It's not just the Classics in Europe that are getting underway this weekend with Australia's longest and oldest race, the men's 267km Melbourne to Warrnambool, unfurling on Saturday while the 157km women's Warrnambool Women's Classic is set to take place on Sunday.
Always a closely watched event on the Australian calendar, with its history and prestige, the stakes have been raised even further since 2025 when the event became part of the Hertz ProVelo Super League – the nation's top-tier domestic series.
Still, the start lists have shuffled a little, with Jack Ward among the riders absent, given that the timing had to be altered so that the race would run two weeks later than initially planned after fires in the region of the course in late January caused complications. However, the event was quickly rescheduled and will now soon unfold as round three of the six-round 2026 ProVelo series.
Despite the change, there will be no shortage of key names on the start line to take on what is expected to be a warm but potentially wet edition of the race – with up to 7mm of rain forecast in Warrnambool for Saturday and up to 35mm for Sunday. The Tour of Tasmania, which ran from February 19-22 as round 2 of the series, has set the scene, with the evident form clear across riders from a number of key teams.
The men's winner from 2025, Blake Agnoletto, has now moved onto Europe, as many Melbourne to Warrnambool winners do, though his squad Team Brennan will be keen – and also well-placed – to mount a defence. In fact, they have an embarrassment of riches when it comes to choosing which rider they will be rallying behind given they not only have Australian road champion Pat Eddy on board but also the ProVelo Super League overall leader in Levi Hone and 2023 winner Tristan Saunders. On top of that they have Olympic gold medallist on the track, Oliver Bleddyn, who sits second on the league standings at just two seconds back from his teammate Hone, plus Brendon Davids, who has been in the top-10 at the race the last three years, just missing the podium in 2023.
CCACHE x Bodywrap is certainly another that have team strength on their side, between the fast finishers of Kurt Eather and Graeme Frislie plus the ever attacking style of Tali Lane Walsh, who came sixth last year.
Cameron Scott, who is this year racing with China's Li Ning Star, is returning to the race where he last year came second and won in 2022, lining up with Butterfields Ziptrak this time. Then there is also the 2024 winner Mark O'Brien (Sul Nutrition - Giant), who also came fourth last year, and has been hauling in the results through recent years despite having refocused on work and family.
At the other end of the age spectrum, Oliver Sims will be lining up for his first Melbourne to Warrnambool with Cobra 9 x Leigh Surveyors and he has delivered a strong showing so far in the series, winning the final stage of SA Kick It and coming fourth on the Tour of Tasmania stage to Poatina. The 19-year-old Julian Baudry and 18-year-old Lucas Stevenson from VIS p/b K.O.M.P also deliver another couple of debuting riders to keep an eye out for as the race charges toward the permanent finish line in Warrnambool on Raglan Parade.
The 2025 women's winner Katelyn Nicholson (Butterfields Ziptrak) will be on the Colac start line and is clearly carrying some solid form, given her second place in the chasing group behind Sophia Sammons on stage 2 of the Tour of Tasmania last week. What's more, with Keely Bennett on her team, the squad has an ideal combination of a strong option for both a sprint scenario or solo sortie. Plus they will also have 2023 winner Sophie Edwards and the power of SA Kick It winner Odette Lynch back in the squad, with the 23-year-old who came seventh last year in Warrnambool having missed the Tour of Tasmania after riding Oceania's on the track.
Meridian Bike Bug will be among the teams trying to disrupt the double, with a strong group including Alyssa Polites, the 18-year-old Amelie Sanders who came second in the road race on the final stage of SA Kick It and then there is New Zealand time trial champion Kirsty Watts U23 road champion Ava Maddison. Isla Bradbury has also been stepping up as a strong ProVelo contender for Nstrmo x Attaquer x CCACHE, coming fourth overall at the Tour of Tasmania.
Then, of course, it's impossible to go past Team Redcat. They have Australian U23 time trial champion Sophia Sammons as an obvious key option, she is after all leading the overall series after two rounds. Still she did have to grapple with a recovery after having fallen in Tour of Tasmania and starting stage 4 bandaged up after getting stitches to her chin but then the team also has Amanda Poulsen who came third in 2024, with Sammons – at the time riding for a different team – behind her in fourth.
