“It felt good; a sign that the hard work’s paying off,” Sunderland said.

The 19-year-old cyclist and AMR Renault Cycling team member was second man on the podium last year, but came into the 2015 104km race as the favourite and top seed rider.

“And definitely having all that pressure, it gets to you; it’s a bit harder,” he said.

The terrain was tough and undulating, which Sunderland said prevented riders from getting a rhythm, though he welcomed the elevation.

“I was hoping for more hills,” he said.

“It was pretty aggressive to start, it was a 25-man field, not a large field in numbers, but a really quality field,” Sunderland said.

“There was a couple guys I knew I had to watch, I knew that could be dangerous coming toward the finish.”

Those men were Ayden Toovey and Rylee Field, and they followed Sunderland in at second and third.

Sunderland was joined by a two other AMR riders, but the championship did not involve the same team strategy as other events.

“We tried to help each other out, but we don’t sacrifice our race for another person,” he said.

The Inverell rider recently returned from racing and training in Europe, and he felt the experience has added to his form.

“Definitely, so a lot more experience from racing over there,” he said.

“Being able to hang back a bit, and realise what’s going on, and sort of making split-second decisions that cover stuff, or not, and as well, with the amount of strength that I’ve gained over there.”

Sunderland will not have much time to rest on his golden laurels over the next month as he tackles three major National Road Series events as part of the AMR Renault squad.

He heads far south for the six-day Tour of Tasmania next week.

Sunderland said he will have a week in Victoria to train for the gruelling Melbourne to Warrnambool 270km one-day classic, then it is home where he will debut in the Grafton to Inverell Cycle Classic.

“It’s going to be hard,” he said.

“I’m going to have to manager really well being on top of keeping healthy, especially with the long hard races with such a short time recovering in between.”