Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) cyclist Leigh Howard has won the Tour of Gippsland, the opening event of Cycling Australia’s National Road Series, on Sunday 2 August in Paynesville, Victoria.

Leigh Howard claimed the Tour of Gippsland title after winning the final stage of the 44km criterium in 58 minutes, 57 seconds, beating Kyle Marwood in second place and Richard Land in third. Howard’s total time for the tour was 12 hours, 1 minute, 29 seconds, beating David Kemp’s by 33 seconds and Hayden Brooks’s by 1 minute and 1 second.

Howard is a member of team Jayco/AIS, which also includes Jack Bobridge, who won stage seven of the Tour of Gippsland, and junior world champions Rohan Dennis and Luke Davison.

‘I sort of had a secret agenda to do well overall but I wasn’t really sure how well I’d be climbing,’ said Howard. ‘After the first day I knew I was in good form, good position and climbing well so that [the overall win] became the main aim.’

Howard demonstrated his strength as a climber earlier on in the tour, winning the 88.3km mountainous stage six from Sale to Licola, which featured six climbs, including one category 1 ascent.

The talented 19-year-old has enjoyed tremendous success this year, winning the gold medal in the men’s omnium event at the 2009 UCI Track Cycling World Championships in March, and just last month joined team-mate Jack Bobridge in signing a two-year deal with the US Columbia–HTC Pro Tour team.

The next round of the six-event Cycling Australia National Road Series is the Tour of the Murray River, which begins in Echuca, Victoria and runs from 30 August to 6 September. Meanwhile, Howard and Bobridge will head overseas to compete in the Tour of Ireland from 21 to 23 August, and a five-day international tour of Slovakia.