The chase for Australia’s nationwide titles on the Westbridge Funds Street Nationwide Championships is opening up the summer time block of racing. Opponents from the WorldTour are coming again residence from Europe and lining up with the most effective of the home scene in Western Australia to see who will get the honour of sporting the inexperienced and gold striped jerseys of a title holder for the remainder of 2026.
The competitors opens with the time trials, the U23 males among the many opening acts as they got down to tackle the race in opposition to the clock on Wednesday January 7, with the U23 and elite girls’s and elite males’s time trials unfolding on Thursday January 8.
Then it’s onto the criteriums on the quick however technical Northbridge circuit on Friday January 9, when the climate is anticipated to chill from its 30°C+ temperatures and there may be potential for rain. Saturday, with its cool summer time forecasts of temperatures within the low 20s, is when the street races start to unfold, with the U23 males’s battle among the many schedule. Sunday is the ultimate day of competitors by Kings Park, with the prize of the U23 girls’s and elite girls’s title up for grabs in the midst of the day, and the elite males’s race into the night to resolve the ultimate battle in Perth.
Time Trials
Elite Girls
With the retirement of Olympic gold medallist and World Champion within the self-discipline, Grace Brown, in 2025, Brodie Chapman (UAE Crew ADQ) rapidly pulled on the elite girls’s time trial nationwide stripes. Now she has had one other 12 months of fine-tuning and delivering highly effective ends in the race in opposition to the clock – a person time trial fourth on the Street World Championships and a successful effort as a part of Australia’s Combined Relay Crew Trial squad. Nonetheless, a rider who was her ally in Kigali is now one she has singled out as considered one of her best threats in Perth, with the 2023 Junior World Time Trial champion, Felicity Wilson-Haffenden (Lidl-Trek), stepping up into the elite ranks this 12 months. The 2025 U23 champion Alli Anderson (Liv-AlUla-Jayco Continental) can even be shifting as much as the elite class, and it is by no means smart to rule out Amber Pate (Liv-AlUla-Jayco), runner-up in final 12 months’s title chase and the one different rider within the subject inside a minute of Chapman within the 29km race in opposition to the clock.
Elite Males
Similar to within the girls’s particular person time trial, there are two key favourites which are onerous to go previous, defending champion and three-time title winner Luke Plapp (Jayco-AlUla) and 2023 victor Jay Vine (UAE Crew Emirates-XRG). Final 12 months, Plapp was eight seconds forward of Vine because the race performed out on the brand new 38.5km time trial course in Daring Park, however Vine is trying to step it up this 12 months. He informed Cyclingnews late final 12 months, when reflecting on 2025, that ‘I simply went into Australia a bit underdone, so I am attempting to repair that’. With such a small margin between the highest two, any enchancment from Vine might present a big problem. Nonetheless, Plapp has a fame for being the grasp of discovering January kind, given he has each three elite street and time trial titles to his identify already at simply 25. So far as the decrease spots on the rostrum go, Kelland O’Brien (Jayco-AlUla) has hardly ever been off them, ending third within the elite time trial in three of his final 4 appearances, with fourth-place being as far-off from the rostrum as he has been. The Australian workforce even have Ben O’Connor on the time trial begin record this 12 months. Nonetheless, a brand new potential podium challenger that would assist cut back the possibilities of Jayco-AlUla sweeping up so most of the prime spots is rising with the looks of 2023 Junior World Time Trial champion Oscar Chamberlain (Decathlon CMA CGM) on the beginning record.
U23 Males
Within the U23 males’s race of fact, Julian Baudry (Crew Brennan) was final 12 months’s shock street race winner in his first 12 months within the class after getting away early within the break, however figuring out he will not be let get away simply this time, the main focus has turned to the time trial in 2026. This was evident when he took third within the race in opposition to the clock on the Tour of Brilliant in December as the primary of the U23 riders behind elite nationwide champion Plapp and his Jayco-AlUla teammate O’Brien. Nonetheless, Baudry can even should cope with loads of rivals stepping up from the U19 class, together with those that claimed the rostrum spots within the junior division final 12 months, together with the 18-year-old Max Goold (NSN Growth Crew), Lucas Stevenson (Crew Brennan) and Fletcher Medway (Ineos Grenadiers Racing Academy). It’s going to even be fascinating to see what a little bit of time with a time trial bike at Lidl-Trek Future might have executed for multi-discipline bike owner Jack Ward.
U23 Girls
Within the U23 girls’s occasion, the riders from the highest two steps of the rostrum in 2025, Anderson and Wilson-Haffenden, have shifted as much as the elites this 12 months, leaving Sophia Sammons, who was third final 12 months, as a key rider to observe. The native, who final 12 months additionally took fifth within the mixed U23 and elite girls’s street race, will probably be blissful if her favoured scorching circumstances stay a minimum of till the race in opposition to the clock is completed. Sophie Marr additionally seems to have stepped it up a stage, coming third within the Tour of Brilliant time trial, received by Chapman. Then there are additionally final 12 months’s fifth and sixth-placed riders, Kiera Will and Mackenzie Coupland, the latter of whom is stepping up from the event squad to the WorldTour workforce of Liv AlUla Jayco this season.
