All eyes were on the mighty Orica-GreenEDGE team and young talent Caleb Ewan (Subaru NSWIS) but the rider that came away with the overall win in the Mitchelton Bay Cycling Classic was 22-year-old Brenton Jones (Procon Telematics'). Having overcome  a race crash that left him in a coma two years ago, the youngster surprised everybody by consistently placing near the top and is now hoping to turn his success into a professional career.

When pundits were asked to select the favourites for this year's Mitchelton Bay Cycling Classic whose four criteriums traditionally kick off the Australian cycling summer, the names that usually came up were those of Matthew Goss (Orica-GreenEDGE), Steele Von Hoff (Procon Telematics'), Caleb Ewan (Subaru NSWIS) and Allan Davis (Chain Reaction). Very few had even heard about Brenton Jones (Procon Telematics') who was not even an outside bet for the overall win.

At the end of the fourth race in Williamstown, the rider who stepped onto the podium to receive the honours for the overall win, was, however, Jones. Despite not winning any of the races, the youngster was the most consistent rider of the entire series and when he held off Zakkari Dempster (SASI) in the sprint for 2nd behind winner Ewan on the final day, he narrowly took over the overall lead by just one single point.

Jones laid the foundations for his win on the first day when he made it into the decisive 7-rider breakaway and from there, he consistently placed near the top in all the races. However, he could take nothing for granted when he started the final race as five riders were with five points of the overall lead and he had to make up one point on overall leader Dempster.

With the difference between 2nd and 3rd place being two points, his narrow win over Dempster was enough to take a breakthrough overall win. The 22-year-old was delighted and revealed that he had had valuable support from one of Australia's legends.

“I had a few text messages and a call from Robbie McEwen last night actually,” he said. “He gave me some nice advice and said ‘be strong, be smart and show your aggression up there and tell everyone that you want it and you need to be there, you deserve to be there.’"

Riding for the Procon Telematics', he also benefited from some in-race support from WorldTour sprinter Steele Von Hoff who was his teammate in the four-race series.

“I was nervous, there was a lot of cat and mouse and argy-bargy up there," he said. “I rode a good position all race with the support of Steele Von Hoff. It’s pretty amazing to have a Garmin Sharp ProTour sprinter helping you out and I learnt a lot from Steele, he is a great guy and he kept me safe all day.”

The win comes at the end of a real fairytale story. Two years ago, Jones crashed in the Tour of Toowomba and the former mountain biker was left in a coma. Today's win signals that he has overcome his travails and he is now targeting a professional career.

“From the start in the warm up, and this morning when I woke up I thought, that’s it - put the race face on, get motivated, I really want this one,” he said. "For me the ultimate is to be a professional, that’s number one.

“Number two and number three would have to be Tour de France. I have gone over there and seen the Tour de France before and I guess that little dream has always been in the back of my head as something I really want to do.

“(The accident) maybe took six months off my season back then so where I am now I could have been there a bit earlier but everything happens for a reason and I think that accident has just made me stronger and got me to where I am today," he added. “From that day, I thought ‘this is it, no fear anymore it all go, no red lights all green.”

Jones will now be hoping that his results will have earned him a spot on the UniSA national team for the Tour Down Under.