Can Luke Plapp make it a four year run and who will replace a retiring Grace Brown as time trial champion? We take a closer look at the riders set to make a mark in the west
Ruby Roseman-Gannon claims the elite women's road race title at the Federation University Australian Road National Championships(Image credit: Con Chronis/AusCycling)
The AusCycling Road National Championships will soon be opening up the racing for the 2025 season in Perth, with the time trials leading the way on Wednesday and Thursday, the criteriums playing out in Northbridge on Friday and then the road races delivering a weekend finale, with the 109km elite/U23 women's road race and 177km elite men’s road race providing the finishing touch in Kings Park on Sunday.
It's the first change in venue for the national title race in more than two decades, with Ballarat having long hosted the event. The new courses will inject an element of the unknown for most but a few of the Perth-based riders will enjoy finally having a home-ground advantage.
As in Buninyong, the course in Perth is on a circuit with climbing sections, so it is not a wholesale shift in the type of rider it will suit. There is instead a slight reshuffling of the deck on the course with less elevation gain overall but that is run on a 13.6km loop that ends with a punchy climb that kicks up to 12% in the final 200 metres and comes just 400 metres before the finish line. Strong sprinters may have a hope of hanging on for a reduced group charge to the finish but there also could be a solo victor or battle between a small breakaway group as in previous years.
The coming days will provide the answer as the race enters a new era and Cyclingnews has run a ruler over the start list to develop a list of riders to keep an eye on as the new Western Australian era of the National Championships begins to unfold.
Three titles in a row for Luke Plapp in 2024 (Image credit: Con Chronis / AusCycling)
Since Luke Plapp joined the professional peloton in 2022 it has been rare to see him in any kit other than the green and gold stripes of an Australian champion. Not only has he monopolised the national title in the road race for three years running but he also took out the time trial title in 2021 and 2024.
Ballarat in Victoria – where the championships have been held throughout Plapp's career – was good to the rider who in his early days developed his race craft at the Brunswick Cycling Club and now continues to favour the roads of the state’s High Country as his training grounds. Can he keep the success running in Perth?
The new course for the road race may make this a little harder, as the longer climb of Buninyong was always a handy place for Plapp to apply pressure, but it is still not by any means a flat course. If he plays the cards right a well-timed move could provide the required opportunity. The time trial is also again an opportunity where there are fewer variables at play, but there is certainly one big obstacle he didn’t have to contend with last year, and that's 2023 champion Jay Vine (UAE Team Emirates).
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Jay Vine at the Road World Championships (Image credit: Getty Images)
Jay Vine has only taken on the time trial at the Australian National Championships once, and that was in 2023 when he won it. The UAE Team Emirates rider then wasn't on the start line in 2024, so the 38.4km 2025 race against the clock should prove an intriguing battle between him and Plapp as the top elite time trialists in the nation.
Both have developed considerably in the discipline in recent seasons, with Vine having proven his progress with multiple WorldTour time trial podiums this year, including a first at Vuelta a Burgos. He went on to finish fifth at the World Championships. He’ll be a formidable foe in the time trial, and while it's not exactly a road race course that dishes up the long climbs that suit him there are some launch points. Just as with Plapp, Vine has the time trial skills to forge on if he manages to use what climbing there is on the course to get away.
Jai Hindley waiting for the start at the Tour de France (Image credit: Getty Images)
Jai Hindley hasn't raced the Australian Championships since 2020 but there was a big draw in 2025. It is not a course that suits the 2022 Giro d'Italia champion any more than the venue of the last two decades, since longer climbs are what play to his strengths. However, racing in familiar territory in front of the home crowd was clearly a tempting option for the rider from Perth.
"On paper, it looks much easier than the Ballarat course, but it will still be a tough day out and probably a pretty open race," said Hindley in an AusCycling release. "Very tactical and the finish is also quite punchy as well."
