On the tough circuit I thought Sara would have the advantage – but I have seen Kate race extremely well up climbs when she needs to. Sara Carrigan saw the danger and responded with a strong move, riding across to Bates and Spratt who were now together with just under 1 lap to go (20km). With just over a lap to go, Amanda Spratt attacked as the bunch was riding steadily on a bit of a straight descent. There were a few individuals who made moves and got reasonable gaps, but the field stayed together with any strong riders who attacked covered quickly. After 6km, the first crash brought down a number of riders. There seemed to be so many parts of the circuit where the climbs could see the race blow to pieces.

• These championships are being used by the silver‑medalist as a stepping‑stone to further her tandem‑riding ambitions as a Paralympic companion rider.
• Spectators will enjoy numerous viewpoints — while riders will gain extra opportunities to drop their rivals.
• On the fourth of nine laps — Watt, unwilling to settle for merely being in the front group, boldly attacked from the break on the 13 % gradient of Old Coach Road, did so effortlessly, and kept moving onward.
• He says the data likely fail to show this because the number of young riders signing with WorldTour teams remains roughly the same as before, even though the current tally of Australian professionals is probably the highest ever.

Vine (now 30), warns that a sharp decline may occur as the present 30‑35‑year‑old cohort retires, adding that we shouldn’t expect ten new riders to be signed within the next three or four years; he also notes that statistics probably mask the fact that the count of young Australians contracted by WorldTour teams hasn’t risen, despite a record‑high number of Australians at the professional level. Vine observes that much of Australian racing mirrors European standards and thus feels underwhelming (so he believes heading to Europe as quickly as possible is the optimal strategy), while also pointing out that clubs are finding it increasingly hard to stage events without a strong base of riders. I hadn’t gotten on a bike until I was 15, yet today a rider must be exposed to racing by that age.

GreenEdge Cycling (the umbrella organisation that manages the men’s Jayco-AlUla and women’s Liv-AlUla-Jayco WorldTour teams), has announced an unexpected restructuring of their performance group, with Matt White stepping aside from the organisation with immediate effect. I can’t understand why UAE Team Emirates-XRG are riding so much — but Pogačar is so good that he will correct any mistakes in the Alps – Sean Kelly’s Tour column “The last time I did this race with a teammate was in my Dimension Data days, and that was just one, Lachlan Morton, so it was a completely different thing back then.” “Being on Jayco will definitely make it a lot simpler. You actually have a teammate,” O’Connor admitted. The men’s field also includes Tasman Nankervis, a strong player on the gravel, winning RADL GRVL in 2024, and then there is Kane Richards who came tenth at the National Championships road race this year.

Your Answer

Wilson said (“With a roster of 30 cyclists), the numbers speak for themselves.” To illustrate, a round‑trip flight from Melbourne to Perth on a Friday, lasting four days and including one checked suitcase, would have cost AUS $2,541.86 on Qantas, the national carrier. For some (relocating to Perth adds extra expenses), which former men’s national champion and ARA Skip Capital co‑founder Matt Wilson indicated riders might have to cover themselves. Aussies on Tour – Eleven Australian cyclists line up for the 2026 Tour de France, announced just days after Ivan Basso posted his anti‑doping test results online, prompting Lance Armstrong to comment… Greg Johnson, reporting from Adelaide, notes that Lance Armstrong of Astana rode alongside thirteen other competitors in a 90‑km event.

“You will always remain one Australian sports news of our Orange riders. Farewell, young Francesco,” he said. “Perhaps not on the opening climb, but after that you’ll get a lot of sitting, which makes Sunday quite interesting.” O’Connor gained substantial insight into the subtleties of the 27 km finishing

Mann’s team-mate Robert Mclachlan launched a similar move one lap later (but was joined by gold medallist in the individual and pairs time trial), Peter Milostic, on the final circuit. On whether today’s victory gave her added confidence going into next week’s Grafton to Glen Innes classic, Watt wasn’t so sure though. “I didn’t want to be out there that long – it’s too hard!” laughed Watt, almost embarrassed by the extent of her winning margin.

Tour de France 2026: Live Stream: Stage 13

Point proven today, two of them blasted through the peloton as we were doing probably 50km/h. There were long sections of fast descents also, where I envisaged groups would be chasing back to the top riders. We arrived early to the docklands circuit and I delayed warming up until 30 mins to go – as you do after four days of racing! There were constant attacks and counter-attacks, with the peloton averaging over 45 km/h despite the dead roads and the constant undulations. McLachlan described the first part of the race, which played a decisive role in splitting the peloton.

