AN ECSTATIC Steve Pilson took home the winner’s sash in Footscray Cycling Club’s Club Legends Race on Saturday.

The race, held in honour of the late Harry Jones and Hugh Cram - Footscray’s only “Club Legends” - is a coveted prize among club members and made the win even sweeter for Pilson.

A large field of gun riders contested the A-Grade race in perfect racing conditions at the VUT circuit in Hoppers Crossing with the light winds making for a fast and furious pace from the start.

“With the heat, no wind and everybody wanting this win it was never going to be anything but a hard race,” Pilson said.

And hard it was, with the early pace causing the peloton to be strung out; the elastic stretching and several riders cracking under the pressure and getting spat out the back, and attacks being launched like hand grenades, blowing the field apart several times.

With 10 minutes to go, Pilson attacked and found himself going over the top with the in-form Paul Anders, who “was active in most of the breakaways and really put his back into our breakaway”.

The two riders digging deep managed to keep the group at bay, even though the chasers tightened the screws and never gave up.

Pilson had to dig deep to keep Anders at bay in the final sprint.

“I thought (Anders) might roll me in the sprint, but I managed one more kick out of my legs; it was just a hard slog in a big gear to get to the finish and Paul deserved to do well today,” he said.

In his acceptance speech Pilson spoke of how he had wanted to win this race for a long time and that this was a sash that was very important to him because of the high regard he had for the tireless work of the volunteer officials who kept the club running.

Adrian Hansen came in third behind Anders.

Hawthorn Cycling Club rider and Richmond resident Ben Douglas took out a hotly contested and complicated B-Grade race, with the early pace putting a few riders into a spot of bother.

The peloton would often be in single file chasing the latest break but the peloton was dancing on the pedals and up to the challenge, bringing home all of the early breakaways.

At one stage, after A passed B (both groups ride the circuit at the same time), B decided to up the pace and re-took A, which according to club official Mark Micallef led to some argy-bargy between the groups.

With so many evenly matched riders, the race was up for grabs with riders testing their luck at every opportunity.

But it was 33-year-old Douglas, whose strategy paid off.

“Lately I’ve been working so hard I’ve had nothing left in the bank for the sprint, so I had a premeditated plan to save my energy until the end and go near the end.”

With three laps to go, powerhouse Darren Henneken wound up from the back of the peloton and was about to fly past when he had to slow as the peloton closed the door, but rather than throw in the towel, he simply side-stepped the group and wound up again, getting 100m clear, at which stage Douglas bridged the gap; the two co-operating and ripping the heart out of the chasers.

On the final run over the hill, two riders tried a kamikaze overtaking move up the inside of an already three-wide peloton; and five just did not go into three; the fully locked-up Micallef leading Malcolm Hayes, Tony Murrell and a host of others for a quick cycle across the dirt; Douglas just beating Henneken to the line, with International rider Adi-Putera Yusoff taking the bunch sprint.

C Grade saw Miles DaCosta dominate the race, breaking away after a series of attacks from the peloton. The chasers failed to bring back DaCosta, who crossed the line well ahead of Paul Young.

D and E grades started together under the guidance of Barry Cram, who kept riders smooth and safe until the business end of racing, with Luke Jaques taking D’s sprint and Sarah Raffle taking E’s sprint.