The climbs may be short, but Hindley could take a chance on them, knowing that if that gambit doesn't work and it comes down to a sprint he's got the ideal teammate to take care of that scenario.
One of Sam Welsford's three Tour Down Under stage victories in 2024 (Image credit: Getty Images)
Sam Welsford and Hindley are a complementary pairing for Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe for the national championships. Welsford is a clear contender for the criterium title in Northbridge on Friday evening and again in the road race in the event that it finishes in a reduced bunch sprint.
Welsford is another Perth local who knows the terrain inside out and will have plenty of support along the road. Last Australian summer he made a spectacular debut with his new team at the Santos Tour Down Under, taking three stage wins. Later in the season as he turned his attention to the track he fulfilled an Olympic dream, claiming the gold medal in the Team Pursuit. Given his proven turn of speed, his rivals will fervently hope he is dropped on the climbs before the final pass of the finish line.
Kelland O'Brien during the Classics in 2024 (Image credit: Getty Images)
Kelland O'Brien was riding alongside Welsford when the squad claimed Team Pursuit gold for Australia in the Paris Olympics, but when it comes to Nationals in Perth, the two will be rivals. Just as Plapp is an obvious card to get away in a break for Jayco-AlUla, O'Brien is a clear sprint option. Last year, he completed the podium for the squad in the road race at Nationals as he sprinted to third from the group that came in behind the team's two breakaway riders, Plapp and Chris Harper.
The 26-year-old will also have plenty of eyes on him in the criterium, given he won that title in 2023. There is no discounting his time trial either, and he could well be a podium contender in the race against the clock on Thursday, having taken fourth last year and third place in 2023 and 2021.
In with a chance
The unpredictable and tactical nature of the new road race course could also spell opportunity for riders beyond the top favourites. Among some of the names to watch is Elliot Schultz, now racing for Japan's Victorie Hiroshima. Schultz came fourth last year behind O'Brien while riding for Team BridgeLane.
His then-teammate Liam Walsh is another to keep an eye on, having taken sixth last year and also with team strength on his side. Walsh is now racing in the team with the strongest numbers by far, CCACHE-BODYWRAP, and among the squad of seven, there are also other strong contenders such as Cameron Scott and another member of the gold medal-winning team pursuit squad, Conor Leahy.
In the U23 men's race, Fergus Browning will be attempting to defend his title, which he tenaciously pursued in 2024 despite being knocked off his bike by a car the day before.
Brodie Chapman at the Road World Championships in 2024 (Image credit: Getty Images)
The retirement of time trial world champion and Olympic gold medallist Grace Brown has left a very obvious vacancy at the top of the discipline in Australia and Brodie Chapman's performances have been as much a clear message of her desire to fill the spot as the little kid that is jumping up and down enthusiastically shouting 'pick me' as the school sport teams are being chosen. Chapman was just seven seconds behind Brown in the chase for the national time trial title last year, despite some gear issues out on course, and has backed that second place up with repeated visits to the podium in time trials through the rest of the season.
That, however, is not where the chances end for Chapman who won the 2023 road race title and, with a course on offer in Perth that could suit a tactical opportunist, there is every reason to think that the 33-year-old is in with a shot again this year. What will be working against Chapman though is that her shift to UAE Team ADQ this year means she will be on her own. Still last time she changed teams her first race with the new squad yielded a national title – perhaps history could repeat.
A celebration after winning the Australian title in 2024 (Image credit: Josh Chadwick / AusCycling)
Ruby Roseman-Gannon had "diamonds in the legs" at last year's National Championships managing to pull off a masterful display as she won the road race from a sprint of 11 despite the fact that she was constantly part of the action during the race. Now in 2025, the rider who always seems to thrive in the January races in Australia is moving her title defence to a course that looks to suit her even better.
