Launching a new road racing season – A guide to Australia's 2026 sun-drenched opening block
A Perth National Championships entree for the locals before world descends for Tour Down Under and Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race
Europe may be the home of the WorldTour but once a year the spotlight shifts to the completely different time zone and weather, heading to Australia for a southern hemisphere start to the season.
In 2026 the position of the block of racing down under as the entrenched season starter for the year of WorldTour racing has only been strengthened by new rules that mean a WorldTeam can only miss one top-tier event a season. That means more teams than ever will be out to take on the Australian block, combining the WorldTour events of the Tour Down Under and Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race for men and women, with some other ProSeries races added in too.
Still, before the uncertainty of early season form, new team dynamics and heat acclimatisation merges to produce an excitingly unpredictable run of international racing, the home town players get their chance to make a mark as the battle for national jerseys unfolds in the west of the nation.
For an overview of the top tier racing that is set to unfold in Australia this January and into early February, read on.
Australian Road National Championships - The locals get to play
- Time trials - Wednesday, January 7 and Thursday, January 8
- Criteriums - Friday, January 9
- Road races - Saturday, January 10 and Sunday, January 11
The opening act of the Australian season will play out in Perth for a second year, with the Westbridge Funds Road National Championships a rare opportunity for the domestic riders to put their prowess on display against the returning WorldTour professionals. As such many of the hopefuls put it all on the line to be in top form for January, chasing performances to open doors to the WorldTour but there will be no gifts from those who have already passed through them, not given the pride of a national title is at stake.
The race against the clock opens up competition, playing out on a 9.8km route in Bold Park with a relatively flat start and a hairpin turn. The elite women take on three laps and the elite men four.
Brodie Chapman (UAE Team ADQ) and Luke Plapp (Jayco-AlUla) will be on the start line to defend their time trial titles but neither have the luxury of taking another year in green and gold for granted. Plapp's biggest rival on paper is 2023 national champion Jay Vine (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) while Chapman has a wary eye on a number of players, particularly 20-year-old Felicity Wilson-Haffenden (Lidl-Trek) if the 2023 junior world time trial champion decides to throw her hat into the elite ring.
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After the time trial, it's time for the fast finishers to chase their chance on a 1.2km criterium course in Northbridge with six corners every lap. In the 50 minutes plus two laps elite and U23 women's criterium, Amber Pate (Liv-AlUla-Jayco) will be chasing her third national title in a row. In the elite men's criterium of 70 minutes plus two laps, Sam Welsford delivered a popular home-town win in 2025 and this year he'll be lining up to see if he can deliver another in his first outing in Ineos Grenadiers colours.
After the criteriums have played out Luke Durbridge (Jayco-AlUla) and Lucinda Stewart (Liv-AlUla-Jayco Continental Team) will step into Sunday's road races as the elite defending champions, though they will be facing an unpredictable battle on the 13.6km circuit that twists its way through Kings Park and sweeps by the Swan River before hitting the CBD. The punchy course last year caught many off guard, with both Durbridge and Stewart winners from the early break but there'll be no excuses given it is now the second year running that the course will host the national title chase.
Jayco-AlUla will be a particularly hard outfit to overcome in the 177km elite men's race, with Ben O'Connor joining the fray for a home-town title chase. That leaves them in the enviable position of holding three of the top cards as of course they also have the 2022-2024 winner of the elite road race title, Plapp. Australia's only WorldTour team also presents a compelling case in the 109km women's elite and U23 road race, as along with Stewart they have 2024 winner Ruby Roseman-Gannon lining up on the course that should suit her ability to deliver a fast finish after getting over the punchy climbs.
Tour Down Under
- Women's Tour Down Under - Saturday, January 17 to Monday, January 19
- Men's Tour Down Under – Tuesday, January 20 to Sunday, January 25
- Women's one-day race – Wednesday, January 21
South Australia has firmly established itself as the traditional WorldTour opener, where new equipment and kit is launched in the searing sunshine of the southern hemisphere summer.
This year, too, for the first time there looks set to be a full contingent of Women's WorldTour teams, delivering a strong list of starters and a chance for local fans to see teams that have been previously absent from the roster, with SD Worx-Protime traditionally the most notable absence.