Street Races
Elite Girls & U23
The Liv Alula Jayco AlUla assault on the mixed elite and below 23 girls’s street race on Sunday seems to be set to be the definition of overwhelming power. Not solely does the squad have Australia’s solely Girls’s WorldTour workforce bringing a powerful contingent to the beginning line, but additionally the Continental growth workforce, which is residence to the defending champion Lucinda Stewart, who final 12 months swept up each the elite and U23 titles when she crossed the road first after discovering her manner into the lasting early break. Between the 2 squads, they’ve 9 riders on the beginning record, and that features the final two winners in Stewart and Ruby Roseman-Gannon. The 2024 winner seems to be like a rider who might properly be a prime card on the course with punchy climbs, ought to it come right down to a gaggle battle, and Georgia Baker could be a robust dash power if she will dangle in over the climbs on the entrance of the race. Nonetheless, with so many choices for the workforce and so many ways that would unfold, it is a lengthy record of choices throughout each the highest tier and growth workforce to select from that additionally consists of Amber Pate, together with Talia Appleton and Sophie Marr, who’re each eligible for the U23 title. Nonetheless, the Lidl-Trek trio of Amanda Spratt – a three-time winner who’s retiring on the finish of the season – Felicity Wilson-Haffenden and Lauretta Hanson aren’t ones to concede defeat simply, and there may be additionally the highly effective mixture of Neve Bradbury, Tiffany Cromwell and Emily Dixon – who will probably be eligible for the U23 title – from Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto. A number of home groups even have strong numbers, from Continental squad Meridian Bikebug to Butterfields Ziptrack and will probably be attempting to spice up a rider onto the rostrum. There are additionally some harmful lone rangers, together with two former winners, Brodie Chapman, plus Nicole Frain (Issue Racing), who’s hoping to profit from her gravel kind.
Elite Males
Jayco-AlUla have received the elite males’s street race and dominated the rostrum as properly within the final two editions, with a clear sweep of the steps led by Luke Plapp in 2024 and Luke Durbridge and Plapp claiming the highest two locations in 2025. The dangerous information for his or her rivals is that also they are pulling in one other trump card in 2026, with Ben O’Connor taking to the beginning line at his residence Nationwide Championships and making the already formidable workforce much more of a power to be reckoned with as they head to the beginning line with six riders. They do not, nonetheless, have the entire edge in numbers as Crew Brennan – which this 12 months additionally has a robust addition within the type of Patrick Eddy – is lining up with seven, and the workforce of final 12 months’s third-placed Liam Walsh, CCACHE x Bodywrap, has the largest squad, with eight sturdy riders. There are additionally loads of different contenders who will probably be flying solo, from Jay Vine (UAE Crew Emirates-XRG), who got here sixth within the street race final 12 months and is intent on delivering a stronger begin to the season this 12 months in Australia. A recovered Matthew Dinham (Picnic PostNL) can even be returning to the Australian nationwide title race for the primary time in three years, whereas Sam Welsford will probably be lining up for brand new workforce Ineos Grenadiers and hoping he can get an opportunity to dash for victory in entrance of residence crowds. The 2024 U23 street title winner and 2025 runner-up, Fergus Browning, can even be stepping up into the elite class, placing on show his new Terengganu Biking Crew colors. Then there may be the sturdy and skilled native rider Mark O’Brien, all the time a little bit of a wild card and harmful if he’s let get away, a reality confirmed by his inexperienced and gold gravel stripes and Melbourne to Warrnambool title.
U23 Males
Defending champion Julian Baudry might not be let slip away simply after final 12 months’s win, however that does not imply he will not attempt, and he additionally has plenty of different Crew Brennan teammates to chase the title. That features Levi Hone, who completed fourth final 12 months and proved his highly effective kind in December when he took victory on the prime of Mount Buffalo on the Tour of Brilliant. Will Heath, who completed seventh final 12 months, must be a powerful contender for the nine-strong CCACHE x Bodywrap squad. Jackson Medway (Tudor Professional Biking U23 Crew) and his youthful brother Fletcher Medway (Ineos Grenadiers Racing Academy), who’s simply stepping out of the junior class, are additionally amongst these to regulate. Then there may be final 12 months’s junior street race winner, Alex Hewes, who will probably be becoming a member of forces with the 2025 junior time trial title winner, Max Goold, as they each take to the road for the NSN Growth Crew. Jack Ward, who signed with Lidl-Trek Future mid-2025, has additionally added a substantial quantity of expertise since lining up final 12 months and taking ninth, and the course might play properly into his sturdy climbing potential, mixed with a surprisingly punchy end.