Ahead of the 2024 UCI Road World Championships, Cyclingnews is taking a deep dive into the important thing groups for the elite street races, beginning with Australia.
History
It’s been a while since Australia has walked away from a UCI Road World Championships with an elite gold medal, because the nation hasn’t taken to the highest step within the senior ranks at Road Worlds because the now-retired Rohan Dennis claimed the boys’s time trial title in 2018 and 2019. Before that, it was Cadel Evans who in 2009 turned the primary Australian ever to win a person elite street world title when he claimed the street race.
However, there may be loads of cause for hope that one other may step up quickly with the rostrum placings nonetheless flowing in recent times. Olympic gold medallist Grace Brown has led the way in which together with her runner-up spots within the particular person time trial in 2023 and 2022.
Michael Matthews, who claimed the U23 males’s world title again in 2010, has additionally been on the street race podium as just lately as 2022 the place he took third and it was additionally bronze in 2017 and silver in 2015, plus he was a part of the third-place blended time trial workforce in 2022. In the ladies’s elite street race, it has been Amanda Spratt who has ventured into the medals for the nation most just lately, taking third in 2019 and second in 2018.
The junior ranks have been the strongest space for Australia in latest editions, with Oscar Chamberlain and Felicity Wilson-Haffenden sweeping up the U19 time trial rainbow stripes for the nation final yr.
Line up
Elite ladies, street race – Neve Bradbury (eligible for U23), Grace Brown, Brodie Chapman, Sarah Gigante, Ruby Roseman-Gannon and Amanda Spratt
Elite ladies, time trial – Grace Brown, Brodie Chapman and Isabelle Carnes (eligible for U23)
Elite males, street race – Jack Haig, Jai Hindley, Michael Matthews, Ben O’Connor, Nick Schultz, Chris Hamilton, Michael Storer and Jay Vine
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Elite males, time trial – Jay Vine
U23 males, street race – Alastair Mackellar, Luke Tuckwell and Fergus Browning
U23 males, time trial – Hamish McKenzie and Patrick Eddy
Junior ladies – Lauren Bates and Emily Dixon
Junior males – Alex Eaves, Max Goold, Will Heath, Wil Holmes
Key Riders
The Australian males’s workforce on the Paris Olympic Games, which additionally included Michael Matthews and Ben O’Connor (Image credit score: Ed Sykes/SWpix.com)
After successful gold on the Paris Olympic Games it’s arduous to look past Grace Brown as the point of interest for the Australian workforce’s elite title hopes. No matter what occurs in Zürich the Victorian has already delivered a spectacular farewell season however including a rainbow jersey to the the 2 silver medals she has claimed within the time trial over the previous two editions of the World Championships would make it the last word send-off.
Then there may be additionally Michael Matthews, who did not have the Olympics he could have been hoping for however a 3rd win on the Grand Prix Cycliste de Québec in opposition to a robust discipline is an effective indication that the rider who has risen to the rostrum on a number of events on the Road World Championships is heading towards Zürich with some highly effective type. Should the 4,470m of elevation achieve throughout the 273.9km be an excessive amount of for Matthews, Australia has that base effectively lined between Ben O’Connor, Jai Hindley, Jack Haig and Jay Vine.
The choices for Australia additionally lengthen past the elite ranks, with one other sturdy time trial card in Hamish Mackenzie within the U23 males, the rider having taken bronze within the class in 2023. Then there may be Neve Bradbury – who was on the Giro d’Italia Women’s podium and gained the brutal Blockhaus stage – as whereas she’s clearly earned her place on the elite ladies’s workforce she can be nonetheless under-23 so qualifies for that title as effectively, which is awarded to the highest participant from that class within the mixed elite and U23 ladies’s street race.
Strengths
Between a golden effort on the Olympic Games and looming retirement, motivation and confidence could not be a lot increased for Brown within the time trial. A last world title tilt may ratchet up the strain, notably given the 32-year-old has simply been one step away from that coveted rainbow jersey the final two years, however after gold in Paris Brown is already strolling away with nothing left to show. Throw in Brodie Chapman, who has stepped onto 4 particular person time trial podiums this season, as one other challenger within the race in opposition to the clock plus Isabelle Carnes as a U23 possibility and the ladies’s time trial is an occasion to not miss for the Australian followers.
