Griffith rider Steve Bertaldo claims an emotional win in the Dean Carter Memorial

Bertaldo was a popular winner of the Dean Carter Memorial on Sunday, claiming an emotional win in the race that means a great deal to him.

It was the first running of the Dean Carter Memorial after the passing of Dean's father Jake last year.

The Griffith Cycle Club introduced the Jake Carter Medal for their first member across the line, an honour Bertaldo was happy to accept with the overall win.

"Absolutely. As a past president, I actually gave Jake his life membership," Bertaldo recalled.

"It was very sad. I can't touch too much on how sad it was last year. No one's around forever but this guy was just always smiling. The world kept knocking him down but he just kept getting back up.

"Even back then, he was always there for the club. Every time we had his son's race, it was great.

"I tried many times (to win it), I came close a few times. Third once and I think fifth another time. A lot of the times I just never had a chance of catching the guys in front.

"We had the Jake Carter Medal as well, the inaugural medal, besides the Dean Carter. It was nice. It was very humbling but it was nice. I think he had his hand on me a bit. He was a good guy and it was a pleasure to have known him most of my adult life."

Bertaldo, 59, won the 2000 Tour de Riverina.

His hometown victory on Sunday moved him into second in the overall points score, one behind Tolland's Andrew Piffero, with just two legs remaining.

He will ride the remaining two legs, the Butch Menz Memorial in Wagga on June 27, then the final stage in Albury in September, to give him the best possible chance of another overall title.

"I'll have a dig. I plan to. I've got to stay healthy and work commitments tend to disrupt a lot of things I have planned but we'll see what happens," he said.

"I'm not going to beat myself up over it. If it happens, it happens. It's been a very sound motto that I've always had, if fate is kind to you, it'll happen.

"A lot of people, and I've seen it, get overawed, it's like a piece of cake and it crumbles in your hands. You go there to support it, you have a dig, you have a go and if it's meant to be, it's meant to be. And certainly once it's finished, you go up to your mates and say well done."

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Having ridden for nearly 40 years, Bertaldo does it purely for enjoyment and exercise these days.

"I used to be a block and scratch rider, I was ok in my day. Now just age and work commitments, these days I just do it to try and stay healthy," he said.

It was a close finish to Sunday's race. The limit and second limit groups crossed first, with the other bunches only 200 metres behind.

Bertaldo used his experience to help drive his bunch to the line.

"The race was great. The scratch riders weren't that far behind either," he said.

"In the old days, we would do the turnaround and you would calculate what you would need to do to catch the blokes in front. Now, it's the reverse. I've been gifted a couple of not too bad marks and when we turn around, I work out from the timing what we need to be doing and I said boys we need to be hitting 40 plus here on the way back and they did, they committed and we held them off.

"I thought they were going to roll us because they weren't that far behind. Then as it was, coming around that last bend to the finish line, all the boys were still going through as our turn, it was just that I was coming up to third or fourth wheel and as they accelerated, I just had a bit more."

It was a successful day for the Griffith club, as members filled six out of the 10 spots.

Griffith's Mia Stockwell was the first lady to finish, extending her lead in the women's division of the tour.

Fastest time: Myles Stewart (1:24.43)

Fastest woman: Mia Stockwell

Tour de Riverina standings

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