The Australian summer time spells alternative for budding home cyclists who’re seeking to paintings their means onto the sector level, or on the subject of some others, to find their long ago.
The possibilities to make a mark abound, proper from the native however highly-regarded races just like the Excursion of Vivid, Melbourne to Warrnambool and Warrnambool Ladies’s Biking Vintage thru to the most important occasion at the nationwide calendar, the AusCycling Highway Nationwide Championships.
Jack Ward
When Luke Plapp (Jayco-AlUla) used to be charging up Tawonga Hole on level 1 of the Excursion of Vivid, he left a scattered path of riders from the ruin down the climb – many had attempted to stick with his wheel however couldn’t. There used to be, then again, one exception and that used to be Jack Ward.
It used to be an much more surprising result when the 19-year-old mountain motorbike rider didn’t simply sit down on his wheel however in a savvy transfer shot out from at the back of Plapp’s wheel to take the level win. What’s extra, he then went directly to take victory on level 3 at the difficult climb of Mount Buffalo and completed moment at the general at the back of Plapp.
That used to be additionally no longer Ward’s best sturdy appearing of the summer time with the rider thus far enjoying his hand to perfection within the new six-round ProVelo Tremendous League. After two rounds, SA Kick It and the Powercor Melbourne to Warrnambool, the Staff Brennan p/b TP32 rider sits moment general and with ease on the most sensible the U23 leaderboard. This implies he’s these days in top place to safe that stagiaire contract with Jayco-AlUla this is up for grabs for the beneath 23 sequence winner.
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Talia Appleton
Talia Appleton additionally jumped to prominence on the Excursion of Vivid, first claiming the pre-event criterium with an extended solo effort after which on level 1 to the highest of Tawonga Hole she jumped out of the gang at 1.5km to move and not seemed again. To proceed carving out her development up the ranks she then had two choices for the brand new yr. The primary used to be a spot within the Australian nationwide group for the Excursion Down Below, some other used to be racing around 1 of the ProVelo Tremendous League, SA Kick It, to concentrate on the chase for the Liv-AlUla-Jayco Continental group contract up for grabs for the under-23 winner of the sequence. That moment possibility used to be the only she took.
The Praties rider, who after two rounds is sitting on the most sensible of the each the total and under-23 chief board for the sequence, added that having seemed on the issues calculations along with her group control and trainer she made up our minds it used to be necessary to show up for each and every race. Plus the tight block and contract on be offering delivered a number of coaching motivation in the course of the duration.
“Knowing that there is such a big reward at the end of it and having a condensed block of racing of three months means you can really perform in all the rounds,” stated Appleton.
Talia Appleton (Praties) within the inexperienced general chief’s jersey of the ProVelo Tremendous League on the Lochard Power Warrnambool Ladies’s Biking Vintage (Symbol credit score: Con Chronis/ProVelo Tremendous League)Julian Baudry
Perth delivered an additional part of the unknown to the AusCycling Highway Nationwide Championships in 2025, with a transformation from the preferred however well-worn process Buninyong to another circuit punctuated via more than one climbs. As such, the U23 males’s race used to be an actual litmus take a look at. Would the path open the way in which for a discounted bunch dash or would the ruin riders have their day?
When the 18-year-old Julian Baudry flew solo from the main team at the second-to-last lap of 10, he replied that query. With a tenacious effort from the first-year under-23 rider he held the chase at bay and crossed the road to assert the Australian identify, the victor sounding simply as stunned as somebody else that he had discovered the highest step of the rostrum. It’s a debut within the under-23 class that may definitely reduce quick the times of flying beneath the radar for the Staff Brennan p/b TP32 rider.
Julian Baudry on his strategy to the boys’s U23 roat identify on the Australian Highway Nationwide Championships (Symbol credit score: AusCycling / Chris Auld)Alyssa Polites
Alyssa Polites has lengthy stood out in Australia, dominating the junior ranks on the Nationwide Championship when she claimed time trial gold and highway race silver in 2020 after which upping the ante in 2021 to take each titles. She then moved to the U23 class and instantly discovered her means onto the rostrum on the mixed ladies’s elite and U23 highway race.
