Pat Eddy has outsprinted Luke Plapp for a boilover win in the elite men's road race at the Australian road cycling championships.
The powerful Jayco AlUla team were left kicking themselves after Eddy rode brilliantly in the last few kilometres and then beat Plapp in a two-rider finish on Sunday in Perth.
Eddy, now riding for the domestic Team Brennan squad, also had a strongly worded message for his old WorldTour boss after his contract was not renewed last year at Picnic PostNL.
Jayco AlUla are determined to claim the Westbridge Funds Australian championship road races each year and while 20-year-old Mackenzie Coupland rode brilliantly earlier on Sunday to win the women's race, their tactics at the end of the men's event went awry.
They had defending champion Luke Durbridge on his own at the front near the end of the race, with three-time winner Plapp and Ben O'Connor against Eddy and Brennan teammate Oliver Bleddyn in pursuit - and somehow did not win.
"I thought they had us there ... I thought Durbo is going to do it again," Eddy told SBS at the finish.
Eddy then had a pointed comment for Picnic PostNL sports director Rudi Kemna.
"It means everything ... I lost myself as a rider, the last few years.
"Full credit to Tim Dekker ... and everyone from Brennan.
"I've re-found myself a bit and made Rudi Kemna look a bit silly when he gave me the flick - that one's for you, mate."
Plapp finished second and Oscar Chamberlain (Decathlon) was third, nine seconds back, in the 177km 13-lap event, which was held in 30-plus conditions.
"Obviously I'm super-disappointed, I'm gutted, I love this race," Plapp said.
"What Pat's gone through, the last 12 months, where he was a couple of months ago and what he's done to be in the form today, it was a pretty impressive ride.
"I had enough of a chance be able to try to ride Pat off the wheel up that last climb, but again, he was very, very strong.
"There were a lot of other ways we could have played it. We had a lot of numbers ... for sure, it's a race we come here to win.
"It will hurt, but again, Pat is a true champion. Chapeau to him."
Plapp paid credit to UAE Team Emirates rider Jay Vine, who won the time trial on Thursday, for his work in helping bring back the breakaway.
Durbridge and O'Connor were in the front group of 14 that gained nearly four minutes and looked like deciding the race.
Then, with three laps left, Durbridge attacked by himself and gained a minutes on the chasers, setting up the pulsating finish.
Eddy and Bleddyn, a gold medallist in the team pursuit at the Paris Olympics, duelled with Plapp and Jayco AlUla teammate Ben O'Connor on the last lap.
Durbridge faded and was caught near the finish, leaving Eddy and Plapp to decide the championship.
Plapp especially came in for criticism for animating the chase to Durbridge, rather than sitting on the Team Brennan riders.
In the women's elite road championship on the last day of the nationals, Coupland scored a popular hometown win.
It was a bad nationals for Plapp - he also surprisingly could only manage eighth in the time trial.
Vine dropped out of contention inside the last three laps.
Coupland rode a smart race and capitalised on Liv AlUla Jayco's strength to win the women's elite race.
It was the second-straight year that a 20-year-old won the women's road race, also claiming the under-23 category, but it came amid vastly different circumstances.
A year after the favourites let the break out too far and Lucy Stewart capitalised, this time it was a much tighter race.
Teammate Ruby Roseman-Gannon, who won the criterium title on Friday night, beat Neve Bradbury (Canyon SRAM) for second.