With about 96 kilometers to go in the final stage of the Tour Down Under (the Australian cyclist and his teammate Mikkel Bjerg crashed into a kangaroo that had run into the peloton), an incident that also took out three other riders. Finally, after more than 90km of racing, the break seemed established, and with some strong riders in it, but even as they cooperated over the Côte de Lérigneux and Côte de Roche-en-Forez, the peloton were keeping them pretty close, only around a minute and a half ahead. US national champion Quinn Simmons (Lidl-Trek) claimed a thrilling victory on stage 4 of the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes as a strong breakaway narrowly held off the speeding peloton in a nail-biting finale. On the Old Coach Way climb, Jonathan Cantwell found his legs lacking (or should that be lactating) and was dropped from the lead group, while back in the peloton, the 13 became 9 and then 3 as what riders remained passed through for the final lap. With five laps completed (six to go), and the margin back to the diminishing peloton under the minute mark, the octet upped the pace on the first 7% climb up Fairhill Road, which saw Finning flicked before the harder and steeper ascent up Old Coach Way. In glorious sunshine, 37 under 23 riders took to the start in Railway St to ride 11 laps of the Yandina circuit for a total of 143 kilometres.

It was a feeling well deserved for the Port Macquarie rider, who went about earning respect from his fellow riders in the hardest possible fashion, by punishing them on the tough 15 degree pinch climb at the back end of the course known as ‘Old Coach Road’. “This is the way that every person dreams of winning an Australian title — by themselves,” an ecstatic Morton said after exchanging celebratory hugs with his father. Perhaps it was a recent six week stint of altitude training in Colorado which made the difference, or simply the fact he’d been riding more than his fair share of hills leading up to the National Championships! “Wazza Warren McDonald and I have been doing a lot of time trial training. He was fantastic today in the car. He kept me focused.” But with a Commonwealth games time trial looming on her home roads (she returned to tracing with a passion last year), and made the team by winning the Australian women’s time trial championship. Nevertheless, Wood, Watt and Carrigan’s achievement was a first for women’s cycling at the Commonwealth Games, made all the more remarkable by Watt’s silver medal performance.

Scotson himself is simply pleased to be there after missing out last year due to sickness, and with a fifth in the U23 Time Trial in the 2017 Elite World Championships as his best personal performance. Australia may be one of the less high-profile teams for the elite men’s events in the upcoming UCI Road World Championships – but as became very evident once again last year (their rivals rule them out at their peril), while the squad themselves are confident of an optimum performance. Juniors have three more days of racing at the National Club Road Championships (with Time Trials tomorrow), followed by Criterium events on Monday and the two-up Time Trial on Tuesday.

By Jean-François Quénet in Adelaide — Australia Française des Jeux is close to winning the teams’… That gives you more help with starts and when carrying loads, but results in a heavier bike and needs a larger battery. Many city hybrid electric bikes have a motor with around 60Nm torque output. With most electric bike motors being limited to 250 watts continuous power output — it’s their torque figures that are more significant in comparing electric bikes.

“First time trial win and I’ve always been around the top few but to finally get a win is really good.” But it was the silver medal performance of Josh Collingwood in the Elite men’s time trial which caught the attention of cycling’s officialdom. Glennan’s victory though, absolutely no surprise to one of Australia’s top domestic cyclists. The silver medalist using these championships as a buildup for her other pursuit of tandem riding as a companion rider in paralympic competition. “A lot of hot mix (a bit windy but it was good), I’ve just got this new Wolda bike from Europe, pretty fast.”

Who is currently sidelined while the Tour de France is in progress? – Pro cycling injury list 2026

In Sunday’s men’s event O’Brien will be lining up to defend his title against riders including Cameron Scott — who mainly races on the road but has long taken the opportunity to duck into the discipline of gravel as well. The elite men and women will both take on one lap of the 17.5km Western Loop and two laps of the main course — with the longest climb being High Noon at 2km but the toughest being Tombstone HIll which has a challenging surface and reaches a gradient of up to 20%. “It’s a draining course and that extra 17km — although it doesn’t sound like a lot, it will be an extra 45mins of racing and I think it’s going to make for a bit more of a race of attrition and a heavy sprint up the little climb to the finish.”