Doors swing open to fiercely-contested Australian Road Championships - Preview

Luke Plapp (Ineos Grenadiers) celebrates his victory in the 2022 Australian championships elite men's road race (Image credit: Getty Images Sport)

Fans have been missing the annual return of the Australian peloton for the AusCycling Road National Championships over the past two seasons, but with the borders open following the COVID-19-induced international racing hiatus, the European-based riders are flocking back to Ballarat for the most fiercely contested title bouts in years.

The second sortie in the Australian summer of racing, which started with the Citroën Bay Crits, will play out in the Victorian city of Ballarat this week before WorldTour racers head off to Adelaide to the Tour Down Under and then onto the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race.

The first national titles will be awarded in central Ballarat, when the criteriums play out on a tight 1.1km course. Club crits will start early afternoon before the competition moves into the junior ranks and then the U23 men before the evening timeslot gives way first to the combined elite/U23 women’s race and finally the elite men. Although it is the middle of summer in the southern hemisphere nation, there has been some wild weather for competitors to contend with over the years as barricade blowing over summer storms have swept through, but at this stage it is looking like the riders will line up to fine and mild conditions in the city, which started as a gold rush town in the 1850’s.

Last year Ruby Roseman-Gannon came straight off victory at the Citroën Bay Crits and rode herself into a national criterium title. The 24-year-old Jayco AlUla rider has just swept up the criterium series again and now the question is can she double up on the double as well? Of course her teammate, Alex Manly, who was pivotal in her victory last year could also be an option for the team and then there is the long list of rivals to Australia’s only Women’s WorldTour squad.

Matilda Raynolds (Black Sheep Cycling) will also be setting out with plenty of motivation, with the powerful cyclist who is fresh off a Bay Crits stage victory still searching for a team in Europe for 2023, while 20 year old Keely Bennett of the new partly crowdfunded women’s squad, Team BridgeLane marked herself out as one to watch in not just the U23 category but elite as well when she claimed a second place spot on stage 2 of the Bay Crits.

New Jayco AlUla signing Blake Quick will be looking to make his mark as he steps up to the elite field, after his turn of speed was clearly evident at Bay Crits when he delivered a lead out for event winner Brenton Jones that gapped the rest of the field on the opening stage. Plus Quick is all in for the race, which will be his last chance to grab a result on home soil in a while, as the 2022 U23 road title winner is expecting to play a support role in the elite road race and then he’ll be heading off to Europe for training with his new teammates.

The road races this year will again unfold on the 11.6km circuit in Buninyong – although some of the Para-cycling will take place on a 10.2km circuit – with the climb of Mount Buninyong Road to wear riders down as the laps accumulate. The U19 riders, U23 men and the GranFondo cycling championships are on Saturday, while the Para-cycling is early Sunday before the elite/U23 women’s race sets out on what is shaping up as a hot day of racing. The elite men are set to feel the full force of the summer blast of heat, setting out in the early afternoon.

The Mount Buninyong road climb may not be Caleb Ewan’s favourite – he is a sprinter after all – but the Lotto Soudal rider certainly has shown in recent seasons an enhanced ability to hold firm in the peloton when the road heads up. This year, returning to race the National Championships for the first time in four years, with allies in Harry Sweeny and Jarrad Drizners, we will get to see how that translates on the Buninyong circuit.

Usually the race starter, the time trials this year will wrap up proceedings at Road Nationals, a move that isn't without its critics as taking on the race against the clock just two days after the gruelling road race certainly could play on the outcome, particularly given two of the key time trial contenders – Luke Plapp and Grace Brown – also have plenty at stake on Sunday. The competition in the race against the clock starts on Monday, with the Under 19 category and club team time trials, with the elite races closing the event Tuesday.

While 2021 winner Sarah Gigante may again not be on the start list, Georgia Baker (Jayco AlUla) has shown that she's got some serious potential in the discipline, slotting into eighth position at her Worlds debut in the discipline. A couple of her new teammates, Amber Pate and Georgia Howe, also showed their strength in the time trial with a second and fourth place finish in the Australian Championships in 2022, and now they will have access to the equipment and know-how of a WorldTour team to build on their skills.

Luke Durbridge is without doubt the fiercest rival, having already swept up four titles in the discipline and last year finishing second to Dennis. Jay Vine (UAE Team Emirates) is also expected to take on the time trial this year and while he is somewhat of an unknown quantity in the discipline, if his eighth place at the Etoile de Bessèges ITT last year is anything to go by he shouldn’t be discounted.

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.