Drapac Pat’s Veg have continued their incredible form in 2017, with a 1-2 finish at the Victorian Metro Championships on Sunday. Deakin Student Drew Morey was first over the line, followed closely by University of Melbourne Student Cyrus Monk.
The team has also enjoyed recent sucess in the 2017 Victorian Road Series, at the Anchor Point Tour of the South West, finishing the tour with Drew 2nd on general classification, and the team 2nd in team’s classification.
“It’s always a good feeling, posting good results in your home state,” said t Cyrus Monk. “I like that the team puts as much emphasis and support on these local races as they do in the bigger races on the calendar.”
Cyrus added a 2nd in the ITT to his list of 2017 achievements, and is currently leading the Victorian Road Series in the individual standings, with RMIT student Mathew Ross in 3rd.
This result adds to the team’s strong start to the year, including a top ten finish at Nationals in January and 3rd in the U23 ITT, and 3rd in the Road Race at Oceania’s in March.
Drapac Pat’s Veg have also enjoyed their first UCI win in stage 6 in UCI 2.1 race, the Tour of Thailand in April. Sprinter and University of Curtin student Theodore Yates edged out Jon Aberasturi of Team Ukyo to bring home the win for the team.
22-year-old Theo said, it’s great to be able to bring a good result home for Drapac Pat’s Veg. I couldn’t have done it without the incredible support of my team mates.”
“It was a well-deserved reward for the team, who had been working hard together all week”, said Sport Director Mark O’Brien of the win, “with 3 kilometres to go, the boys drilled their lead out, with final lead out man Brad Evans taking Theo to nail the final 200 metres. Top result for us and some of the best teamwork I’ve ever seen in a race. The boys should be really proud of themselves.”
28-year-old Jesse Featonby also finished the tour second overall in the King of the Mountain standings.
Drapac Pat’s Veg is now enjoying a well-earned rest period, giving them time to focus on their university studies, before heading over to Europe for an intensive five-week racing block.
“Our race program is unique in the way that it complements our scholarship holders’ university schedules, rather than becoming the main focus. This is to enable our athletes to achieve their potential in their chosen field of study, thereby having a healthy balance and focus while on the bike”, said team owner, Michael Drapac.
“The Europe racing period is designed to be a developmental experience for the team, rather than having a results based focus.”
