National Championships 2026 – Australia 🇦🇺 – Individual Time Trial [HIGHLIGHTS]

January 8, 2026

National Championships 2026 – Australia 🇦🇺 – Individual Time Trial U23/WE/ME – Perth

The Aussie Criterium Championships have been held annually ever since 1994 and have seen some of the nation’s most successful riders claim the coveted green and yellow stripes. Taking place in late December or early January, the event has often marked the unofficial start of the road season – a sign to cycling fans all over the world that road racing is slowly returning. Criterium racing is a little different to the classic road racing we all know and love, but at its core it’s very much the same. Races consist of several laps of a short, sometimes technical circuit and often end in scrappy bunch sprints. Laps are typically quite short, meaning races only last for a couple of hours at most. Organisers also like to include a ton of corners and tricky bends in their circuits to really test a rider’s technical skills. In short, criteriums are road races on overdrive – action-packed, hour-long exhibitions where the nation’s best sprinters go toe to toe for the win and – most importantly – the bragging rights.

WU23
Sophia Sammons (Team Redcat) rolled off the ramp last at the U23 women’s Australian time trial title on Thursday and quickly started chipping away at the times of her rivals, widening the gap on each of the three laps around Bold Park in Perth.

Ultimately, Sammons completed the 29.3km race against the clock at the Westbridge Funds Road National Championships with a time of 40:22.42, which put her 55 seconds ahead of her nearest rival Sophie Marr (Liv AlUla Jayco Continental).

Mackenzie Coupland, who has this year moved up to the WorldTour Liv AlUla Jayco squad, was third, 1:10 back from Sammons.

“It was just insane, I knew how much work I put into it, I knew I put everything out onto the course today,” said Sammons. “To be rewarded with this result is really, really good. Crossing that line was such a big relief.”

The competition unfolded over three laps of the 9.8km circuit with a relatively flat start that includes a hairpin turn and climbs that deliver just over 100m of elevation gain a lap. It was a course Sammons was particularly familiar with, making the most of her home town advantage by training on the circuit on the run-in to her target event.

“My team and I had a plan that we stuck to, we really wanted to control the first lap and see how it was going on the second lap and then go balls to the wall on the final lap, that’s exactly what we did. My legs really delivered today,” said Sammons.

“I hope this is a big step forward for my career.”

U23
William Holmes (Hagens Berman-Jayco) claimed the U23 men’s time trial in a tight battle with Julian Baudry (Team Brennan) on the opening day of competition on Wednesday at the Westbridge Funds Road National Championships.

Holmes delivered a time of 36.38.58 in the 29.3km men’s time trial on the 9.8km circuit in Bold Park with a relatively flat start, stepped climbs delivering just over 100m of elevation gain a lap and a hairpin turn. That was just one second faster than Baudry, who last year claimed the U23 men’s road race title, while Lucas Stevenson (Team Brennan) was third 33 seconds back.

Riders set out into temperatures of around 30°C in the late afternoon, with the third starter Vinnie Manion (Hagens Berman-Jayco) holding his position in the hot seat till well into the final stages with his time of 37:51.68. However, Holmes, who was the sixth last rider to set out, changed that.

Manion was ultimately pushed down to fifth place, behind Holmes, Baudry, Stevenson and Max Goold (NSN Development Team), who slotted into fourth with a time of 37:24: 64.

“I’m super-happy to pull this off and start the year well,” Holmes told SBS. “It’s been a lot of hard work into this. Last year [2025] I didn’t have the year I really wanted to, I struggled a little bit at a few points.

“But I reset well, the team’s been really good and helpful and I’m super-happy to be able to pull it off.

“Of course I’d have liked it to be a bigger gap, but [it was a] great ride by everybody else, especially Julian, he was super-close all day.”

Connor Wright (WWV Hagens Berman-Jayco) earlier claimed the junior men’s time trial title while Neve Parslow (ARA Skip Capital) captured the junior women’s title.

WE
Felicity Wilson-Haffenden (Lidl-Trek) claimed the elite women’s Australian time trial title on Thursday, riding to victory in Perth by trumping defending champion Brodie Chapman (UAE Team ADQ) in a tight battle.

The 20-year-old Wilson-Haffenden, who was contesting the elite category at the Westbridge Funds Road National Championships for the first time, crossed the line with a time of 40:15.71 for the 29.3km effort around Bold Park.

