The AusCycling Highway Nationwide Championships will quickly be opening up the racing for the 2025 season in Perth, with the time trials main the way in which 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 ladies’s highway race and 177km elite males’s highway race offering the of completion in Kings Park on Sunday.
It is the primary change in venue for the nationwide title race in additional than twenty years, with Ballarat having lengthy hosted the occasion. The brand 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 is going to swimsuit. There may be as an alternative a slight reshuffling of the deck on the course with much less elevation achieve total however that’s run on a 13.6km loop that ends with a punchy climb that kicks as much as 12% within the closing 200 metres and comes simply 400 metres earlier than the end line. Sturdy sprinters might have a hope of hanging on for a decreased 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 approaching 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 control as the brand new Western Australian period of the Nationwide 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 equipment aside 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 Biking Membership and now continues to favour the roads of the state’s Excessive Nation as his coaching grounds. Can he maintain the success operating in Perth?
The brand new course for the highway race might make this slightly tougher, because the longer climb of Buninyong was at all times a helpful place for Plapp to use strain, however it’s nonetheless not by any means a flat course. If he performs the playing cards proper a well-timed transfer might present the required alternative. The time trial can be once more a possibility the place there are fewer variables at play, however there’s actually one large impediment he didn’t must cope with final 12 months, and that is 2023 champion Jay Vine (UAE Crew Emirates).
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Jay Vine (UAE Crew Emirates)
Jay Vine has solely taken on the time trial on the Australian Nationwide Championships as soon as, and that was in 2023 when he gained it. The UAE Crew Emirates rider then wasn’t on the beginning line in 2024, so the 38.4km 2025 race towards the clock ought to show an intriguing battle between him and Plapp as the highest elite time trialists within the nation.
Each 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 12 months, 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. Simply 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 (Purple Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe)
Jai Hindley hasn’t raced the Australian Championships since 2020 however there was an enormous attract 2025. It isn’t 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. Nevertheless, racing in acquainted territory in entrance of the house crowd was clearly a tempting possibility for the rider from Perth.
“On paper, it seems a lot simpler than the Ballarat course, however it is going to nonetheless be a troublesome time out and doubtless a fairly open race,” stated Hindley in an AusCycling launch. “Very tactical and the end can be fairly punchy as nicely.”
The climbs could also be quick, however Hindley might take an opportunity on them, understanding that if that gambit does not work and it comes all the way down to a dash he is bought the perfect teammate to maintain that situation.
Sam Welsford (Purple Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe)
Sam Welsford and Hindley are a complementary pairing for Purple 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 decreased 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. Final Australian summer season he made a spectacular debut along with his new group on the Santos Tour Down Below, taking three stage wins. Later within the season as he turned his consideration to the monitor he fulfilled an Olympic dream, claiming the gold medal within the Crew 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 Crew Pursuit gold for Australia within the Paris Olympics, however relating to Nationals in Perth, the 2 will likely be rivals. Simply as Plapp is an apparent card to get away in a break for Jayco-AlUla, O’Brien is a transparent dash possibility. Final 12 months, 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 group’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 gained that title in 2023. There is no such thing as a discounting his time trial both, and he might nicely be a podium contender within the race towards the clock on Thursday, having taken fourth final 12 months and third place in 2023 and 2021.
In with an opportunity
The unpredictable and tactical nature of the brand new highway race course might additionally spell alternative for riders past the highest favourites. Amongst a number of the names to observe is Elliot Schultz, now racing for Japan’s Victorie Hiroshima. Schultz got here fourth final 12 months behind O’Brien whereas using for Crew BridgeLane.
His then-teammate Liam Walsh is one other to control, having taken sixth final 12 months and in addition with group energy on his aspect. Walsh is now racing within the group 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 group pursuit squad, Conor Leahy.
