Cameron Meyer finally won the national road race title on Sunday, and those closest to him know what it meant
It took him 12 years, but Cameron Meyer finally won the national road race title on Sunday. Those closest to him recount where they were when he crossed the line, and explain what it means to the cyclist.
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There have been more dramatic rides to win a national title, but how many have been as well deserved or emotional as Cameron Meyer when he crossed the line to win in Buninyong on Sunday?
None in recent memory, anyway.
Heinrich Haussler celebrated with a roar when he pipped Caleb Ewan in 2015, Jack Bobridge gave a two-handed salute when he went solo to the line in 2016, Miles Scotson had both hands outstretched in shock in 2017 and Simon Gerrans went with the double fist-pump for each of his victories in 2012 and 2014.
But as Meyer rode to the finish after 180km on the weekend, having executed the perfectly-timed attack up the climb on the final lap, he had time to look behind him and then sit up and take it all in.
Twelve years’ worth of time.
His first instinct was to bury his face in his right hand while holding onto the handlebars with his left.
Then came the double fist pump, the look skyward, the scream and then disbelief as he put both hands on top of his helmet and again covered his face.
It was impossible to see from the TV screen, but tears must have been rolling down his cheeks and if not then certainly welling in his eyes.
Meyer, 32, is one of this country’s greatest ever cyclists if for nothing else than his sheer versatility.
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He has juggled track and road cycling his entire career and won it all at the highest level. Nine world titles on the track, the Tour Down Under on the road and Commonwealth Games gold in the time trial.
He had also won the time trial (twice) and criterium national titles in Ballarat, but one thing eluded him - the road race.
He nearly won it last year, only to be overrun by Michael Frieberg which reduced him to tears.
Those who witnessed his tears post-race couldn’t help but think that after finishing second, third, fourth (twice) and sixth over the years then maybe this one just wasn’t meant to be.
But true to the rider that Meyer has become, he persisted, overcame the disappointment and never gave up, and after 4 hours and 48mins on Sunday he finally got his hands on the prize.
After presentations and media commitments Meyer got to see his teammates briefly before they all headed in different directions.
There was no team dinner and no celebratory toast as some riders went to Melbourne or Adelaide for a few days before they regroup for the Tour Down Under, which begins on Sunday.
It was clear from Meyer’s face what the national title meant to him, but those closest to him have also given their take on the significance of the day.
KEN MEYER - FATHER
12. Long. Years. Hear from @cammeyercyclist after he finally conquered Buninyong @MitcheltonSCOTT #RoadNats #RoadNats20 pic.twitter.com/2M3d4Nivc3
— CyclingCentral (@CyclingCentral) January 12, 2020
“Both me and my wife had tears coming out of our eyes, we were over the moon for him,” Ken said.
“We had a bit of banter with him and told him how proud we are of him.
“This means just as much as a world jersey to him.
“I just felt he came back from Europe this year and was a little but more relaxed, he’s always very keen for the nationals but he had a bit more relaxed feel about him and then when he went back to Adelaide on the track program his coach came over to work with him leading up to nationals and sure enough he looked all the goods on Sunday.”
Ken said the family has ridden the highs and lows of the sport with Meyer including when he walked away from a pro contract with Dimension Data.
“He sort of disappeared for a bit even from us, we didn’t hear from him for a little while but he spent a few weeks sorting himself out and we just left him alone beside we knew he needed time and space.
“He set himself up a plan, he didn’t have a team or anything and rode black colours and went to work on his own form before going back to Mitchelton-Scott so it’s great.”
TRAVIS MEYER - BROTHER
“I have lived that moment as well - it feels like a long time ago, exactly 10 years now - but I watched it with mum and dad at their place on Sunday and it was really nice to do that as a family,” Travis said.
“The emotions are pretty high because as he said he’s been trying for 12 years to win that and the first time he was fourth so he’s always been close, but hasn’t quite cracked the code until now.
“I know how much preparation and work goes into that and what he’s put into it over the years, to see it finally come off was pretty special.
