Private Will Clarke won the overall road champion title at his first ADF National Cycling Carnival held near Melbourne in November.
Lance Corporal James Langedyk finished one point behind, and only about eight seconds separated the top three cyclists in the individual time trial.
"After the first race I was a bit behind," Private Clarke said.
"I had to refocus and not worry about it, but try and do better in the next ones - basically had to win them because my other competitors were quite consistent."
While road racing is Private Clarke's favourite, he suffered from a lack of preparation.
"I flew in quite late the night before and had to build the bike, then into it early in the morning, so I probably wasn't quite settled for it," he said.
"But after a couple of days and getting into the rhythm, I managed to win the criterium and the time trial."
Private Clarke started racing about 20 years ago, working up through the national road series and racing against Lance Corporal Langedyk, before racing professionally in Europe for about a decade in grand tours and world championships, such as Giro d'Italia and Vuelta a España.
The Tasmanian considered his stage win at the Tour Down Under Adelaide as his best result.
Corporal Kym Lynch was overall women's champion in road and cross-country (XC) events at t the ADF national carnival .
The unfamiliar location challenged Corporal Lynch, who battled wind and hills during the open road races in Footscray.
A previous national-level cyclist, the 51st Battalion, Far North Queensland Regiment reservist in Mt Isa worked out where to use her strengths and weaknesses, particularly on the mountain bike.
"I'm not as good in the technical parts of XC and had to slow down. So I used the non-technical sections to my advantage and sped up in these," she said.
This year, the association provided training by two professional coaches.