The punchy street race additionally gives one other likelihood for Brown to ship an attacking effort, very like the one which netted her Liège-Bastogne-Liège this yr and she or he’ll have the expertise of two former commerce squad teammates, Amanda Spratt and Chapman, to name on for assist. Plus the ladies’s workforce has its bases lined on the unpredictable course, with Ruby Roseman-Gannon a stable card if a lowered bunch dash ought to eventuate whereas Neve Bradbury and Sarah Gigante will likely be at house on the climbs.
The elite males’s street race workforce can be huge on choices, with Matthews having confirmed simply how sturdy he may be on the finish of a testing day of racing as soon as once more in Canada and likewise having a formidable historical past of performing within the rainbow race. Still, if the amped-up degree of climbing in Zürich proves a step too far, the alternate options are laid on thick given the squad has three riders who’ve stepped onto a Grand Tour general podium in Hindley, O’Connor and Haig. They even have Vuelta a España mountains classification winner Jay Vine. The unfold of choices will preserve the rivals guessing and with the likes of Tadej Pogačar and Remco Evenepoel as such sturdy favourites, the strain is more likely to go on different groups to regulate the race.
The U23 and junior males’s classes of the time trial are additionally areas the place there are clear alternatives for Australia, with Hamish Mackenzie – who got here second within the junior time trial in 2022 – stepping straight onto the rostrum when he made the transfer into the U23 ranks final yr. With one other yr of expertise and improvement with Hagens Berman Jayco and the shift to Jayco-AlUla slated for subsequent yr, he’ll possible be trying to shift up a step or two this time round. The junior class, the place Australia swept up each time trial titles final yr, additionally gives up one other critical contender in Wil Holmes, who final month on the monitor set a brand new junior males’s 3,000m particular person pursuit world document.
Weaknesses
The time trial could general be a power for the nation however within the males’s elite race in opposition to the clock, it hasn’t been in any respect easy crusing. Luke Plapp, who had been laser focussed on the self-discipline via the season with Paris and Zürich in thoughts had a horrible crash within the Olympic Games race in opposition to the clock so finally needed to bow out of the street race in Paris and was additionally later changed on the World Championships squad. Jay Vine was subsequent in line and whereas the 2023 Australian champion is clearly a worthy substitute, he definitely hasn’t had the chance to focus and construct towards the time trial like his predecessor, as he suffered spinal accidents in a brutal crash in April. A Vuelta a España efficiency that left him with the polka-dot jersey is evident proof of a robust bounce again however a query stays over how a lot of a toll the less-than-ideal season run-in will take in the course of the 46.1km race in opposition to the clock.
In the elite street races, Australia have what just isn’t a lot a weak spot to cope with, however a transparent power from their opposition to try to counter. In the ladies’s race yr after yr, it doesn’t matter what the terrain, the Dutch are in a position to line up with a workforce filled with potential winners such is the power of that nation in ladies’s biking. They have gained six of the final eight world street race titles and with Demi Vollering main the way in which look as sturdy as ever. In the boys’s street race, the overwhelming difficulty is methods to counter the power of some stand-out people akin to Tadej Pogačar (Slovenia) – who has already gained each the Giro d’Italia and Tour de France this season and is now steaming towards a possible triple crown – and twin Paris gold medallist Remco Evenepoel (Belgium). Australia has a robust group of riders however, simply as is the case for the overwhelming majority of the peloton, the chances would not be of their favour with regards to going toe to toe with Pogačar or Evenepoel.
The view from Australia
Australia – with its awkward nighttime time zone for watching European-based biking occasions – could have had its tolerance for late night time biking viewing stretched somewhat of late between the Olympic Games, the place Brown most likely prompted a couple of family waking shouts when she claimed gold, and Ben O’Connor’s tenacious effort to carry pink on the Vuelta. Still, the highly effective displaying can have fanned hopes of extra so many will likely be braving the in a single day viewing as soon as once more.
Cycling is probably not the most important of attracts in Australia however the nation which is ready to ship public holidays in honour of an Australian Rules Football last and a horse race is fast to get on board it doesn’t matter what the game if the nation is on prime. Given latest outcomes, one other work out for the espresso machine may assist gas some unforgettable biking viewing. A rainbow jersey could even be sufficient to get biking to interrupt via onto the sports activities pages of the mainstream media within the midst of soccer finals fever.
