Malseed rounded off her preparation for the championships by taking out the inaugural Ballarat Cycling Carnival elite women's criterium in Victoria Park on Monday.

She edged out Matilda Raynolds and Peta Mullens in a tight sprint finish.

The Ballarat rider was aggressive from the outset.

She set the tempo early and then made a late solo break before being absorbed by the bunch for the final laps.

Malseed, who won the 2015 nationals under-23 women’s road race-criterium double, said as well as getting the racing she needed before facing the national criterium and road race assignments, she wanted to put on a good show for a home crowd.

She said from a competitive perspective, her focus had been getting into what she described as race mode.

Once it became obvious the race would go down to a sprint, Malseed said she began to repeatedly tell herself "you're a sprinter" even though this was not her forte.

And it paid off, much to her delight.

Malseed said with that solid effort behind her, she would have a relatively quiet time on Tuesday ahead of the nationals.

She said would go for a light right and concentrate on staying off her legs to save as much energy as possible.

Brenton Jones was equally pleased with the hit-out he had in winning the elite men’s event in another close finish at the Ballarat Sebastopol Cycling Club-run carnival.

The class rider in the field, Jones survived a late lunge by Shaun Whitfield to get the result by 0.032 seconds, with Tom Bolton third after the three broke away late in the 75-minute criterium.

The 26-year-old is desperate to break his run on minor placings in the criterium at the nationals – he has had three podium finishes in four years without securing a coveted gold medal – and left nothing in the tank to ensure he was at his peak in Sturt Street on Wednesday.

Jones said he been back in Australia from France for less than two weeks and taken a little while to get back into his normal training routine after jet lag.

As well as hoping for a big result in the nationals, Jones is also looking to set a solid foundation for the year in Europe with his new team Delko Marseille Provence KTM, when he will make his debut in the big one-day classic, Paris–Roubaix, and Paris–Nice tour.