Even though Miles Scotson swept all the concurence away by claiming both ITT and road titles at the Australian U23 championships, it was Alex Edmondson who won the biggest prize, as a runner-up spot in Saturday's road race secured him a contract with Orica-GreenEDGE.

Originating from the track just like most of his fellow countrymen, at the age of only 21 Edmondson has truly impressive palmares when it comes to racing at the velodromes, including individual and team pursuit world championship title. 

His impressive ride in the Australian Under 23 championship road race, held on a demanding route around Buninyong confirmed, however, that there's much more to come from Edmondson, as the 21-year old won a sprint for second place despite having very limited experience in racing on a tarmac.

Always keeping an eye on young rising stars, Orica-GreenEDGE did not hesitate any longer and offered Edmondson a contract. The 21-year old track rider is expected to turn professional with the Australian WorldTour squad in 2016, following a path of Caleb Ewan and Jack Haig.

“Alex is obviously a fantastic talent and you look at his development so far - individual pursuit world champion, teams pursuit world champion - and historically those riders go to make very good road riders,” Orica-GreenEDGE manager Shane Bannan said, according to The Courier Mail.

“But he’s still only at the very early stages of his career and it’s important that we recognise that. There’s still a lot of work to do, a lot of development to do and that’s why he won’t be turning professional until 2016 and even 2016 he’ll be working a lot with the national program because the Olympics will be a major focus and we will support him through that.”

“There’s always a gamble when you sign young talent but what makes us more sure about Alex is the fact that we work closely with Cycling Australia’s high performance program and really assist them with their goals in trying to get a gold medal in Rio.

“He’ll be fully committed to Rio and we will be complimenting that.”

Until then, the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio will remain the biggest objective for the 21-year old Australian, but he won't avoid gaining some experience in racing on the road.

“Silver medal on this course, he’ll do a little bit more road racing this year so will develop that craft and we look forward to working with him to develop him into a road rider for the next many years,” Bannan added.

Obviously, the young Australian did not hide his excitement for a prospect of kicking off his road career right after the 2016 Olympic Games.

“It’s always been a dream of mine to get to the professional ranks so it’s good to sign and to be able to ride with GreenEDGE,” Edmondson said, according to The Courier Mail.

“The best thing is they are really supportive of my track ambitions as my main focus is Rio so I’m looking forward to making the transition in 2016.”

He even pointed out to Flemish classics as one of his possible targets after turning professional, believing that his bike-handling skills should significantly improve his chances while racing on cobbles.

“Because of my downhill mountain bike background I enjoy the cobbles and that sort of racing so hopefully I can help out the team and learn off the guys,” he said.

“I did the under-23 Flanders race this year and helped Caleb (Ewan) and hopefully I can go for it this year.”

“It would be cool to ride the Tour Down Under and get an insight into what professional racing is like and then use it to my advantage down the track,” he said.