The AusCycling Road National Championships will quickly be opening up the racing for the 2025 season in Perth, with the time trials main the best way on Wednesday and Thursday, the criteriums taking part in out in Northbridge on Friday after which the highway races delivering a weekend finale, with the 109km elite/U23 girls’s highway race and 177km elite males’s highway race offering the crowning glory in Kings Park on Sunday.
It’s the primary change in venue for the nationwide title race in additional than twenty years, with Ballarat having lengthy hosted the occasion. The new programs will inject a component of the unknown for many however just a few of the Perth-based riders will take pleasure in lastly having a home-ground benefit.
As in Buninyong, the course in Perth is on a circuit with climbing sections, so it isn’t a wholesale shift in the kind of rider it would swimsuit. There is as a substitute a slight reshuffling of the deck on the course with much less elevation acquire total however that’s run on a 13.6km loop that ends with a punchy climb that kicks as much as 12% within the last 200 metres and comes simply 400 metres earlier than the end line. Strong sprinters could have a hope of hanging on for a diminished group cost to the end however there additionally may very well be a solo victor or battle between a small breakaway group as in earlier years.
The coming days will present the reply because the race enters a brand new period and Cyclingnews has run a ruler over the beginning checklist to develop an inventory of riders to regulate as the brand new Western Australian period of the National Championships begins to unfold.
Elite males’s nationwide title contenders
Since Luke Plapp joined the skilled peloton in 2022 it has been uncommon to see him in any package apart from the inexperienced and gold stripes of an Australian champion. Not solely has he monopolised the nationwide title within the highway race for 3 years operating however he additionally took out the time trial title in 2021 and 2024.
Ballarat in Victoria – the place the championships have been held all through Plapp’s profession – was good to the rider who in his early days developed his race craft on the Brunswick Cycling Club and now continues to favour the roads of the state’s High Country as his coaching grounds. Can he hold the success operating in Perth?
The new course for the highway race could make this somewhat tougher, because the longer climb of Buninyong was all the time a helpful place for Plapp to use stress, however it’s nonetheless not by any means a flat course. If he performs the playing cards proper a well-timed transfer may present the required alternative. The time trial can also be once more a chance the place there are fewer variables at play, however there’s actually one large impediment he didn’t need to cope with final yr, and that is 2023 champion Jay Vine (UAE Team Emirates).
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Jay Vine (UAE Team Emirates)
Jay Vine has solely taken on the time trial on the Australian National Championships as soon as, and that was in 2023 when he received it. The UAE Team Emirates rider then wasn’t on the beginning line in 2024, so the 38.4km 2025 race in opposition to the clock ought to show an intriguing battle between him and Plapp as the highest elite time trialists within the nation.
Both have developed significantly within the self-discipline in current seasons, with Vine having confirmed his progress with a number of WorldTour time trial podiums this yr, together with a primary at Vuelta a Burgos. He went on to complete fifth on the World Championships. He’ll be a formidable foe within the time trial, and whereas it is not precisely a highway race course that dishes up the lengthy climbs that swimsuit him there are some launch factors. Just as with Plapp, Vine has the time trial abilities to forge on if he manages to make use of what climbing there’s on the course to get away.
Jai Hindley (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe)
Jai Hindley hasn’t raced the Australian Championships since 2020 however there was a giant attract 2025. It will not be a course that fits the 2022 Giro d’Italia champion any greater than the venue of the final twenty years, since longer climbs are what play to his strengths. However, racing in acquainted territory in entrance of the house crowd was clearly a tempting possibility for the rider from Perth.
“On paper, it appears a lot simpler than the Ballarat course, however it would nonetheless be a troublesome time out and doubtless a reasonably open race,” mentioned Hindley in an AusCycling launch. “Very tactical and the end can also be fairly punchy as effectively.”
The climbs could also be brief, however Hindley may take an opportunity on them, figuring out that if that gambit does not work and it comes right down to a dash he is received the best teammate to care for that situation.
Sam Welsford (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe)
Sam Welsford and Hindley are a complementary pairing for Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe for the nationwide championships. Welsford is a transparent contender for the criterium title in Northbridge on Friday night and once more within the highway race within the occasion that it finishes in a diminished bunch dash.
Welsford is one other Perth native who is aware of the terrain inside out and could have loads of assist alongside the highway. Last Australian summer time he made a spectacular debut together with his new crew on the Santos Tour Down Under, taking three stage wins. Later within the season as he turned his consideration to the observe he fulfilled an Olympic dream, claiming the gold medal within the Team Pursuit. Given his confirmed flip of pace, his rivals will fervently hope he’s dropped on the climbs earlier than the ultimate move of the end line.
Kelland O’Brien was using alongside Welsford when the squad claimed Team Pursuit gold for Australia within the Paris Olympics, however in terms of Nationals in Perth, the 2 will probably be rivals. Just as Plapp is an apparent card to get away in a break for Jayco-AlUla, O’Brien is a transparent dash possibility. Last yr, he accomplished the rostrum for the squad within the highway race at Nationals as he sprinted to 3rd from the group that got here in behind the crew’s two breakaway riders, Plapp and Chris Harper.
The 26-year-old may even have loads of eyes on him within the criterium, given he received that title in 2023. There isn’t any discounting his time trial both, and he may effectively be a podium contender within the race in opposition to the clock on Thursday, having taken fourth final yr and third place in 2023 and 2021.
In with an opportunity
The unpredictable and tactical nature of the brand new highway race course may additionally spell alternative for riders past the highest favourites. Among a number of the names to observe is Elliot Schultz, now racing for Japan’s Victorie Hiroshima. Schultz got here fourth final yr behind O’Brien whereas using for Team BridgeLane.