Alternatively, issues didn’t pass to plot when she stepped onto the sector level with LIv-AlUla-Jayco. After two years the place sickness and harm stymied her run, in 2025 she had no contract and one thing to turn out. There used to be no time wasted as Polites made probably the most of her spot at the ARA Australian Biking nationwide group in South Australia, claiming the Queen of the Mountains jersey on the Santos Ladies’s Excursion Down Below.
“It’s good for the confidence and I’m hoping it will put my name back on the board,” stated Polites. “I really want to get back over to Europe, so anything I can do to get there.”
Fergus Browning
2024 used to be a yr the place Fergus Browning did a substantial quantity to stake his declare for a qualified contract, successful the U23 males’s elite highway identify, despite the fact that he used to be hit via a automotive in coaching the day earlier than, and backing that up with a Ecu victory, level 1 of the Excursion de l’Ain. However, after the closure of Trinity Racing’s highway group, he confronted 2025 with no contract to race in Europe.
That left masses at the line for the Australian summer time, which began out with silver in each the U23 males’s time trial and within the highway race, the place he reeled again in all however one of the most ruin riders, Baudry. His power used to be clean and he put it to excellent use on the Excursion Down Below, going out at the assault with ARA Australian Biking teammate Zac Marriage early on day 1 and organising a grip at the King of the Mountains jersey the proved unshakeable, the rider from Melbourne completing with double the issues of his nearest rival.
Emily Dixon
The 18-year-old with a past due December birthday used to be simply the youngest rider on the starting point on the Santos Ladies’s Excursion Down Below. Nonetheless, despite the fact that Emily Dixon can have best simply stepped out of the junior ranks the ARA Australian Biking group rider used to be definitely doing excess of simply getting thru her first Ladies’s WorldTour race, in particular when it got here to level 2 which completed on the most sensible of the climb of Willunga Hill.
The Australian ladies’s group on the 2025 Santos Ladies’s Excursion Down Below (Symbol credit score: Getty Photographs)Zac Marriage
Zac Marriage began the yr with the U23 males’s time trial win on the AusCycling Highway Nationwide Championships and persisted to turn his power and resolution as he labored into January. Despite the fact that he had a place within the ARA Australian Biking Staff for the Excursion Down Below and Cadel Evans Nice Ocean Highway Race, Marriage used to be decided to do all he may to verify he used to be scoring as many issues as conceivable within the ProVelo Tremendous League as nicely.
That intended he raced the time trial opener of SA Kick It up Willunga Hill on Saturday, 18th January, and the Villawood Males’s Vintage that night, then Sunday rode the level 2 criterium earlier than forgoing the level 3 highway race of the 1st around within the ProVelo Tremendous League sequence on Monday to arrange for the start of the WorldTour festival on the Excursion Down Below on Tuesday. Straightaway on the Excursion Down Below, he went at the fee, out entrance in an extended ruin with teammate Browning. He additionally fought his means into the highest 20 on each the Willunga Hill level and the overall classification and cam moment within the early life classification, simply 15 seconds at the back of winner Albert Philipsen, Lidl-Trek’s new ‘tremendous ability’.
Liam Walsh
Liam Walsh, who had already taken 3rd within the males’s elite highway race on the Australian Nationwide Championships, used to be some other from some of the nationwide group that confirmed he used to be ready to combine it in WorldTour corporate on the Excursion Down Below. That used to be even in spite of being dominated out of the majority of the dash possibilities via a succession of misfortunes – from an Unwell-timed damaged spoke on level 1, a past due flat on level 2 and getting stuck up in either one of the final lap crashes on the road on level 6
Alternatively, that also left what used to be a difficult level 4 to Victor Harbor, with climbs that put the dominant sprinter of the race, Sam Welsford (Pink Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), out of competition. The 23-year-old made the most productive of the chance, sticking with the lead team and dealing his means up the stretched out box to return agonisingly on the subject of the rostrum, taking fourth at the level.
