The conditions are set for a memorable weekend of road races at the AusCycling National Championships this year, with a stacked field and hot conditions that will test just how well the returning European-based professionals have made the transition to the summer conditions.
The past two years, the battles for the green and gold jersey have still been hard fought, but with only a handful of European-based professionals coming out, the ferocity is set to step up a notch in 2023, with the borders re-opened and the COVID-19 international hiatus coming to an end. It’s looking like one of the most competitive fields in years, but it is also an incredibly diverse lineup of riders, from sprinters to climbers and GC contenders.
That range of skill sets and the impact of the heat makes the way the race will play out on the course, which has the climb of Mount Buninyong Road as its central feature, this means that the racing is an entirely unpredictable beast given the number of riders with different skill sets that we haven’t seen at the event for quite some time.
Still, from among the myriad of options, we’ve identified ten riders from among the elite field to watch for on Sunday as the women set out for 9 laps of the 11.6km course to race 104.4km and the men take on 16 laps for 185.6km.
Grace Brown has repeatedly been oh so close to taking the national title in the road race the last three years, and while she has stepped into green and gold in the time trial, she's had to resign herself to the bottom two steps of the podium in Buninyong, so far at least. The 30-year-old will be without any teammates this year, but that's where her time-trialling strength will help - if anyone has the ability to sustain a break while riding out the front solo, it is Brown, and she also has finely tuned the art of knowing exactly when it is the right time to jump. We haven't been given any indication of her recent form, with the rider not at Bay Crits this year and her last race being the World Championships in Wollongong in September. Though, with her second place there in the time trial, her building strength as her years in the peloton progress is clear.
Amanda Spratt has already claimed the elite road race title three times, the last time in 2020, which was also her most recent appearance at the event. She is returning under completely different circumstances this time, having made her first-ever professional team switch, moving from Australia's WorldTour team to Trek-Segafredo. That move means she won't have the usual strength in numbers, but she has been working to regain some of the sprint speed that hadn't quite returned since her surgery for iliac artery endofibrosis – and it looked like that work has paid off at Bay Crits. Plus, the teammates she does have are incredibly valuable ones, with the ever-reliable domestique Lauretta Hanson, who stood on the podium at Nationals in 2021, and Brodie Chapman, who is always aggressive in chasing or making the breaks. A fourth national title certainly seems within reach for a reinvigorated Spratt.
That blistering form which Ruby Roseman-Gannon took into the National Championships in her neo-pro year in 2022 is back again for 2023. The 24-year-old has just swept up the Bay Crits for a second year running, all while doing everything she could to give her teammates their chances as well, and is now also coming into the race with a year of WorldTour experience under her belt. The rider won the criterium title last year and came seventh in the road race, even though she was short on teammates with a number not making the trip back. This won't be the case in 2023, however, and with some new Australian signings also on the roster, it will be a team of seven that lines up for the title chase. The numbers and Roseman-Gannon's obvious form being on display at Bay Crits, however, do come with a drawback. "It's good for the confidence, and it's a really good way to start the year, but I think also sometimes you show your cards racing Bay Crits, so everyone knows to watch out for you," Roseman-Gannon told Cyclingnews earlier this week.
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One of those teammates that Roseman-Gannon will have riding alongside her is Alex Manly, who did an enormous volume of work last year as the sole support rider for the team at the national titles. After the year Manly has had, though, it's clear that she's well-equipped to chase victory at the race and could just as easily be the rider the team throws their support behind. Manly is capable on the climbs and packs a punch on the line, and she was the winner of the Lotto Thüringen Ladies Tour in 2022. Even at a time when track has been her main focus or last year when she was in a support role, she has had strong showings at the race, with her worst result being 15th. Given how clearly all eyes will be on Australia's Women's WorldTour squad now that it is back at the race in numbers, having two such strong options is far from a bad thing. Plus, that's not where the team's list of dangerous riders ends, with third-placed finisher and U23 title winner Alyssa Polites now on the roster along with Amber Pate, who also finished in the top ten last year.
Danielle De Francesco (Zaaf)
National Road Series 2022 winner Danielle De Francesco was racing aggressively at Bay Crits, clearly displaying the form to ride much of the field off her wheel in her numerous attacks. That indicates there is every reason for her rivals to keep a wary eye out for the 30-year-old, who has now signed with the new Spanish team Zaaf Cycling for 2023. Plus, on top of her powerful showing in the top domestic racing series, she clearly displayed her potential at Buninyong last year as well, with the former swimmer and triathlete taking fifth in 2022 while racing with ARA Pro Cycling. She won't have as many teammates this year, but the one she does have is a powerful ally, as Elizabeth Stannard has this year made the switch from Valcar-Travel&Service to Zaaf.