Within the U23 males’s race, Fergus Browning will likely be making an attempt 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 ladies’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 high of the self-discipline in Australia and Brodie Chapman performances have been as a lot a transparent message of her need to fill the spot because the little child that’s leaping up and down enthusiastically shouting ‘decide me’ as the college sport groups are being chosen. Chapman was simply seven seconds behind Brown within the chase for the nationwide time trial title final 12 months, regardless of some gear points out heading in the right direction, and has backed that second plave up with repeated visits to the rostrum in time trials by way of the remainder of the season.
That, nonetheless, will not be the place the probabilities finish for Chapman who gained the 2023 highway race title and, with a course on provide in Perth that would swimsuit a tactical opportunist, there’s each cause to suppose that the 33-year-old is in with a shot once more this 12 months. What will likely be working towards Chapman although is that her shift to UAE Crew ADQ this 12 months means she will likely be on her personal. Nonetheless final time she modified groups her first race with the brand new squad yielded a nationwide title – maybe historical past might repeat.
Ruby Roseman-Gannon had “diamonds within the legs” finally 12 months’s Nationwide Championships managing to drag off a masterful show as she gained the highway race from a dash of 11 even supposing she was always a part of the motion in the course of the race. Now in 2025 the rider who at all times appears to thrive within the January races in Australia is transferring 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 Highway World Championships that may solely bolster her confidence for the 12 months forward as she, together with Chapman, was a part of the successful combined relay group after which within the highway race managed to make it to the road with a small lead group – alongside the large names of Lotte Kopecky, Chloe Dygert, Elisa Longo Borghini, Liane Lippert and Demi Vollering – to finally take sixth. Roseman-Gannon can be the defending criterium champion, so Friday ought to show a stable heat up for the ultimate showdown on Sunday.
Alex Manly (AG Insurance coverage-Soudal)
Alex Manly has been considerably of a fixture at Liv AlUla Jayco, till now. The 28 12 months outdated first lined up with the Australian squad in 2015 and final 12 months joined her then teammate Roseman-Gannon on the rostrum of each the highway race and the criterium, taking the third step. Although Manly has made a swap to AG Insurance coverage-Soudal in 2025 and that transfer has each taken away one of many defending champions most useful 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 normally seen working towards the wins of others, her job completed nicely earlier than the end line and her celebrations coming when another person makes it to the highest step. The Australian Nationwide Championships, nonetheless, have been a venue the place lately she has had the chance to battle for her personal place on the rostrum and she or he has completed it with appreciable success.
Hanson was second final 12 months within the highway race and third in 2021 so the highest step is the one one she hasn’t visited. The character of her work as top-of-the-line domestiques within the enterprise might 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, could assist her open it.
Nicole Frain was a shock winner of the nationwide highway race title in 2022, although given her potential to at all times 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 12 months of taking up 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 12 months outdated might have been shifting her focus towards gravel even additional this 12 months, 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 season racing at the very least. Frain will not be solely heading to Perth for the nationwide title races but additionally to Adelaide to race the Tour Down Below with the ARA Australian Biking group.
In with an opportunity
Anya Louw (AG Insurance coverage Soudal) mustn’t solely present a precious ally for Manly within the highway race, however can be a critical podium contender within the time trial, having gained the U23 title in 2022 and brought fourth within the elite class final 12 months.
In terms of Sunday’s battle in King Park, it is usually be onerous to look previous the mounting expertise of Emily Watts who will likely be racing with new ladies’s ProTeam Saint Michel-Mavic-Auber93 in 2025. Watts got here seventh final 12 months and sixth the 12 months earlier than so has confirmed her potential to compete on the pointy finish of the race and that further 12 months heavy with European race expertise could also be simply what she must up the ante. Amber Pate, who has completed within the high ten 3 times might show one other helpful card to play for residence group Liv AlUla Jayco, whereas three time highway race title winner Amanda Spratt (Lidl-Trek) ought to by no means be underestimated. Then within the underneath 23 class, Lucinda Stewart will likely be among the many carefully watched rivals because the 20-year-old launches on one other pivotal 12 months in her improvement after having signed with the Liv AlUla Jayco Continental group.