“That’s right up there with the best of them for me,” said Wilson-Haffenden. “It’s a title I really wanted and I really believed I had the ability to do it. I didn’t expect it to come this year, but I’m just proud of myself and proud I committed to doing the elite race, because I really believed I could win it. To actually do it feels really surreal.

“It proves to me I’m on the right path and heading in the right direction, I had great success as a junior and then I was really in the deep end the last couple of years.”

Chapman had a deficit of 22 seconds with ten kilometres to go, but a huge final lap enabled her to pull back the gap significantly. But after finishing fourth in the individual time trial at the Kigali Road World Championships, ultimately Chapman had to concede defeat on home soil as well.

Chapman was quick to go over and offer her teammate in the World Championship-winning Mixed Relay team – whom she had predicted would be a dangerous rival – a hearty congratulations when it became clear she had lost by 3.8 seconds on what was a tough day out on course in Perth.

“The headwind was super strong and it got stronger through the race,” said Wilson-Haffenden. “The hardest part of the race was actually the gusts of the wind, obviously with such deep wheels it is a bit scary when they catch you. I spend enough time on my TT bike to feel pretty comfortable in it.”

Josie Talbot (Liv AlUla Jayco) also delivered a strong performance to claim third, just 18.4 seconds back on Chapman – already a 2023 junior World Champion in the same discipline and now with her first elite national title, too.

The event was run over three laps of the 9.8km circuit with a relatively flat start that included a hairpin bend and climbs that deliver just over 100m of elevation gain a lap.

ME
Jay Vine (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) reclaimed the Australian elite time trial on Thursday, his winning margin of over 30 seconds at the Westbridge Funds Road National Championships amply indicating that the 2025 World Championship TT silver medallist has delivered on his aim of starting the season with stronger form.

“Last year I was in relatively okay shape, but it just wasn’t good enough,” said Vine. “To get world-class victories, you have to be world class. I didn’t want to leave anything on the table, I worked really hard in winter, drove up and down the mountain more times than I can count in Andorra.

Vine delivered a time of 46:52.82 for the 39.1.3km effort around Bold Park in Perth in windy conditions, 31.7 seconds ahead of second-placed Oliver Bleddyn (Team Brennan) – part of the 2024 Olympic gold medal-winning team pursuit squad along with third-placed Kelland O’Brien (Jayco-AlUla), 40.9 seconds back.

The big surprise, however, was the absence of defending champion Luke Plapp (Jayco-AlUla) from the podium steps. Plapp finished 2:44 down on Vine, a marked contrast to last year when he was up 8 seconds on the UAE Team Emirates rider.

“I paced it differently to last year,” said Vine. “I really focused on just speed, speed, speed, instead of focusing on the power and being so rigid on the power.

“I’ve developed over the last 12 months based more on feeling than anything; it definitely paid off.”

The men’s elite race against the clock was the final time trial of this year’s championships, taking place over four laps of a 9.8km circuit with a hairpin bend near the start, climbs that delivered just over 100m of elevation gain and a hairpin bend.

Ben O’Connor (Jayco-AlUla) went out hard as he stepped up at his home-town National Championships, leading after the first lap with nearly six seconds up on Vine. However, that had turned around by the second lap when the UAE Team Emirates rider carved out a gap of nearly 14 seconds.

On the third lap Vine just kept pushing the gap, though it was now O’Brien and Bleddyn that were closest with O’Connor not maintaining his fast opening pace. Bleddyn was spurred on by the shift up the rankings, saying later in an interview on Team Brennan’s Instagram that “I heard on the radio that I was in the hunt for the podium and that kept me going.”

Bleddyn came over the top of O’Brien on the final lap and O’Connor held on for fourth on the line, finishing 1:10.6 back from Vine.

Conor Leahy (Team Brennan), Hamish McKenzie (Jayco-AlUla) and 2023 junior men’s World Champion Oscar Chamberlain all crossed the line within two minutes of Vine, and then there was a considerable gap to Plapp in eighth spot.

William Holmes (Hagens Berman-Jayco) claimed the U23 men’s time trial on Wednesday while earlier on Thursday Sophia Sammons (Praties) won the U23 women’s time trial and Felicity Wilson-Haffenden claimed the elite women’s title.

Results WU23 26,8 KM :

Results MU23 28,8 KM:

Results WE 26,8 KM :

Results ME 38,4 KM :