White, who rides for Team Bridgelane, finished fourth in the same time as gold medallist Cameron Meyer after a thrilling sprint to the finish in Buninyong in four hours, 39 minutes and 12 seconds.

This comes after White captured silver in the men's elite criterium race in Sturt Street on Friday night.

White has is a former Australian under-23 road champion, having conquered Buninyong in 2019. He won bronze in the men's elite criterium last year.

Defending champion Cam Meyer pulled off a thrilling finish, bolstered by incredible teamwork from the relentless Luke Durbridge.

"How did we pull that off?" was Meyer's immediate reaction.

"I thought we were gone and buried. That is a nail-biting race. I thought we were done. They (the team) committed to me, we dug deep and pulled it off.

"That finish is one of the hardest to get right....Everyone was legless."

Meyer said it was incredible to hold the green-and-gold jersey another year in what was one of the "strangest" nationals he had raced.

He pushed through a bunch sprint to take a heart-stopping win in Buninyong and defend his elite men's road race title.

Describing it as "pulling off a miracle", Meyer and Team BikeExchange teammate Luke Durbridge made it to the breakaway late in the race, which culminated in an eight-man duel in the final kilometres.

Dodging a crash coming out of Federation University with just a handful of kilometres to go, the breakaway thundered towards the finish line for an utterly unpredictable finish.

Meyer came through the centre between second-placed Kelland O'Brien from InForm TMX Make and third-placed Scott Bowden right on the line, finishing with a time of 4h39:12.

Nick White was right up the front, pulling the trigger early and coming home with a fourth place finish.

Earlier in the race, men's time trial champion Luke Plapp led the field by almost two minutes in a solo effort during his first elite national championship race, but was reeled in by more experienced cyclists.

After the race, Meyer said it had taken "every bit of 13 years of experience" to time his final sprint.

"Every lap I thought I was in trouble," he said with a smile.

"The best teammate you can have, Luke Durbridge, he popped up there right at the end, he saved me and brought me to the line, then I just pulled on the experience I had in the finish there.

"I think that's what won it for me, I've done that sprint a fair few times and lost it, but I just got the timing right and somehow pulled off a miracle today."

Starting off with a literal bang, as troopers from Sovereign Hill fired muskets to begin the race, riders faced slightly breezy conditions as they began their campaign up the mountain.

The drizzle from earlier in the morning cleared up for a sunny afternoon, with several attacking groups fighting it out for the lead.

The pace did not let up as challengers like Plapp, Sam Welsford, and Chris Harper chased each other down as the race went on, Harper leading at the final lap as the pursuing groups merged for a thrilling finish.

The usual hill climb to the King of the Mountain was less well-attended this year, as organisers had instituted a ticketing system to ensure the event was COVID-safe, but there was certainly still plenty of enthusiasm from the die-hards camping out, and Meyer said that energy helped the riders out immensely.

"The passion is still there (on the hill)," he said.

"On the Midland Highway, there's so many people saying "go Cam, go Luke", cheering for their riders, and it's just good to have that - it's been a funny old year last year, you miss that, and everyone's hanging out for racing.

"I'm so happy to be back here, and organisers could put a great race on."

Meyer was full of praise for Durbridge, who finished a fighting second in the time trial and third in the criterium. "He is so strong, he can just go from start to finish, and when you need that extra little boost, he's there to get the morale," he said.

"He came up at four (laps) to go and said "I'm in for you", you have to buckle your seatbelt then because you know he's going to go deep.

"I owe a lot to him and the other boys as well, they were pulling on the front when Plapp was away - this is just sweet, it caps a brilliant summer off."

Second-placed O'Brien said he was focused on getting to the finish line strongly.

"I wanted to win, and I came here with the mindset of winning," he said, somewhat emotional.

"So, it's a bit bittersweet running second."

Coming back from a heavily-interrupted 2020 season, third-placed Bowden said it was a brutal race.

"I haven't contested a bike race in over 12 months, so I just wanted to come over and give it a crack and in the end I'm glad I did," he said.

The RoadNats, usually held in Ballarat and Buninyong in the first week of January, were delayed until February to best adapt to pandemic border restrictions.

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