It was an unfortunate start to the race as there was a crash in the 100-strong peloton early on, with Elliot Schultz (Inform TMX MAKE) unable to continue. A breakaway of 14 riders had formed once those involved in the pile-up rejoined the rest of the group.
Ben Metcalfe (Team BridgeLane) took his chance early from the break and provided some early fireworks, while Inform moved into position behind him to take up the chase.
Quick and teammate James Moriarty bridged across with four laps to go to make it three InForm riders among seven remaining in the lead group, which included Metcalfe and Sam Eddy from Team BridgeLane, Liam Walsh (Giant Racing Team) and Cameron Wright (Scody Racing).
Another InForm rider joined the front on the final lap after a huge effort by Tristan Saunders to bridge across as the gap to the peloton stretched out to 90 seconds.
The group was then split again inside the last 15 kilometres with Saunders, Quick and Walsh distancing their rivals to mark a lead trio heading into the penultimate stanza of the race.
A terribly timed mechanical for Walsh on the final ascent of Mount Buninyong saw him dropped from the InForm duo as Mathew Dinham (Team BridgeLane) surged ahead to take his place, as the three moved into the finish alone following unsuccessful bridging attempts from Alistair MacKellar (Israel Cycling Academy), Dylan Hopkins (Ljubljana Gusto Santic) and Rudy Porter (InForm TMX MAKE).
Saunders appeared to cramp up inside the final kilometre which meant Quick had to launch his own lead-out, having enough in the legs to pip Dinham at the line and take the green and gold jersey and a second straight win in the event for his team.
“I can’t believe it, it was a bit of a long shot," Quick said after the race.
"I came here with some good form but to be honest, I couldn't have won this without the team. I gambled a bit and I went early, I wanted to get ahead of Matt Dinham and put the BridgeLane boys under pressure.
“Nationals is a huge numbers game, it really helps to have such a large amount of teammates and they’re all really strong riders who could win on their own. It’s unbelievable that they helped me get it done.
“It’s definitely the biggest win of my career so far.”
Watch the full replay of the U23 Men's Road Race here:
