The 9-day race, which ended yesterday, is a gruelling tour of New South Wales and ACT, with lots of split morning and evening stages to test the riders' powers of recovery. Ben was quick enough after a long hard year to take the 9th stage circuit race of Coogee near Sydney, out-sprinting the others in his 4-man breakaway group.

He had taken off halfway through the 40-lap race, joined by 1999 Linda McCartney strongman Matt Illingworth, Hilton McMurdo and Ben Day. Matt put his head down and led for the whole of the final lap, trying to use his time-trialling speed to burn the finish out of his rivals' legs. Ben hasn't spent this year riding the likes of the Tour of Romandie for nothing though, and he launched a surprise jump from the back of the group 250 metres out. They battled uphill to the line, with Ben and Matt locked together in combat, until the 21-year old managed to slide his wheel over the line just in front of the Essex rider's despairing lunge.

Ben was in good enough form to take 12th overall in the race after the final stage in Canberra, which saw some more great performances from current and former Linda McCartney men. Huw Pritchard clearly enjoyed his trip to Australia, as did fellow Welshman Julian Winn. The effervescent Winny came within an ace of taking the leader's jersey, closing to within two seconds after the hilliest stage. He eventually finished 4th, the race taken by Pole Dariusz Wojciechowski. Heiko Szonn, the big German who rode for the team in early 99, also took a top 20 placing overall.

Meanwhile, Bradley Wiggins, the young Olympic medallist who will join Linda McCartney in 2001, partnered Rob Hayles to a superb 3rd place on the velodrome in the Grenoble six-day event. Tayeb Braikia rode strongly too, coming in 7th with French partner Nicolas Reynaud. Bradley and Rob beat some big names in Grenoble - wouldn't it be fantastic for Britain if they could win a six-day this winter? The big target for them is Ghent, which is always packed to the rafters, and a popular venue for British fans starved of bike racing during the colder months. They start on the Flemish track on the night of the 21st.