The AusCycling National Gravel Championships is set to unfold in South Australia this weekend, positioned in a slot in the calendar which means some of Australia’s more decorated gravel cyclists have had to make a difficult choice this year – race the world’s most revered gravel event, Unbound, or chase the green and gold stripes.
Defending champions Mark O’Brien and Tiffany Cromwell – a repeat winner at Unbound 100 – will be lining up in Ponderosa Pines this weekend, though 2024 victors Courtney Sherwell and Brendan Johnston – who just added another UCI Gravel World Series victory to his tally at SEVEN in Nannup earlier this month – will both be in Kansas.
So will 2023 victor Connor Sens and that’s also the case for Oceania champion Nicole Frain, who has also had a run of three UCI Gravel World Series wins and, along with Cromwell, is likely to be one of the nation’s top cards for a home UCI Gravel World Championships in Western Australia in October.
A number of those names were also missing last year as even though there was no direct clash with Unbound the end of April date still meant some were already overseas, particularly as Europe’s top gravel event, The Traka, came just a week after the Australian title race.
Regardless of the fact that some key riders have their attention elsewhere, there will still be a number of strong riders on the start list, including those that more commonly race across other disciplines.
Cyclingnews requested a comment on the decision making behind the timing of the National Gravel Championships, AusCycling declined to comment.
A standalone women’s race
The women’s field includes Sophie Edwards, who set a new national Individual Pursuit record on the track in March on her way to another national title and finished second overall in the nation’s top tier road series, the ProVelo Super League. Then there is also Victoria Barry, who came fourth in Ponderosa last year.
They will be lining up this year in their own race on Saturday, with the distance also increased to be equal to the men’s at 123km.
“It’s great to see the event take on the feedback from last year and create a bigger and better event this year over two days,” said Cromwell in a release from AusCycling. “It’s nice that the elite women’s race is a longer race too on our own day separate from the men’s races. It should be a fun battle out there.
“It’s a draining course and that extra 17km, although it doesn’t sound like a lot, it will be an extra 45mins of racing and I think it’s going to make for a bit more of a race of attrition and a heavy sprint up the little climb to the finish.”
The elite races will play out on a 123km course, which is 100% gravel with approximately 1,600m of elevation gain.
The elite men and women will both take on one lap of the 17.5km Western Loop and two laps of the main course, with the longest climb being High Noon at 2km but the toughest being Tombstone HIll which has a challenging surface and reaches a gradient of up to 20%.
The men’s contenders
In Sunday’s men’s event O’Brien will be lining up to defend his title against riders including Cameron Scott, who mainly races on the road but has long taken the opportunity to duck into the discipline of gravel as well.
Last year the rider who races with Li Ning Star on the road, and was formerly with WorldTour team Bahrain Victorious, came second in the title race, with Johnston clinching the third spot on the podium behind him.
The men’s field also includes Tasman Nankervis, a strong player on the gravel, winning RADL GRVL in 2024, and then there is Kane Richards who came tenth at the National Championships road race this year.
“I know I’m going well enough physically to defend this Sunday, but I’ve learnt thousands of times over that being one of the strongest provides no guarantees of a high result with my horrific sprint finish,” said O’Brien, who has a habit of flying solo.
“I’m looking forward to giving it a crack and will be happy with whatever result comes, as long as I do my best and have good mechanical luck.”
