1 hour ago
1
By AAP
January 12, 2026 — 12.28pm
Western Australian cyclist Mackenzie Coupland has scored a popular hometown win after taking out the women’s elite road championship in Perth.
Mackenzie Coupland has claimed the women’s elite road championship in Perth.Credit: AusCycling
Coupland rode a smart race on Sunday and capitalised on Liv AlUla Jayco’s strength to win the women’s elite road championship.
It was the second-straight year that a 20-year-old won the women’s road race, also claiming the under-23 category, but it came amid vastly different circumstances.
A year after the favourites let the break out too far and Lucy Stewart capitalised, this time it was a much tighter race.
Coupland’s teammate Josie Talbot was the last survivor of a three-rider break that had gone clear early in the 109km event, but was never allowed a gap of more than a minute 30 seconds.
Coupland bridged to Talbot on the last of eight laps, initially thinking she would support her teammate.
But Talbot was exhausted and Coupland took the lead by herself with 8km left, quickly realising the race was hers to win.
Asked what went through her mind at the point, Coupland said: “You know what? Just dig deep, you never know what can happen.
“I knew I had really strong teammates behind me in the peloton. I knew even if I was caught, I had teammates to back it up.”
Coupland was also struggling at the finish, but she held on to win by 32 seconds.
This is her first year as a WorldTour rider and she will compete this season wearing the national champion’s jersey.
Teammate Ruby Roseman-Gannon, who won the criterium title on Friday night, beat Neve Bradbury (Canyon SRAM) for second.
Katelyn Nicholson (Butterfields Ziptrack), who was in the break with Talbot and Ruby Taylor (Team Redcat), finished off her strong ride with fourth place.
In the men’s event, Pat Eddy has caused a massive boilover, defying the might of Jayco AlUla to win the Australian men’s elite road championship.
Eddy held off Jayco AlUla star Luke Plapp at the finish to take out the 177km road race on Sunday in Perth.
Jayco AlUla will be kicking themselves, given they had defending champion Luke Durbridge off the front by himself for most of the last three laps in the 13-circuit race.
Eddy and fellow Team Brennan rider Oliver Bleddyn, a gold medallist in the team pursuit at the Paris Olympics, then duelled with Plapp and Jayco AlUla teammate Ben O’Connor on the last lap.
Durbridge faded and was caught near the finish, leaving Eddy and Plapp to decide the championship.
In the men’s race, Durbridge attacked the front group at the start of the third-last lap and had a lead of more than 40 seconds inside the last 30km.
As the temperature reached 35 degrees on Sunday afternoon, the men stayed together for the first few laps of their race.
Durbridge was prominent when the front group of 14 went clear after 40km and quickly built a lead of more than four minutes.
O’Connor was also in the attack, along with Chris Harper (Pinarello Q36.5) and Sam Welsford (Ineos Grenadiers).
As the top sprinter in the front group, Welsford was the main danger to other teams’ plans, but he was dropped well before the finish.
The front group and the peloton splintered in the heat as riders not in the break, especially time trial champion Jay Vine (UAE Team Emirates), ramped up the pace.
Plapp, who surprisingly only managed eighth in the time trial, was also in the peloton and worked his way to the front of the race.
Vine dropped out of contention inside the last three laps.
Most Viewed in Sport
Loading
