AusCycling has named the 28 riders that will make up its elite, under-23 and junior squads at the upcoming road World Championships in Kigali, with Neve Bradbury (Canyon-SRAM-zondacrypto) and Jai Hindley (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) as leaders in the elite road races.
Notable absentees from the team include Sarah Gigante (AG Insurance-Soudal), who recently broke her femur in a training accident, and Jayco-AlUla’s Ben O’Connor, who is currently racing La Vuelta a España.
Without a major favourite for the race, AusCycling’s Head Coach of Endurance Conor Taylor has said that the Australian riders will aim to be aggressive in the road races, which have been described as being among the most difficult ever, with 5,475 metres of climbing in the men’s race and 3,350 in the women’s.
Leading the women’s squad, Taylor said that Bradbury is “capable of big results.” The 23-year-old will be supported by the experience of Amanda Spratt (Lidl-Trek), alongside Brodie Chapman (UAE Team ADQ), Lauretta Hanson (Lidl-Trek), Alex Manly and Ruby Roseman-Gannon (both Liv-AlUla-Jayco).
“We have a talented group of riders with a mix of youth and experience at this level,” Taylor said of the women’s squad. “We might not be the favourites on paper, but that frees us to race aggressively and look for opportunities from early on.”
Hindley spearheads a solid-looking men’s team, which also includes Michael Storer (Tudor), Chris Hamilton (Picnic-PostNL), Callum Scotson (Decathlon-AG2R), Jay Vine (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), Chris Harper, Michael Matthews and Luke Plapp (all Jayco-AlUla).
“Jai is hungry for the opportunity to represent the Australian colours after his major setback this year when he crashed at the Giro. He was a key player in last year’s edition and when he saw the course this year, he was motivated to be in Rwanda. We believe we have a strong team ready to support him,” Taylor said.
Vine and Plapp will also represent Australia in the men’s individual time-trial, while Chapman will hope to improve on her 11th place at the 2024 Worlds in Zürich.
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