“It was quite nerve racking with two (laps) to go when all the big hitters were all together, it’s been a while since all the favourites have been in a select group of 6-8 guys that close to the finish.
“But as soon as he hit them on the highway section of the last lap and they showed the gap I knew it wasn’t coming back.
“Was I nervous? Probably not because I didn’t think it was going to come back, he hit them at the right time, he was clearly the strongest in that move and really put the group under pressure.
“I knew if they didn’t have him within 10-15 seconds over the top the race was over.”
The Meyer family went out for dinner to celebrate and sent Cam a photo from Perth.
“We went out as a family and had a few drinks and my son and wife came along, we just celebrated the night and sent him a photo of all of us,” Travis said.
“I spoke to him very briefly, I managed to talk to him when he landed back in Adelaide and he was under the pump with a few things but he was over the moon.
“It could have been one of those things where he finished his career having never won it, but in my mind it was a matter of time, he was just too competitive every year around there and eventually the timing was right.”
MATT WHITE - TEAM DIRECTOR
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“I didn’t see him for 15 or 20 minutes afterwards and just gave him a big hug and congratulated him, I’ve been with him for 12 years in a row at nationals - apart from one year he had with Dimension Data - and he’s been chasing this one for a long, long time,” White said.
“Cam in general keeps his cards close to his chest with everything he does, but I didn’t realise how much it meant to him until last year when you could see his disappointment at coming so close.
“It might seem funny for him to get so emotional after winning one national title when you’ve won nine world titles, but things mean something different to different people.
“He knew a long way off that he would be one of our cards to play (on Sunday), we did not go in with him as sole leader but we had three riders capable of winning - Luke (Durbridge), Lucas (Hamilton) and Cam.
“We had a plan and it could have gone either way, but at the end of the day it was to take the jersey back to Europe with one of those guys.”
LUKE DURBIDGE - TEAMMATE
“Even as a junior growing up, Cam would start talking about it (nationals) in November when we’d start training, he’d talk about every single scenario before the race and had it all planned but every year something different would happen,” Durbridge said.
“On Sunday no one would have expected the break wouldn’t go for so long, it was such an aggressive but negative race that it was confusing.
“That’s why Cam is always analysing it, trying to work it out and he loves racing in Australia, he’s won TDU, won TT at nationals, all the track titles, this is the one thing he hadn’t won to complete his palmares.
“I’m pretty happy for anyone in the team to pull on the Aussie jersey but especially for Cam being a good friend of mine.
“I’d seen him get so close over the years and it’s funny we’ve got a WA group now, I’ve won it before and Trav (Meyer) and Michael (Frieberg), so finally we can add Cam to the WhatsApp group - we’ve just got to pretend one already existed.”
Durbridge saw the hurt on Meyer’s face last year when he narrowly missed out.
“I know how much goes into it and last year me and him were the ones left from Mitchelton and we tried to play our cards, but ended up losing and that was emotional too,” he said.
“Of course it was awesome to see my brother-in-law Michael win, but it was like ‘f***, that was a good opportunity for Cam to win’.
“On Sunday Jay was there, Haasy, Harper, it came down to the five or six strongest riders and I was quite nervous.
“I went back to Cam and said ‘how are you feeling?’ and he said ‘good, but the headwind on the climb makes it hard to get rid of people’.
“We thought we could split it up on the climb for Lucas (Hamilton) and I said to Cam ‘OK just keep attacking until one of us gets away’, and with two laps to go I thought Lucas was going to win, but the guys got together and pulled him back.
“Jay went and I tried, then there was this one moment and it was a really hard moment, a headwind and you could see Cam grit his teeth and go for it.
“You don’t see him put on a hurt face very often so you knew he wanted it bad.
“We gave him a bit of time and then I said to Lucas ‘let’s start attacking these guys and get another on the podium’ and we did.
“Cam was on an 8.30pm flight to Adelaide so we didn’t get to catch up properly, but I’m sure we will this week.”
reece.homfray@news.com.au