Most riders have the luxury of being a little anonymous in the neo-pro year, an unfamiliar face that blends into the crowd, but not Mackenzie Coupland. She clinched the sought-after jersey of an Australian national champion in one of her very first races of her very first season with the Women’s WorldTour Liv-AlUla-Jayco squad.
Somehow, however, it’s hard to imagine she would have blended in for long, regardless, not after the way she has started her season in Australia.
Coupland, just 20, has already spent two years with the Liv AlUla Jayco women’s Continental development team and then made the step up in 2026, and she has done it in style. While she certainly wasn’t anonymous in that development squad – with ninth place overall at Tour de l’Avenir Femmes among her results in 2025 – and clearly earned the right to take it up to the next leave she has hit the ground not just running in 2026, but flying.
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