Goodbye Ballarat, Hello Perth - Australian Road National Championships Head West

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Goodbye Ballarat, Hello Perth - Australian Road National Championships Head West

Changes are coming to the Australian Road Championships, where for many years the green and gold stripes have been awarded in the regional Victorian city of Ballarat. And not only will the 2025 event be held in Western Australia's capital city in January, but the battle for the green and gold jerseys will also be held in Perth until 2027.

"It's been an epic battle over the last few years," said the organizer. Perth has become part of cycling's legend and I can't wait to see how the story unfolds over the next few years." Western Australia has been a constant in the consciousness of Australian cycling fans in recent years and has long been widely touted as the next host of the championships. It is also home to some of the country's top riders on the world stage, including Jai Hindley (Beulah Hansgrohe) and Sam Welsford (Beulah Hansgrohe). Said Welsford, who recently won three stages of the Tour Down Under, "I grew up training and racing on this road, so the opportunity to race in the prestigious green and gold jersey in front of friends and family is very special."

The event, which consists of a criterium, time trial, and road race, will be held at Kings Park and other locations in central Perth. This will be the first time in 20 years that the national title race has been held in the Ballarat area since 2002. The city center criterium and Buninyon Road Race circuit, where race shape climbs had been a staple, was not suitable for pure climbers in the road race, nor for pure sprinters, as the course featured a series of short climbs. Apart from the geographical change, the move to a different location may provide an opportunity to open up the race to those styles of athletes who have long been on the back foot in Buninyon. However, details of the course have not yet been revealed.

In January of this year, Ruby Roseman-Gannon and Caleb Yuan of Jayco Alura won the criterium in the elite women's and men's races, Grace Brown (FDJ-Suez) won the elite women's time trial, and Luke Plapp ( Jayco Aroura) took the titles. Roseman-Gannon and Plapp also swept the road race victories, with Plapp taking the green and gold for the third year in a row. The National Championships is one of the opening rounds of the Australian Championships in January and has given national riders the chance to compete against professionals from World Tour events such as the Tour Down Under and the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race. The Tour Down Under and the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race.

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