Stage 1: Short, Steep, and Technical

The tour began with a 550-meter uphill time trial - tight corners and brutal gradients reaching 20%. Pacing this one is critical, with the overall effort taking 70-80seconds, explosions from going too hard too early are easy to come by. Lambo secured 15th, Dylan 18th. Unfortunately, Brent Rees crashed on the first corner, ending his hopes for a strong start.

Watch it here

Stage 2: Breakaway Action

This 127 km road race featured two decisive climbs on Gunns Plains. Without a pure climber or sprinter, our strategy was to animate the break. With everyone covering moves early, an eventual move got away with Brent representing us. Lambo bridged not long after it formed, creating a perfect scenario with two of ours in a group of five. The breakaway built up a lead of close to 3minutes with 50km to go but the peloton was chasing hard. They were caught on the final steep climb with 30km to go where Dylan was hanging tough with the climbers. Brent managed to hold onto the front group over the climb and sprint to 11th-place.

Stage 3: Teamwork and Grit

This stage was recognised as the Queen Stage, with a 60km flat lead into a brutal 10 km climb where the pure climbers would shine. Brent snuck off the front in the opening kilometers with Josh putting in a massive effort to bridge to Brent’s breakaway. Brent waited, and together they worked hard to get the gap to the main peloton as big as they could before the final climb with Josh making sure Brent had every chance at succeeding. Brent rode hard from the bottom to make the most of their lead and was the last breakaway survivor, staying with the lead climbers until the final kilometers, losing just a minute finishing in 13th - an impressive ride.

Stage 4: Wet, Wild, and Rewarding

The final day featured a one-hour criterium on a 2 km circuit. A short, punchy climb and a 400-meter drag made positioning tough. Though nerves were high with rain looming, the first 30 minutes stayed dry. When the rain finally hit, crashes ensued - captured by our Insta360 cameras.

Despite the chaos, the breakaway gained 5–10 seconds. Dylan made a massive bridging effort to join it, turning it into a group of 10–15 riders. Dylan raced aggressively once he joined the move and split it down to six. In the final laps, knowing he wasn’t a sprinter, he threw in big attacks to try to secure a podium finish. Though he couldn’t get away, he fought hard for 6th. Brent, meanwhile, protected moves in the peloton. The entire team stayed upright, a relief with four more rounds of the series ahead.

Across the four days, Brent secured 12th on GC and Dylan 19th—plus a top-5 team classification. A really great tour for the team and a big improvement from SA Kick It. Tasmania showed what RCA Bikesonline is capable of - and there’s plenty more to come!