The 19-year-old (State of Matter MAAP Team) cyclist bounced back from a recent health scare and said the experience to race against some of the world’s best was incredible.

“Just awesome,” he said.

“To race against guys that were world tour, getting paid to do it for a living, former world champions, it was really good fun.”

He rode shoulder to shoulder with some of the world’s best cyclists, including part of the pack with 2014-15 British Road Race champion Peter Kennaugh.  

The 174 kilometre race attracted high-profile teams from all over the world.

Dylan finished fourth in the young rider standings and 56th in the general classification from a starting field of 146.

The challenging course in and around Geelong shed 54 riders.  The last 30 kilometres nearing the final laps saw some clear leaders and Dylan was in the main peloton about to attack. 

“There was a breakaway that had three and half minutes when we hit the circuit,” he said.

“Then during the first lap of the circuit, there was eight of us hit off the front, over the last climb in the lap, and we got out to a gap of about 45 seconds, 50 seconds, trying to bridge across to the leaders.

The young rider was the only continental Australian among a group of world tour professionals in the breakaway.

“We were pulling pretty hard, it was pretty well on,” he recalled.

Cyclists fuel up on the rides with food and drink to keep their bodies working, and Dylan said a few missed drinks early made a difference at the end.

“It was about a quarter of the way into the last lap, and I just started getting cramps, just couldn’t hold it, lost contact with the group,” he said.

However, Dylan felt positive about the performance after recovering from a viral infection. 

“It’s good for me because it shows I’m starting to get back to where I was, because I was really sick just before Christmas,” he said.

Dylan is currently racing against fellow Inverell cyclist Ryan Thomas (Data#3 Symantec) in the five-day Herald Sun Tour Down Under, February 3-7, in and around Melbourne.

“Again, going to be another unreal experience, racing against a two-time Tour de France winner (Chris Froome, Team Sky) and world teams again,” Dylan said.