His then-teammate Liam Walsh is one other to regulate, having taken sixth final yr and likewise with crew power on his facet. Walsh is now racing within the crew with the strongest numbers by far, CCACHE-BODYWRAP, and among the many squad of seven, there are additionally different sturdy contenders akin to Cameron Scott and one other member of the gold medal-winning crew pursuit squad, Conor Leahy.
In the U23 males’s race, Fergus Browning will probably be trying to defend his title, which he tenaciously pursued in 2024 regardless of being knocked off his bike by a automobile the day earlier than.
Elite girls’s nationwide title contenders
The retirement of time trial world champion and Olympic gold medallist Grace Brown has left a really apparent emptiness on the prime of the self-discipline in Australia and Brodie Chapman performances have been as a lot a transparent message of her want to fill the spot because the little child that’s leaping up and down enthusiastically shouting ‘decide me’ as the varsity sport groups are being chosen. Chapman was simply seven seconds behind Brown within the chase for the nationwide time trial title final yr, regardless of some gear points out on the right track, and has backed that second plave up with repeated visits to the rostrum in time trials via the remainder of the season.
That, nonetheless, will not be the place the possibilities finish for Chapman who received the 2023 highway race title and, with a course on provide in Perth that might swimsuit a tactical opportunist, there’s each motive to assume that the 33-year-old is in with a shot once more this yr. What will probably be working in opposition to Chapman although is that her shift to UAE Team ADQ this yr means she will probably be on her personal. Still final time she modified groups her first race with the brand new squad yielded a nationwide title – maybe historical past may repeat.
Ruby Roseman-Gannon had “diamonds within the legs” eventually yr’s National Championships managing to drag off a masterful show as she received the highway race from a dash of 11 although she was continually a part of the motion throughout the race. Now in 2025 the rider who all the time appears to thrive within the January races in Australia is shifting her title defence to a course that appears to swimsuit her even higher.
What’s extra Roseman-Gannon is coming from a late 2024 season efficiency on the Road World Championships that may solely bolster her confidence for the yr forward as she, together with Chapman, was a part of the successful combined relay crew after which within the highway race managed to make it to the road with a small lead group – alongside the massive names of Lotte Kopecky, Chloe Dygert, Elisa Longo Borghini, Liane Lippert and Demi Vollering – to in the end take sixth. Roseman-Gannon can also be the defending criterium champion, so Friday ought to show a strong heat up for the ultimate showdown on Sunday.
Alex Manly (AG Insurance-Soudal)
Alex Manly has been considerably of a fixture at Liv AlUla Jayco, till now. The 28 yr outdated first lined up with the Australian squad in 2015 and final yr joined her then teammate Roseman-Gannon on the rostrum of each the highway race and the criterium, taking the third step. Though Manly has made a swap to AG Insurance-Soudal in 2025 and that transfer has each taken away one of many defending champions most dear allies whereas additionally including one other fierce competitor to the combination.
Working to Manly’s benefit is a course that fits plus racing alongside her she’ll have new teammate Anya Louw, who is continually the image of a tough working teammate.
Lauretta Hanson is often seen working towards the wins of others, her job completed effectively earlier than the end line and her celebrations coming when another person makes it to the highest step. The Australian National Championships, nonetheless, have been a venue the place in recent times she has had the chance to combat for her personal place on the rostrum and she or he has completed it with appreciable success.
Hanson was second final yr within the highway race and third in 2021 so the highest step is the one one she hasn’t visited. The nature of her work as among the finest domestiques within the enterprise could imply the rider at this level has only one profession win on her tally, from again in 2018, however she has more and more been knocking on the door of one other. The Perth course, which performs extra to her strengths with its shorter climbs, may assist her open it.
Nicole Frain was a shock winner of the nationwide highway race title in 2022, although given her potential to all the time be close to the entrance of the sphere on the race it maybe should not have been an excessive amount of of a shock. Even in her first yr of taking over the occasion in 2019 Frain was twenty fourth, then thirteenth in 2020 earlier than shifting into the highest 10 with eighth place in 2021 earlier than taking the title in 2022. She was then fifth when she returned in 2024.
The 32 yr outdated could have been shifting her focus towards gravel even additional this yr, confirming her elevated off-road focus when she signed with Ridley, however its clear she is all in on the tarmac for the beginning of the Australian summer time racing not less than. Frain will not be solely heading to Perth for the nationwide title races but additionally to Adelaide to race the Tour Down Under with the ARA Australian Cycling crew.
In with an opportunity
Anya Louw (AG Insurance Soudal) mustn’t solely present a worthwhile ally for Manly within the highway race, however can also be a critical podium contender within the time trial, having received the U23 title in 2022 and brought fourth within the elite class final yr.
When it involves Sunday’s battle in King Park, it’s also be onerous to look previous the mounting expertise of Emily Watts who will probably be racing with new girls’s ProfessionalTeam Saint Michel-Mavic-Auber93 in 2025. Watts got here seventh final yr and sixth the yr earlier than so has confirmed her potential to compete on the pointy finish of the race and that additional yr heavy with European race expertise could also be simply what she must up the ante. Amber Pate, who has completed within the prime ten thrice may show one other helpful card to play for residence crew Liv AlUla Jayco, whereas three time highway race title winner Amanda Spratt (Lidl-Trek) ought to by no means be underestimated. Then within the beneath 23 class, Lucinda Stewart will probably be among the many intently watched rivals because the 20-year-old launches on one other pivotal yr in her improvement after having signed with the Liv AlUla Jayco Continental crew.