The 2019 cycling season kicks into gear for Australia’s best cyclists as they take on the challenging national championships course around Ballarat for another year. Join The Roar for live coverage and rolling updates of the race from 1:30pm (AEDT).
The race will again be run on an 11.6-kilometre circuit around Ballarat in Victoria, to the west of Melbourne.
It’s a challenging circuit, which include the difficult climb of Mount Buninyong, and riding it 16 times will certainly wear down the riders and teams across the course of the day.
The control of the race is down to the Mitchelton-Scott and Drapac Cannondale development team. Both have plenty of riders in the race, and if they don’t assume responsibility over the front of the peloton, a breakaway will be allowed to skip clear.
In saying that, they will need very clever tactics to get the win. While Richie Porte is skipping the national championships, there are some very talented punchy riders who might be able to make it over Buninyong time and time again.
Caleb Ewan at Lotto Soudal this year probably won’t be one of them, but watch out for clever riders like Jay McCarthy, Heinrich Haussler, Miles Scotson, Nathan Haas and Zakkarai Dempster, all of whom will be fending for themselves throughout the race.
If it does come down to a small bunch, it’s expected Ewan will have been dropped, even with the work of teammate Adam Hansen, while it’s unclear who Australia’s professional team would try to set the win up for.
Sunweb have three riders in Chris Hamilton, Jay Hindley and Michael Storer, but they are expected to be active in breakaways, while Mitchell Docker and Lachlan Morton could be a dynamic duo riding for Education First.
Prediction
These single day races are always hard to tip, however, even riding on his own, Jay McCarthy has the smarts to tack on to the Mitchelton-Scott team, let them do the work and jump away.
For that reason, I’ll take McCarthy to win ahead of one of the Mitchelton-Scott riders. Watch out for Caleb Ewan if he can hang on though, while Adam Hansen is always a show for a spot on the podium.
Be sure to join The Roar for live coverage of the Australian national cycling championships men’s road race from 1:30pm (AEDT) and don’t forget to add a comment in the section below.
Location: Ballarat
Start time: 12:30pm (AEDT)
Expected finish time: 5pm (AEDT)
Distance: 185.6km (16×11.6 km laps)
TV: Live, SBS, Fox Sports
Online: Live, Cycling Central, Kayo Sports, Foxtel app, Foxtel now
Scott Pryde
Expert
Thanks for joining me this afternoon on The Roar for our live coverage of the 2019 Australian Cycling Championships, and what a road race it was. Hopefully you enjoyed the call, and we hope to see you all again soon.
Scott Pryde
Expert
Ha, never should write predictive comments in cycling! Things can change so quickly. What a race.
Scott Pryde
Expert
2019 AUSTRALAN NATIONAL CYCLING CHAMPIONSHIPS RESULTS: MEN'S ROAD RACE 1. Michael Freiberg @ 4:44:48 2. Chris Harper + 0:01 3. Cameron Meyer + 0:01 4. Luke Durbridge + 1:23 5. Dylan Sunderland + 3:24 6. Scott Bowden + 3:24 7. Mark O'Brien + 3:24 8. Lucas Hamilton + 4:24 9. Nicholas Schultz + 3:29 10. Jai Hindley + 4:16
Simoc
Guest
Scott PrydeAuthor Editor January 6th 2019 @ 4:10pm Freiberg is about 20 seconds behind now with 3.5 kilometres to go, so he will just try to hold off Durbridge for the bronze medal now. That was only 15 minutes ago.
Scott Pryde
Expert
Big time. Freiberg was 25 seconds behind with 2.5 kilometres to go. No way Meyer and Harper should have lost.
Simoc
Guest
Hard to believe that. It should have been Harper or Meyer and they stuffed up.
Scott Pryde
Expert
Full results to come. Thoughts on the race Roarers?
Scott Pryde
Expert
Well, that was madness from Meyer and Harper. They gave that race away by just freewheeling from about 1800 metres out. First Meyer forced Harper through, then he sat up, then they rode side by side. All the while, Freiberg went huge from 2km out on the downhill run, came around them with 800 metres to go and Freiberg then put the hammer down, went over the top and was never caught. That's just unbelievable.
Scott Pryde
Expert
MICHAEL FREIBERG WINS THE 2019 AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL CYCLING CHAMPIONSHIPS Freiberg isn't going to stop either. 700 metres to go and he hits the front with a huge attack! Meyer looked ready, but he couldn't get going quickly enough. Freiberg is about 300 metres away and has a big lead. Meyer comes from a long, long way back, but WHAT A VICTORY! That has come from absolutely nothing. Michael Freiberg is the Australian champion, with Harper crossing in second and Meyer third. Oh wow.
bill
Roar Rookie
Unbelievable
Scott Pryde
Expert
1 kilometre! This is madness. Meyer and Harper couldn't give a toss about riding to the line, and here comes Freiberg. THREE-WAY SPRINT
Scott Pryde
Expert
1200 metres to go. Meyer and Harper now next to each other. Neither want to lead. Freiberg might catch them here.
Scott Pryde
Expert
Meyer now sits up and he is not going to lead. Harper takes the bait. Meyer basically sits up and says, Freiberg is going to come through and beat us both. Harper goes straight through and takes the front.
Scott Pryde
Expert
Harper refusing to come through now. He is the underdog here and can pretty much do what he want with 2 kilometres to go. Gap to Freiberg is still 20 seconds.
Scott Pryde
Expert
2.5 kilometres to go. Harper continues to lead the race.
Scott Pryde
Expert
Freiberg is about 20 seconds behind now with 3.5 kilometres to go, so he will just try to hold off Durbridge for the bronze medal now.
Scott Pryde
Expert
Now we are down to just 4 kilometres to go. Can Harper outsprint Meyer?
Scott Pryde
Expert
Six kilometres to go. Harper and Meyer continuing to work, and they need to do into the final 1000 metres here. Freiberg could well time trial his way back on here.
Scott Pryde
Expert
Harper and Meyer doing a good job here. Freiberg a fair way back now and he will probably struggle to get back on here. Should hold Durbridge off for third though.
Scott Pryde
Expert
They sit up again. Freiberg still trying to claw his way back on, but now Meyer has gone to the top. We have gone over the top of the climb and Meyer looks to be happy now to drag Harper to the finish. They have to ensure Freiberg can't get back on. Gap can't be more than 20 seconds with 7.5 kilometres to go.