Liam Walsh (CCACHE x Bodywrap) at the podium of the elite males’s highway race on the AusCycling Highway Nationwide Championships in 3rd, along Jayco-AlUla’s Luke Durbridge and Luke Plapp (Symbol credit score: Getty Photographs)Katelyn Nicholson
Oceania champion Katelyn Nicholson has already had a powerful begin to the yr thru January, taking moment general on the SA Kick It opening around at the ProVelo Tremendous League and simply lacking the rostrum in each the time trial and the street race on the Nationwide Championships, however the most productive used to be but to return.
Thru a quick and windy Lochard Power Warrnambool Ladies’s Vintage, the Butterfields ZipTrak rider performed her hand to perfection and controlled to escape and held out entrance for the general 40km of the 156-kilometre race. NIcholson had a number of time to benefit from the second as she crossed the road solo and can now head off to race in Europe in April with the Down Below Academy, put in combination via Valentina Scandolara, with a wanted win at the back of her.
Blake Agnoletto
Blake Agnoletto had already reminded his competitors of his robust flip of pace via the second one level of the ProVelo Tremendous League’s SA Kick It in January however the giant query, as he used to be coming towards the Powercor Melbourne to Warrnambool end line in a bunch of 5, used to be would it not dangle up after 267 brutal kilometres? The solution used to be a powerful sure.
Cameron Scott who had simply pop out of the WorldTour ranks and used to be racing with CCACHE X Bodywrap, used to be obviously an enormous risk, in particular because the winner of the 2022 version then again no longer even he may contact the 22-year-old Staff Brennan p/b TP32 rider as soon as he introduced at beneath 200m to move. It used to be a simple victory for Agnoletto and, he has each and every reason why to wish it’s the get started of even larger issues to return.
“I really want to go pro this year, ” stated the 22-year-old rider who final yr have been extra track-focussed despite the fact that simply ignored out on Olympic variety. “It’s definitely a big road focus going into this year. I’ve started to show the form is already there and I just need to keep building on it until I leave for Europe at the start of next month.”
(Symbol credit score: Con Chronis/ProVelo Tremendous League)Alli Anderson
Alli Anderson used to be a reputation that simply saved cropping up in the course of the summer time, with the rider appearing she used to be again, in no unsure phrases, from the well being issues that had stymied her season on the Excursion of Vivid. Anderson gained that race general after which kicked off January via claiming the ladies’s under-23 time trial identify.
The 21-year-old then delivered a transparent demonstration of her racing nous, most probably tuned via her position within the nationwide group on the Excursion Down Below and Cadel Evans Nice Ocean Highway Race, on the Lochard Power Warrnambool Ladies’s Biking Vintage. The rider used to be no longer best provide within the strikes, in the end completing 6th, however it used to be her that spurred her Butterfields Ziptrak teammate into the successful ruin.
And the most productive used to be simply what came about, with Anderson additionally demonstrating that in addition to pulling within the effects for herself she additionally may lend a hand bolster the ones round her.
Rudy Porter
Rudy Porter used to be one of the most riders some of the Australian hopefuls that already knew what it felt love to get that WorldTour contract, having signed for 2 seasons with Jayco-AlUla from 2023. Sadly, all had no longer long gone nicely for him when he were given there. In 2024 he used to be no longer ready to line up after Would possibly, not up to very best in a freelance yr, and that intended he discovered himself questioning what is subsequent and at the hunt once more in Australia in 2025.
He had made up our minds to use for a place at the nationwide group, and whilst he best had six to 8 weeks of coaching “coming from pretty much nothing” he had a forged Excursion Down Below, completing eleventh at the tricky Willunga Hill level and sixteenth general. He then went directly to take a dig on the Cadel Evans Nice Ocean Highway Race and safe the King of the Mountains jersey.
“Everything is really good with the leg now, no problems whatsoever, the training is going really well and I’m just trying to get back to WorldTour level.”
