Australia’s best head west: 2026 Road National Championships

All roads lead to Perth from January 7 as the AusCycling Road National Championships return to the streets of the Western Australian capital for a second year.

According to the WA Government the 2025 event attracted over 50,000 fans including more than 5,000 out-of-state visitors, generating $9.4 million for the State economy.

Twelve months ago, four of the six Elite titles were won by GreenEDGE riders—just not by the riders most were predicting in the road races. In hindsight, this was perhaps unsurprising given the first year on any new course represents something of a learning experience, particularly in terms of race strategy. It will be fascinating to see how the riders and teams attack the road courses with wisdom of 2025 under their belts.

The Schedule

In 2026 the action begins on the morning of Wednesday January 7 with the club team time trials and concludes four days later with the elite men’s road race on the afternoon of Sunday January 11. In between, no less than 52 new national champions will be crowned across U19, U23, Para and Elite categories in time trials, criteriums and road races. The 2026 Grand Fondo National Championships will also be held on the Sunday morning around Perth’s Kings Park circuit.

Wednesday 7 January

Club, U19 Men, U19 Women, U23 Men Time Trials

Thursday 8 January

Para, Elite/U23 Women, Elite Men Time Trials

Friday 9 January

Criteriums (all categories)

Saturday 10 January

Para, U19 Men, U19 Women, U23 Men Road Races

Sunday 11 January

Gran Fondo, Elite/U23 Women Road Race (11am), Elite Men Road Race (2.50pm)

The Courses

Time Trials. Across all classifications and age groups, the race against the clock will take place on the 9.8km anti-clockwise circuit at the Perth High Performance Centre and Bold Park, near Mount Claremont. Each lap includes 109 metres of elevation. The Elite Men will contest four laps (39.2km) and the Elite Women three laps (29.4km). 

Criteriums. An absolute highlight from 2025, the criteriums will once again be raced on the fast and technical 1.2km circuit around Perth’s entertainment capital, Northbridge. Each of the L-shaped laps features six corners to keep things interesting for the bunches—and breakaways of out of sight. The Elite Women will race 50 minutes plus two laps, while for the Men it’s 70 minutes plus two laps.

Road Races. The jewel in Perth’s National Championships crown, each lap of the puncher-friendly 13.6-kilometre road circuit winds its way through iconic King’s Park before speeding alongside the Swan River waterfront and through the city streets. The climb up to Malcolm Street comes in the closing kilometres of the circuit and ends just 400 metres before the start/finish line making for a potentially tense finale for leaders with tired legs. With 193 meters of elevation each lap and maximum gradients of over 12% it’s a course that suits strong riders and bold tactics. The Elite and Under 23 Women will tackle eight laps for a total race distance of 109km (1544m elevation) while the Elite Men will complete 13 laps (177km, 2509m elevation).

The Defending Champions

Women’s Criterium: Amber Pate

Women’s Individual Time Trial: Brodie Chapman

Women’s Road Race: Lucinda Stewart 

Men’s Criterium: Sam Welsford

Men’s Individual Time Trial: Luke Plapp

Men’s Road Race: Luke Durbridge

The Contenders

Time Trials. In the women’s time trial, reigning National champion and 2025 UCI World Championship fourth place getter Brodie Chapman remains the clear standout. However fast rising 20-year-old Felicity Wilson-Haffenden could throw down a serious challenge having herself finished fourth in the U23 event in Rwanda. In the men’s, Australia currently boasts two world-class time trial riders in Jay Vine and Luke Plapp—2nd and 7th at the 2025 UCI World Championships respectively—and barring mishaps 2026 shapes as a two-man shoot out.

• Women’s ITT: Brodie Chapman, Felicity Wilson-Haffenden
• Men’s ITT: Jay Vine, Luke Plapp

Criteriums. Australia’s top domestic teams will be attacking and attacking in the criteriums, but it’s hard to envisage anything other than a bunch finish in the men’s race with Sam Welsford a heavy favourite to repeat his 2025 win. The women’s race could be far more open to a successful breakaway, particularly if a Liv AlUla Jayco rider once again gets up the road as was the case twelve months ago.

• Women’s Criterium: Amber Pate, Maeve Plouffe, Alex Manly, Ruby Roseman-Gannon
• Men’s Criterium: Sam Welsford, Kelland O’Brien, Kurt Ether, Cameron Scott

Road Races. The 2026 road race fields will be stacked with WorldTour quality which, in theory, should prevail. But if we learned anything from 2025 it’s that breakaways can be extremely hard to bring back on the King’s Park circuit—especially if they contain GreenEDGE riders. This time it seems abundantly clear that any riders harbouring ambitions of victory will need to be on high alert to prevent that from happening right from the opening stages. Alternatively if a break does get up the road they simply must be in it, ideally without any GreenEDGE representatives. Far easier said than done, of course.

• Women’s RR: Neve Bradbury, Ruby Roseman-Gannon, Amanda Spratt, Alex Manly, Sophie Marr
• Men’s RR: Luke Plapp, Kelland O’Brien, Liam Walsh, Fergus Browning, Brady Gilmore

2025 Road Race Recap

In last year’s women’s race, 20-year-old Continental rider Lucinda Stewart upset all the favourites—including her Liv AlUla Jayco WorldTour counterparts—to claim both the U23 and Elite titles. Stewart was part of a five-rider breakaway that skipped away on the second lap and went on to contest the finish more than 80km later. While the initial breakaway seemed harmless at the time, the riders were never seen again as the lead reached six minutes with 60km to go. While a fantastic result for Stewart, it was a disappointing day for Australia’s top WorldTour women with riders such as Amber Pate, Amanda Spratt, Sarah Roy, Ruby Roseman-Gannon and Alex Manly all left too rue what might have been.

While it wasn’t the same level of shock as the women’s result, it was still a minor surprise when 2013 winner Luke Durbridge claimed his second Elite Men’s Road Race national title at the age of 33. The home town hero spent almost the entire race off the front, riding almost 60km solo before being joined on the last lap by his Jayco-AlUla teammate Luke Plapp who had won the previous three National titles. In a show of respect and class, Plapp chose not to contest the finish delivering a hugely fitting victory to Durbridge, one of the true stalwarts of Australian men’s cycling.

How to watch

The Elite and U23 Criteriums and Road Races from the 2026 AusCycling Road National Championships will be broadcast live and free on SBS, SBS VICELAND and SBS On Demand from January 9-11. Highlights packages from the earlier Elite and U23 time trials will also be shown on SBS On Demand.