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Cycling Australia (CA) has made sweeping changes to the courses for its national road championships in and around Ballarat.
The road race course at nearby Buninyong now features some flatter terrain, following several years of lobbying from sprint stars such as Robbie McEwen and Mark Renshaw.
McEwen in particular argued that over the last few years, the high quality of the field and the hilly 10km circuit at Buninyong made it too tough for sprinters to win.
“We have listened to some of the concerns the riders have expressed,” said CA president Klaus Mueller.
Organisers have kept the 10km circuit, but also added an easier 27km loop.
The men’s road race, always the highlight of the championships, will also extend from about 160km to nearly 200km.
The time trial course has moved from Learmonth to a start and finish at Ballarat’s Lake Wendouree.
The criterium will again be held on Ballarat’s main street, but it will move a block closer to town to make the course hillier.
Long-time organiser John Craven resurrected the nationals in 1999 when he made them an open event.
In the early 2000s, he moved the road race to Buninyong and the championships have boomed in popularity.
He was vehemently opposed to changing the road race course.
But Cycling Australia has taken over organisation of the event from Craven.
The nationals will open on Wednesday, January 9 with the men’s and women’s time trials.
The twilight criteriums will follow on Thursday.
The men’s under 23 and women’s road races will be held on Saturday – 137km for the men and 107km for the women.
Sunday will feature Amy’s Ride, a community event, followed by the 195km men’s elite road races.
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