What's more, Roseman-Gannon is coming from a late 2024 season performance at the Road World Championships that can only bolster her confidence for the year ahead as she, along with Chapman, was part of the winning mixed relay team and then in the road race managed to make it to the line with a small lead group – alongside the huge names of Lotte Kopecky, Chloe Dygert, Elisa Longo Borghini, Liane Lippert and Demi Vollering – to ultimately take sixth. Roseman-Gannon is also the defending criterium champion, so Friday should prove a solid warm-up for the final showdown on Sunday.
Alex Manly at the Tour Down Under in 2024 (Image credit: Getty Images)
Alex Manly has been somewhat of a fixture at Liv AlUla Jayco, until now. The 28-year-old first lined up with the Australian squad in 2015 and last year joined her then teammate Roseman-Gannon on the podium of both the road race and the criterium, taking the third step. Manly has made a switch to AG Insurance-Soudal in 2025 and that move has both taken away one of the defending champions most valuable allies while also adding another fierce competitor to the mix.
Working to Manly's advantage is a course that suits plus racing alongside her she'll have new teammate Anya Louw, who is constantly the picture of a hard-working teammate.
Lauretta Hanson at Tour of Flanders in 2024 (Image credit: Getty Images)
Lauretta Hanson is usually seen working toward the wins of others, her job done well before the finish line and her celebrations coming when someone else makes it to the top step. The Australian National Championships, however, have been a venue where in recent years she has had the opportunity to fight for her own place on the podium and she has done it with considerable success.
Hanson was second last year in the road race and third in 2021 so the top step is the only one she hasn't visited. The nature of her work as one of the best domestiques in the business may mean the rider at this point has just one career win on her tally, from back in 2018, but she has increasingly been knocking on the door of another. The Perth course, which plays more to her strengths with its shorter climbs, may just help her open it.
Nicole Frain at the Tour of Britain in 2024 (Image credit: Getty Images)
Nicole Frain was a surprise winner of the national road race title in 2022, though given her ability to always be near the front of the field at the race it perhaps shouldn't have been too much of a shock. Even in her first year of taking on the event in 2019, Frain was 24th, then 13th in 2020 before shifting into the top 10 with eighth place in 2021 before taking the title in 2022. She was then fifth when she returned in 2024.
The 32-year-old may have been shifting her focus toward gravel even further this year, confirming her increased off-road focus when she signed with Ridley, but it's clear she is all in on the tarmac for the start of the Australian summer racing at least. Frain is not only heading to Perth for the national title races but also to Adelaide to race the Tour Down Under with the ARA Australian Cycling team.
In with a chance
Anya Louw (AG Insurance Soudal) should not only provide a valuable ally for Manly in the road race, but is also a serious podium contender in the time trial, having won the U23 title in 2022 and taken fourth in the elite category last year.
When it comes to Sunday's battle in King Park, it is also hard to look past the mounting experience of Emily Watts who will be racing with new women's ProTeam Saint Michel-Mavic-Auber93 in 2025.
Watts came seventh last year and sixth the year before so has proven her ability to compete at the pointy end of the race and that extra year heavy with European race experience may be just what she needs to up the ante.
Amber Pate, who has finished in the top ten three times could prove another handy card to play for home team Liv AlUla Jayco, while three-time road race title winner Amanda Spratt (Lidl-Trek) should never be underestimated. Then in the under-23 category, Lucinda Stewart will be among the closely watched competitors as the 20-year-old launches another pivotal year in her development after having signed with the Liv AlUla Jayco Continental team.
Simone is a degree-qualified journalist that has accumulated decades of wide-ranging experience while working across a variety of leading media organisations. She joined Cyclingnews as a Production Editor at the start of the 2021 season and has now moved into the role of Australia Editor. Previously she worked as a freelance writer, Australian Editor at Ella CyclingTips and as a correspondent for Reuters and Bloomberg. Cycling was initially purely a leisure pursuit for Simone, who started out as a business journalist, but in 2015 her career focus also shifted to the sport.
