Steele von Hoff (NFTO) will wear the green and gold jersey as Australian criterium champion for another year after he defended his title by beating Caleb Ewan (Orica-GreenEDGE) in a close bunch sprint. With Ewan leading out the sprint, von Hoff was perfectly positioned on the youngster's wheel and managed to come around him to retain his title.

2014 never turned out to be a good year for Steele von Hoff. The Australian started his year in the best possible way by winning the Australian criterium championships but that victory turned out to be his only one in the entire season.

After a disappointing year, von Hoff wasn't retained by the new Cannondale-Garmin team and instead he has stepped down to the continental level with the British NFTO team. Today, howwever, he proved that he is still a force to be reckoned with when he defended his Australian criterium title.

Going into the race, all eyes were on Caleb Ewan who won three of the four races in the recent Mitchelton Bay Cycling Classic and was the overwhelming favourite to win in case the race came down to a bunch sprint. When a dangerous late move was caught in the final lap, all was set for another Ewan win but von Hoff had different plans.

Ewan led out the sprint with 300m to go and looked destined to take the win. However, von Hoff was in the perfect position on his wheel and when the youngster started to fade, von Hoff came around him to take the win. Track rider Scott Sunderland completed the podium.

The race was held over 40 laps on a fast circuit in Ballarat and the 44km event was held in overcast conditions. Despite lots of attacks, the peloton stayed together for most of the race, with Ewan's only teammate Leigh Howard working hard on the front to keep things under control.

The peloton briefly split in two but with 16 laps to go, it came back together. Moments later the foundations for the day's most dangerous move was laid when Ben Hill attacked.

With 9 laps to go, he was 7 seconds ahead of the peloton and he was soon joined by Cameron Bayly. With four laps to go, a dangerous duo of Michael Rogers and Travis Meyer set off in pursuit and they made the junction with just 1.5 lap to go.

Avanti had now taken control of the peloton and on the final lap, they managed to bring the quartet back to set up a bunch sprint. However, their efforts didn't pay off as it was von Hoff who took the title.

Result:

1. Steele von Hoff 1.01.17

2. Caleb Ewan

3. Scott Sunderland

4. Anthony Giacoppo

5. Angus Tobin

6. Neil van der Ploeg

7. Shannon Johnson

8. Brenton Jones

9. Benjamin Hill

10. Fabio Calabria +0.04