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AusCycling National Road Championships Wrap-up

How good were the Road Nats in Perth? Their new home provided a spectacular backdrop, and the weather gods smiled upon them.

One of the great things about national championships is seeing many of our Aussie road cycling superstars ride on home soil. It’s also fabulous to watch local riders race alongside them.

And everyone loves to see an underdog win and tip the expected results on their head, like the fantastic performance from 20-year-old Lucinda Stewart in the women’s elite road race.

Here’s our quick overview of the elite-level races.

Elite Individual Time Trials

The favourites came to the fore in the elite ITT races, with Brodie Chapman and Luke Plapp taking the honours.

Luke Plapp won his third career time trial national title, while Brodie Chapman took her first. Plapp beat Jay Vine by eight seconds in the 38.4-kilometre men’s race around Bold Park. He averaged 50kph to record a winning time of 46 minutes and 33 seconds.

In the elite women’s race, pre-race favourite Brodie Chapman conquered the three-lap, 28.8-kilometre course. After trailing slightly at the first intermediate split, Chapman confidently overturned a seven-second deficit to win by 32 seconds over runner-up Amber Pate. Chapman posted a time of 39 minutes 53 seconds, clocking an average speed of 42.42kph.

Elite Criteriums

Amber Pate (Liv AlUla Jayco) won the elite women’s criterium after breaking away with 19-year-old Keira Will (Lidcombe Auburn CC), who won the under-23 women’s title.

The pair attacked early in the race and gradually increased their gap. As Pate and Will’s lead extended to over a minute, they came close to lapping the field. As a result, the commissaires allowed the bunch to sprint for the minor places, where Maeve Plouffe took bronze.

Perth sprinter Sam Welsford thrilled the home crowd with victory in the men’s elite criterium. Welsford was among just 15 of the 34 starters who finished the attritional, high-speed elite men’s race.

The hour-long criterium took place on a technical 1.2-kilometre street circuit. The streets of Northbridge were lined with spectators who erupted with applause each time one of their West Australian heroes, Luke Durbridge or Brady Gilmore, accelerated in the bunch.

The race ended in a small bunch sprint, with Welsford positioning himself to the front in the final corners and launching a powerful sprint to claim the win ahead of Cameron Scott and Blake Quick. It’s Welsford’s second national title in the elite men’s criterium, an event he won in 2020 in Ballarat.

Elite Road races

20-year-old Lucinda Stewart (Liv AlUla Jayco Women’s Continental Team) upset the favourites, winning the Elite Women’s Road Race on Sunday.

Stewart was part of a five-rider breakaway that sprinted for victory in Kings Park after holding the peloton at arm’s length for most of the 109-kilometre race.

The combined elite and under-23 women’s road race was held over eight laps of a circuit around Kings Park and the Perth CBD. On the second lap, five riders broke away and opened a significant gap to the peloton, reaching a maximum of six minutes with 60km to go.

Amanda Spratt and Amber Pate launched an attack with three laps remaining but failed to catch the breakaway.

In the race’s final stages, Lucinda Stewart outsprinted her rivals and came around Ella Simpson to become the Australian elite and under-23 women’s national road race champion. The Melburnian from Carnegie Caulfield Cycling Club becomes the first rider since Sarah Gigante in 2019 to win both Australian titles in the same race.

Perth cyclist Luke Durbridge (Team Jayco AlUla) secured the men’s elite title in his hometown.

After spending almost the entire 177-kilometre race in the breakaway − initially with Conor Leahy (CCACHE x Bodywrap), then solo from 70km to go − Durbridge crossed the finish line metres ahead of his teammate, Lucas Plapp.

Giving up his chance to win an unprecedented four titles in a row, Plapp gifted the West Australian an unforgettable national title after bridging across to him with one lap (13.6km) to go.

The pair entered the finishing straight on Fraser Avenue with over a minute in hand to their nearest rival. That gave Durbridge ample time to enjoy the applause of his friends, family and fans who had lined the streets of the Kings Park and Perth CBD circuit on Sunday afternoon.

Today’s victory comes 12 years after Durbridge first won the elite men’s road race national title in Ballarat. It’s his sixth Australian title, including the four he has won in the individual time trial.

Images: AusCycling.

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