End of an era – Final sign off for Australia's National Road Series at the Tour of Gippsland

For decades the top tier of racing in Australia has unfolded through the AusCycling National Road Series (NRS), an assortment of races across the year that has provided a key step in the pathway to the WorldTour for many, from Richie Porte to Jack Haig  and Grace Brown, but on Friday the chequered flag was waved for the last time. Now the NRS is no more.

The Tour of Gippsland finale delivered two road stages and a time trial at the undulating oceanside Grand Prix circuit on Phillip Island then headed to the village of Rhyll for the closing criteriums, with the final finish line set up alongside the inlet. The tour – which lists Sam Welsford, Josie Talbot and Nathan Haas among its winners – has long been a crucial part of the series and it held firm to that tradition by providing the closing chapter, crowning Keely Bennett (Team BridgeLane) and Graeme Frislie (CCACHE x Par Küp) as the final elite NRS winners.

In 2025 it will be more than a new chapter that begins with a new book – titled ProVelo Super League – to be opened. Still that doesn't mean there isn't a thread of sadness to see the end of the NRS story written at a point where looking for another path seemed a necessity, rather than a choice. 

“I’m very disappointed that the NRS series is no longer,” said long-time Tour of Gippsland race director, Karin Jones, who understands all too well the important role the domestic race scene can play, having not only had a long and extensive involvement in race organisation but also having seen it through the lens of a parent as she helped support her son Brenton’s pursuit of cycling.

There have been multiple reviews of the AusCycling series over the years but no solution or impetus found to turn it around, particularly after the even tougher times that came for events and teams after the COVID-19 pandemic spurred interruptions – a time when costs and the logistical challenges continued to build rapidly.

“I felt that the NRS was a real pathway opportunity," Jones told Cyclingnews on the edge of the Phillip Island Grand Prix circuit as day 2 of racing at the Tour of Gippsland was playing out. "I’m disappointed that it has not been supported and is no longer and I really hope that ProVelo can be this replacement that grows and offers the opportunities that have been offered in the past through the NRS races.”

Jones is doing far more than just hoping. The event director may be dissapointed but also remains effusive about just what a privilege it has been to work with the riders and teams of the NRS over the years and is clearly as committed as ever. She is putting her decades of experience into trying to help make sure that as one pathway fades the one that replaces it becomes a success, having thrown her hat in the ring as Event Technical Director at the ProVelo Super League.

Jones and many others that are still involved in driving the organisation of the events and teams remember all too well the power of a healthy domestic scene as they have seen first-hand just how a strong, well thought out and varied domestic racing opportunity – delivered at events like the Tour of Gippsland – could help prepare riders for the professional peloton.

"There were hard stages and there were flat stages but also the terrain and the conditions, wind included, allowed the development of our national product to be accelerated and in particular develop the skills so that when they stepped into the pro-peloton it wasn’t like it was their first day on the job," said Pat Shaw, who won the event in 2010, was on the ground in 2024 in his role as manager of the podium dominating Team BridgeLane women's squad.

"I think that was the real pivotal thing about, not only the Tour of Gippsland, but there were several events around the calendar that did that on the National Road Series," Shaw said after the final podium, looking back on what was but also quick to point to the pool of talent evident throughout the peloton at the current tour.

The talent may still be there but what has changed is that the gap they have to jump appears to be constantly stretching because the WorldTour has continued to develop while the domestic series has shrunk. For example, a decade ago, the Tour of Gippsland's men's start list for what was then a six-stage event, ran to around 160 and in 2024 numbers at the Tour were closer to 50 for the elite men and 44 in the elite women's competition.

Event numbers, too, have fallen. When the 2014 calendar was announced it listed 11 men's events and eight women's events. In 2024 the series included just four events each for the men and women, starting with the long-running Australian one day Classic of the Melbourne to Warrnambool for both, the Grafton to Inverell for the men and the two-stage Sapphire Tour for the women, then the Tour de Brisbane and finally the Tour of Gippsland.

The numbers of races and racers have thinned to a point where there is no disguising what lies beneath – a top tier of Australian racing that may be trying to build a bridge toward the WorldTour for the nation's biggest talents but is stopping mid-river, leaving many looking for a life-boat to get the rest of the way across.

The final battle

The NRS as a whole may have had its battles but the ones on the road were still uncovering worthy winners and giving up and comers a chance to hone their race craft right till the last. The first stage of the 2024 Tour of Gippsland, 75.65km for the elite women and 102.23km for the elite women, took the riders anti-clockwise around the 4.45km Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit, with its undulating terrain and smooth roads.

The riders were reminded on Wednesday that the stunning blue water backdrop can come with a cost – stiff ocean breezes that rip up onto the track – but  Bennett and Frislie made the best of the conditions, both winning the stage one sprint. 

Onto Thursday, and there were two stages, the 8.9km time trial, which was won by Tali Lane Welsh (CCACHE x Par Küp) and Katelyn Nicholson (Team BridgeLane), who came into the event wearing the NRS leaders jersey. Warm weather, blue skies and light winds greeted the elite riders in the afternoon as they took on the circuit clockwise with 70km for the women and 80km for the men. This time it was ARA Skip Capital's Sophie Marr who got to celebrate her first NRS win, with Bennett taking the runner up spot for a second stage running. Frislie was too quick for the rest of the elite men's field again, taking another road stage.

Stage 4 moved to another location on the island holiday haven within easy reach of Melbourne, with a criterium on the streets of Rhyll. The weather kept threatening to turn but fortunately the rain was held at bay while the racing was unfolding. 

The women's elite race encountered gusty wind that made it hard going for the break. A punchy intermediate sprint unfolded before the final dash unfolded at the end of 35km with Odette Lynch (Butterfields Racing Team) surging to victory. It was another runner-up spot for Bennett, enough to deliver a sought after overall Tour win and a National Road Series victory too.

"I knew this Tour suited me and I was coming here to win – I came here to win last year but I had an unfortunate crash in the first stage – so this year I was training my heart out and I did a good TT and came away with an advantage and now I'm really stoked," Bennett told Cyclingnews while standing beside the podium after having just been awarded the last elite women's NRS leaders jersey. For the 21-year-old Bennett it was a matter of going out on top, with the rider taking a step back from racing the top tier domestic series next year to focus on university.

In the 42km finale of the men's elite race CCACHE x Par Küp set up Kurt Eather for the sprint victory, crossing the line ahead of Craig Wiggins, while it was two-time U23 Australian criterium champion Frislie in third. That was enough to secure the Tour and the NRS overall.

"This is a series I grew up watching on TV – it was something that I aspired to even just be a part of and now to win it is pretty special," Frislie told Cyclingnews. "It's a shame it is a bit of a shadow of what it once was but its still really awesome to have my name on the honour roll."

The 23-year old will also be hoping to make his mark in the new ProVelo Super League next year. “I’m looking forward to that, it's going to be a lot of unknown being the first time its been run with this format but I’m really excited for something fresh and to see what it is all about.” 

The unknowns extend beyond the new series, as with the Tour of Gippsland part of the league – at least not in 2025 – there is the question of where that leaves the well-regarded tour. 

Jones, however, has some reassuring words during the final podium presentation – "we hope to keep Gippsland going" - and judging by the three cheers delivered for the event director at the end of the day many will want to try and support the late season event in whatever form it comes.

Change is the biggest certainty in 2025 at this point, because as ProVelo Super League co-founder Matt Wilson said when we spoke to him on the sidelines of the event: "it’s the end of one era but it is the opening of another.”

Keep watching for the second feature in this series, with an exploration of what the start of the new era for Australian domestic cycling is expected to look like coming out next week.