IT was a case of David versus Goliath at Footscray Cycling Clubs’ annual Frank O’Brien Memorial road race, with underdog and second race novice Eerik Sandstrom taking out this prestigious event at Little River on Saturday.

Twenty-five-year-old Sandstrom, from Kensington, is new to road racing having shattered his collarbone (badly enough to have nine screws and a plate inserted) last year in downhill-mountain bike racing.

He grabbed a road bike and as he said got the road-racing bug.

In his short career at Footscray, he has a strike rate of 100 per cent with two starts for two wins and is a face to watch in future races.

Perfect riding conditions greeted the 80 starters for the Memorial race with six groups of riders setting off in intervals; with the best riders (scratch) handicapped by leaving last and D Graders (Limit) first.

At the start line, all groups knew what they would have to do to win; work hard, co-operate and maintain a high average speed.

All groups did this, with Limit doing it best. At the 60km mark, most groups were still intact and had not merged; it began to dawn on one and all that Limit were travelling well above expectations, so the pressure began to be applied in earnest.

Remarkably only 15 riders were dropped overall, so each group was able to consistently raise the bar. At the 70km mark, a super group began to form, consisting of riders from all five groups except Limit, which was still impossibly four minutes ahead.

The super group began to fly, pushing many riders to breaking point.

As hard as the chasing riders pushed, it was no use.

With the riders in the Limit realising they were clear, they began jockeying for the best positions in the sprint, with Sandstrom taking the closest of sprints from James Stuart by half a wheel, followed in by Charlotte Priest.

Two minutes behind the winning eight came the sprint for fastest time, which saw a messy but exciting sprint by 50 riders taken out by Graham Carlson (2 hours 14 minutes 55 seconds) over Steve Pilson.