Nearly 20 years in the making – Tiffany Cromwell and Mark O’Brien scoop up first elite Australian titles at National Gravel Championships

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Tiffany Cromwell (Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto) and Mark O'Brien (Trappist) swept up their first elite national titles on Saturday at the AusCycling Gravel National Championships in South Australia, fulfilling a pursuit that began around two decades ago for both riders.

O'Brien flew solo for around 30km to claim the green and gold jersey he had last clinched at the U17 in the National Championships road race in 2003, carving out a solid gap to Cameron Scott in second and Brendan Johnston (Giant) in third.

Cromwell had a close three way battle on her hands, gaining the advantage on Talia Appleton (Praties) and mountain bike force Rebecca Henderson (Orbea Fox Factory) through the final corners to secure the Australian title, an honour she last enjoyed at the Road Championships when she claimed the U19 time trial in 2006.

"Finally an elite Aussie title," said Cromwell in an Instagram post after claiming the win at her first event back from breaking her collarbone 35 days ago. "Obviously gravel has become my game lately, so I'm pretty stoked to be able to bring it to the rest of the races I’ll be doing this season and to come back from my injury. A nice way to get the confidence back.”

The racing at the 102km inaugural Ponderosa Pines race, which was hosting the championships this year, started in two-minute waves through the elite and masters categories.

“I didn’t take off from the gun – one of the other women did for a hot minute, but I just hid in the wheels," said Cromwell in a Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto media release. "We got caught by the masters 1-2 men after around 20km, and then it became a race between Bec Henderson, Talia Appleton and me. 

"We were the only ones that made the group, but then none of us could drop each other from that group. Honestly, I was suffering most of the day, but just tried to play it smart. Then in the last 5km, the guys we were with sat back and let us race, as their group had split anyway.”

Both Appleton and Henderson laid down attacks through the final stages, but Cromwell marked the moves until the final 600m when she launched. Despite cramping almost as soon as she attacked, the experienced multi-discipline rider held firm.

She crossed the line in three hours, 15 minutes and 42 seconds, carving out a four-second gap to 2024 Gravelista winner Appleton and then Henderson crossed the line a further eight seconds back, taking third in her first gravel race.

The title race was Cromwell's second gravel event in Australia this year, with the 36-year-old having won RADL GRVL in January. Now she will be continuing on with the two UCI World Gravel Series events of The Devils Cardigan in Tasmania on May 10 and then SEVEN in Western Australia on May 17.

For O'Brien, this is yet another big, long-sought win that has arrived despite his move to focus more on family and work over the last two years, with the rider having last year scooped up a long-sought-after Melbourne to Warrnambool victory despite a last-minute decision to enter.

The 37-year-old has also shown plenty of gravel form in recent seasons, claiming victory at Sutton Grange Winery Uncorked Gravel in 2024 and taking third at RADL GRVL in South Australia at the start of this year.

At Ponderosa Pines, he, as always, knew that he had to go it alone to be in with a chance, but to make his move wasn't banking on the climbs through the two laps of the 51km long Mt Crawford course with 622m of elevation gain each lap.

"I knew I wasn’t punchy enough to get away from the guys on the little kicks on the hills, so I had to find a place on the flat," said O'Brien in an interview put out in the AusCycling highlights video. "Got away in the headwind before the last climb, dropped Iven [Bennett], who was with me, and then had about a 30k solo effort basically from then on. 

"So [I was] really trying to push in all the sections where I thought they would come back at me and sort of get in time trial mode on the long straights, where I knew they would hesitate a bit, to try and hold them and finally got it done."

Stil,l it hadn't been easy to work his way into that position.

“It was hard yakka out there," O'Brien said in an interview posted by Australia Cycling Photography and his Trappist team. "I dropped my chain on the first lap and had to chase for about 10km, so that had me a bit cooked. It just went so hard from the start that it ended up being really attritional out there."

O'Brien finished with a time of 2 hours, 54 minutes and 26 seconds, crossing the line nearly a minute ahead of his nearest rivals. Former Bahrain Victorious rider Scott won the sprint for second from the small lead chase group ahead of the 2022 and 2024 title holder, Brendan Johnston (Giant).