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On Saturday, the National Road Series men will take on the 267-kilometre Powercor Melbourne to Warrnambool Cycling Classic, before the 3rd edition of the Lochard Energy Warrnambool Women’s Classic will be tackled on Sunday.
The race will be covered by the SBS commentary team, with Matt Keenan and Dave McKenzie on the microphone.
The men’s race was won last year from the breakaway, with Tristan Saunders of Team Bridgelane playing the numbers with his teammate Sam Jenner before jumping away solo to take a decisive win. Again, the race looks to be in Team Bridgelane’s hands, with a strong squad including a number of participants in the recent Tour Down Under in Saunders, Luke Burns and Jackson Medway.
ARA Skip Capital have a young, talented squad who can compete with Bridgelane, while CCACHE-Par Kup have some experienced riders over this parcours in Alastair Christie-Johnston and Liam White.
Melbourne to Warrnambool 2024 course
Also present are a number of journeyman individual riders who could feature prominently in the race, with Mark O’Brien, Brendon Davids, and Under-23 national champion Fergus Browning sure to be in the mix.
The absence of established sprinters should make for an attacking race, with the wind along the Great Ocean Road often crucial to determining the result.
The women’s race on Sunday will see some real star power with Grace Brown (FDJ-Suez), arguably the best Australian cyclist at present, lining up in Colac for the 160-kilometre race around her local region. The four-time national time trial champion, and two-time world championships podium-finisher used to race and regularly win in the National Road Series, and will have a target on her back whenever she moves here.
The parcours isn’t very selective, so Brown will have to make her move off the back of aggressice racing to make a difference. While the race won’t go through her home town of Camperdown like events of the past, Brown will have some added motivation to take the victory.
Colac to Warrnambool - Women's Warrnambool Cycling Classic 2024 course
Team Bridgelane could use sprinter Keely Bennett if it comes down to a mass finish, but other than that they have a team full of attackers, so could well be an ally for Brown when it comes to breaking the race up. Matilda Raynolds is a two-time winner in the women’s event when it was run within the men’s race course and distance, and the squad also boasts serial attacker Gina Ricardo, exciting Danish cycling newcomer Amanda Poulsen and Haylee Fuller, who was impressive at nationals.
How to watch the 2024 Melbourne to Warrnambool Cycling Festival on SBS On Demand
Saturday, February 3
Powercor Melbourne to Warrnambool Cycling Classic
11:30am-2:30pm AEDT (finish time may change with length of race)
LIVE via SBS On Demand
Sunday, February 4
Lochard Energy Warrnambool Women’s Classic
10:30am-1:30pm AEDT (finish time may change with length of race)
LIVE via SBS On Demand