Honourable mentions
While the five riders mentioned may be some of the key names to watch, there are many more who could make a mark, such as Sarah Roy (Canyon-SRAM), who won the title in 2021, Rachel Neylan (Cofidis), who has lined up at the Australian Championships 12 times and finished in the top ten more than half of those, also landing on the podium three times. Then there is the Roxsolt Liv SRAM squad, which has a wealth of experience, from Chloe Hosking to 2015 winner Peta Mullens, and 2020 second-placed rider Justine Barrow. If Tilly Field’s third place in the criterium is anything to go on, she also carries solid form into the race.
Luke Plapp (Ineos Grenadiers)(Image credit: Dario Belingheri/Getty Images)
Luke Plapp managed to get away from the field to take a solo victory in 2022 and set off on his first season in the professional ranks with the green and gold jersey on his back – and a Pinarello to match. However, he is going to have his work cut out if he wants to keep it. Not that it was an easy get last year, but a whole new level of competition and unpredictably has entered the field this year with a raft of European-based professionals, and Plapp is without teammates, so he won't be able to cover all bases, but he will have to pick his battles wisely. On the flip side, he's now got a year more of experience in the top ranks that may help him do that.
The Ineos Grenadiers rider also did have a bit of a spill pre-Christmas, where he took skin off and had to take a week off the bike, so was still hitting out hard for some last training kilometres earlier this week while also racing the Bay Crits. We'll soon see if that interruption to his preparation will take a toll in the long and hot afternoon of racing on Sunday.
It's been a long time since Michael Matthews has raced an Australian Championships, with his last time back in 2014, but with the rider's riding style evolution, now seems a perfect time for him to return to the event, which usually is won either solo or with a small group dashing to the line. Given the way the rider held on through the steep pitches to Mende Aerodrome as he claimed stage 14 of the Tour de France in 2022, there's every reason to think that even with some serious climbers in the field, he may be able to stay within reach of the front. If he does maintain his position and is in a select group at the end, there are few in the field who could rival his turn of speed, although he'll probably be hoping Caleb Ewan has been tailed off.
Caleb Ewan certainly has shown in recent seasons an enhanced ability to hold firm in the peloton when the road heads up, but will it be enough to hang on through 16 laps and 16 runs up the climb of Mount Buninyong Road? In Ewan's words: "the course is pretty hard, but if I am on a good day, I can compete for the win."
Ewan hasn't raced in the Road National Championships for four years, so it's been a while since we've got to see how he handles the course, but in 2018 he just missed the podium, while in 2015, he secured second place and in 2014 claimed the U23 jersey. Ewan, too, has a couple of teammates this year, Harry Sweeny and Jarrad Drizners, so will not be forced to do it alone. Still, it is a far cry from the numbers Matthews has to lean on, with nine in the Jayco-AlUla squad and Ewan is expecting they'll do everything they can to avoid a sprint. Lotto Dstny, on the other hand, will be doing everything they can to make sure there is one.
Michael Matthews is undoubtedly centre stage when it comes to the Jayco AlUla squad, but there is another rider that is hard to ignore if you look back over the National Championships results pages, and that's a new member of the team, Chris Harper. The former Jumbo-Visma rider has rarely had many, if any, teammates over the past three years but has still finished in the top ten every time, and if you go back to 2019 when he was racing for Team BridgeLane, with numbers on his side, it was a second place for him. Having the strength in numbers again could perhaps work in his favour, and so too may the fact that many rivals will be focussed on the threat of Matthews.
It has been four years since Ben O'Connor has raced in the Australian Road National Championships, but in terms of career development, it feels like he has travelled in a light year since then, quickly reaching a whole new dimension. Since then, the 27-year-old has won a Giro d'Italia and Tour de France stage and stood just one step off the overall podium in the competition for one of cycling's most sought-after prizes, the yellow jersey. It'll be interesting to see if the strong presence of riders who fare well on the climbs and in the GC rankings transforms the race, but while the climb of Mount Buninyong Road may not be as steep or as long as O'Connor would like, it's bound to be his playground to rule on Sunday, along with riders like Jay Vine (UAE Team Emirates),
Honourable mentions
There are so many scenarios that could play out on Sunday, and consequently, so many other riders that could rightly claim a place on the list of riders to watch. For a start, there is Jay Vine, UAE Team Emirates' new signing, who is bound to be racing up the climbs – and wishing they were longer – alongside O'Connor. Then there are riders like James Whelan, who came second last year and has been fighting to return to the professional peloton. Simon Clarke (Israel Premier-Tech), who was almost in the same boat as Whelan but now has a Tour de France stage victory to his name, is another to watch. Less prominent, but perhaps no less a threat, is Matthew Dinham, who has stepped up to race with team DSM this year, also moving up from the U23 ranks where the multi-discipline rider last year came second in the road race and time trial too. Then when it comes to domestic riders, Kane Richards (ARA Skip Capital) is among those who can fare well on this course with the 2022 National Road Series winner finishing fourth last year.
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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.