The three-stage 395km women's Santos Tour Down Under will kick off the proceedings in Willunga on Saturday, January 17 and conclude with a fiery stage to Campbelltown that includes two ascents of the Corkscrew climb. There looks set to be strong competition for the race winner's ochre jersey as, on top of the full roster of teams Noemi Rüegg (EF Education-Oatly) has been confirmed, as has her teammate, world champion Magdeleine Vallieres. Mavi García and Brodie Chapman could also prove a formidable GC combination for UAE Team ADQ. While Liv-AlUla-Jayco has had to change tack as it is now missing planned GC leader Silke Smulders, after last year's runner-up had a training accident but they will still have the likes of Ella Wyllie, Ruby Roseman-Gannon and Georgia Baker as options to make a mark through the three-stage race.
The men's Santos Tour Down Under then begins with a short and sharp prologue on Tuesday, January 20, which will make sure the GC battle starts early. Defending champion Jhonatan Narváez (UAE Team ADQ-XRG) is on the start list but the team also have 2023 winner Jay Vine on the squad so there is no question it will be a tough combination to beat. Though this year it is also clear Jayco-AlUla will be doing its utmost to recapture the home race, bringing Ben O'Connor to Adelaide for an early season GC outing. Then there is new Ineos Grenadiers rider Sam Welsford, who is bound to be one to watch in the sprints, walking away with three stage wins the last two years.
While the men's Tour Down Under is beginning to unfold the women also have a one-day race, run over 12 laps of an 8.5km circuit. The UCI ProSeries level race takes place after the conclusion of the men's stage 1 on Wednesday, January 21.
Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race
- Women's Surf Coast Classic - Wednesday, January 28
- Men's Surf Coast Classic - Thursday, January 29
- Women's Mapei Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race - Saturday, January 31
- Men's Mapei Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race - Sunday, February 1
The Mapei Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race is a big beneficiary of the new rule which allows WorldTour teams to only miss one top-tier race a season – and it can't be the same race more than once in a three-year cycle – for both the women's and men's field. While a number of the women's teams didn't make it out to Australia for either the South Australian or Victorian events, previously the men's Tour Down Under had been a mandatory attendance race for the men though the newer Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race was not. That meant some men's teams previously headed back to Europe straight after the South Australian tour but that's not the case anymore. That means there will be some of the deepest fields seen for the WorldTour racing from Geelong in 2026 across both the women's and men's race.
Before those events get underway, though, there are the ProSeries ranked women's and men's Surf Coast Classic to play out. The climb before the finish line in Torquay makes it a good opportunity for the sprinters with the ability to hang on when the road turns up to grab an early season win and the points stash for their team that goes with it.
The main game, however, will unfold on Saturday and Sunday as riders roll the dice in what is always an unpredictable one-day WorldTour race with a gruelling Classics-style course where winds can combine with the wearing climbs of the finishing circuit.
Start lists aren't out yet so its not yet confirmed that the 2025 winner of both the Surf Coast Classic and Saturday's WorldTour race Ally Wollaston (FDJ United-Suez) will be on the start line but it seems a given considering her presence at the Tour Down Under, her defending status, and that its as close as the rider from New Zealand gets to a home race. She'll have a target on her back in the race which often finishes with a stretched out field and sprint from a small group but that doesn't necessarily mean that her rivals will be able to find a way to beat her over the line if she comes back with the form that took her to the top step of the 145km race in 2025.
It also seems that Mauro Schmid (Jayco-Alula) will be back to defend his title a the 186km men's race, given he is on the Tour Down Under start list, and the second-placed Aaron Gate (XDS-Astana) was certainly hopeful that he'd be back when Cyclingnews spoke to him at the end of last season.
However, one thing revealed by the history of this race is that the winner one year is far from a good indicator of who will be on the top step the next. Since the men's event started in 2015 there hasn't been a single victor that has managed to repeat the feat. 2024 winner Laurence Pithie (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) is the rider who has come closest, having been back on the podium with third in 2025, so he'll certainly be a rider to watch. Simon Clarke (NSN Cycling Team) will also be in the spotlight no matter the outcome as he will be bringing his career to a close at the event that is named after his close friend and where he has twice stood on the podium.
Cyclingnews is on the ground for the season-opening 2026 Tour Down Under, and a subscription gives you unlimited access to our unrivalled coverage. From breaking news and analysis to exclusive interviews and tech, we've got you covered as the new season gets underway in Australia. Find out more
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.
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