

“We know he’s got some skills, I was able to follow him in the last couple of laps and he was definitely cornering very well. I know he comes from a bit of a mountain bike background.

“He’s in the top 10 in the World Championships, but he didn’t look out of place, that’s for sure.”

Dinham said, “It was a really crazy day. I was probably meant to be the first rider to work for the team and went on the offensive in that early move, which ended up paying off towards the end of the race.

“I just kept trying to put myself in a good position and fortunately I had the legs in the end.

“I just wanted to do the best job I could for the green-and-gold.

“I’m pretty ecstatic. I’m still pinching myself a little bit, but I’ll try to enjoy the moment and worry about the rest later on.”

Results – Men Elite Road Race

1. Mathieu van der Poel (NED) 6:07:27
2. Wout van Aert (BEL) +1:37
3. Tadej Pogacar (SLO) +1:45
7. Matthew Dinham (AUS) +3:48
21. Simon Clarke (AUS) +8:30

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