The unsigned riders that made a mark this Australian summer season

The Australian summer spells opportunity for budding domestic cyclists who are trying to work their way onto the world stage, or in the case of some others, find their way back.

The chances to make a mark abound, right from the local but highly-regarded races like the Tour of Bright, Melbourne to Warrnambool and Warrnambool Women’s Cycling Classic through to the biggest event on the national calendar, the AusCycling Road National Championships. 

Then there are also the Tour Down Under and Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race, where Australian riders vie for the much sought-after national team spots so, as the underdogs among the world’s top teams, they can fight for whatever moments in the spotlight they can get. As the ARA Australian Cycling team sports director at the Tour Down Under, Martin Barras, told Cycling News: “We’re not the belle of the ball here, we’re the little sister that gets invited at the last minute and she’s trying to make an impression”.

Many succeeded in making that impression both on the world stage and in the smaller races surrounding them. At Cycling News we’ve spent the last two months covering these Australian events and talking to riders and teams on the sidelines, so now we take a look back at some of those who managed to stand out in the crowd.

Jack Ward

When Luke Plapp (Jayco-AlUla) was charging up Tawonga Gap on stage 1 of the Tour of Bright, he left a scattered trail of riders from the break down the climb  – many had tried to stick to his wheel but couldn’t. There was, however, one exception and that was Jack Ward. 

It was an even more unexpected outcome when the 19-year-old mountain bike rider didn’t just sit on his wheel but in a savvy move shot out from behind Plapp’s wheel to take the stage win. What’s more, he then went on to take victory on stage 3 on the challenging climb of Mount Buffalo and finished second on the overall behind Plapp. 

That was also not Ward’s only strong showing of the summer with the rider so far playing his hand to perfection in the new six-round ProVelo Super League. After two rounds, SA Kick It and the Powercor Melbourne to Warrnambool, the Team Brennan p/b TP32 rider sits second overall and comfortably at the top the U23 leaderboard. This means he is currently in prime position to secure that stagiaire contract with Jayco-AlUla that is up for grabs for the under 23 series winner.

Talia Appleton

Talia Appleton also jumped to prominence at the Tour of Bright, first claiming the pre-event criterium with a long solo effort and then on stage 1 to the top of Tawonga Gap she jumped out of the group at 1.5km to go and never looked back. To continue carving out her progression up the ranks she then had two options for the new year. The first was a place in the Australian national team for the Tour Down Under, another was racing round 1 of the ProVelo Super League, SA Kick It, to focus on the chase for the Liv-AlUla-Jayco Continental team contract up for grabs for the under-23 winner of the series. That second option was the one she took. 

“It’s a really good opportunity, there is a development pathway which I think is a really good way to get into the WorldTour,” Appleton told Cycling News at round 2 of the ProVelo Super League in Warrnambool. 

The Praties rider, who after two rounds is sitting at the top of the both the overall and under-23 leader board for the series, added that having looked at the points calculations with her team management and coach she decided it was important to turn up for every race. Plus the tight block and contract on offer delivered plenty of training motivation through the period. 

“Knowing that there is such a big reward at the end of it and having a condensed block of racing of three months means you can really perform in all the rounds,” said Appleton.

Julian Baudry

Perth delivered an extra element of the unknown to the AusCycling Road National Championships in 2025, with a change from the popular but well-worn course of Buninyong to a different circuit punctuated by multiple climbs. As such, the U23 men’s race was a real litmus test. Would the course open the way for a reduced bunch sprint or would the break riders have their day? 

When the 18-year-old Julian Baudry flew solo from the leading group on the second-to-last lap of 10, he answered that question. With a tenacious effort from the first-year under-23 rider he held the chase at bay and crossed the line to claim the Australian title, the victor sounding just as surprised as anyone else that he had found the top step of the podium. It’s a debut in the under-23 category that will certainly cut short the days of flying under the radar for the Team Brennan p/b TP32 rider. 

Alyssa Polites

Alyssa Polites has long stood out in Australia, dominating the junior ranks at the National Championship when she claimed time trial gold and road race silver in 2020 and then upping the ante in 2021 to take both titles. She then moved to the U23 category and immediately found her way onto the podium at the combined women’s elite and U23 road race. 

However, things didn’t go to plan when she stepped onto the world stage with LIv-AlUla-Jayco. After two years where illness and injury stymied her run, in 2025 she had no contract and something to prove. There was no time wasted as Polites made the most of her spot on the ARA Australian Cycling national team in South Australia, claiming the Queen of the Mountains jersey at the Santos Women’s Tour Down Under.  

“It’s good for the confidence and I’m hoping it will put my name back on the board,” said Polites. “I really want to get back over to Europe, so anything I can do to get there.”

Fergus Browning

2024 was a year where Fergus Browning did a considerable amount to stake his claim for a professional contract, winning the U23 men’s elite road title, even though he was hit by a car in training the day before, and backing that up with a European victory, stage 1 of the Tour de l’Ain. Nevertheless, after the closure of Trinity Racing’s road team, he faced 2025 without a contract to race in Europe. 

That left plenty on the line for the Australian summer, which started out with silver in both the U23 men’s time trial and in the road race, where he reeled back in all but one of the break riders, Baudry. His strength was clear and he put it to good use at the Tour Down Under, going out on the attack with ARA Australian Cycling teammate Zac Marriage early on day 1 and establishing a grip on the King of the Mountains jersey the proved unshakeable, the rider from Melbourne finishing with double the points of his nearest rival.

Emily Dixon

The 18-year-old with a late December birthday was easily the youngest rider on the start line at the Santos Women’s Tour Down Under. Still, even though Emily Dixon may have only just stepped out of the junior ranks the ARA Australian Cycling team rider was certainly doing far more than just getting through her first Women’s WorldTour race, particularly when it came to stage 2 which finished at the top of the climb of Willunga Hill. 

“The more it goes uphill the happier Emily is so that was a great opportunity for her to test herself, and that was what our objective wa, for her to test herself on the climb,” Sports Director Donna Rae-Szalinski told Cycling News at the race.

The result was that that Dixon snared a place in the top 20 and that helped her to 23rd overall in her first outing in the top tier, even though the GC was not something the team was targeting. It also put her in second on the youth category, behind Eleonora Ciabocco (Picnic PostNL), the Italian rider in her third Women’s WorldTour season.

Zac Marriage

Zac Marriage started the year with the U23 men’s time trial win at the AusCycling Road National Championships and continued to show his strength and determination as he worked into January. Even though he had a spot in the ARA Australian Cycling Team for the Tour Down Under and Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race, Marriage was determined to do all he could to make sure he was scoring as many points as possible in the ProVelo Super League as well. 

That meant he raced the time trial opener of SA Kick It up Willunga Hill on Saturday, 18th January, and the Villawood Men’s Classic that evening, then Sunday rode the stage 2 criterium before forgoing the stage 3 road race of the first round in the ProVelo Super League series on Monday to prepare for the beginning of the WorldTour competition at the Tour Down Under on Tuesday. Straightaway at the Tour Down Under, he went on the charge, out front in a long break with teammate Browning. He also fought his way into the top 20 on both the Willunga Hill stage and the general classification and cam second in the youth classification, just 15 seconds behind winner Albert Philipsen,  Lidl-Trek’s new ‘super talent’.

Liam Walsh

Liam Walsh, who had already taken third in the men’s elite road race at the Australian National Championships, was another from among the national team that showed he was able to mix it in WorldTour company at the Tour Down Under. That was even despite being ruled out of the bulk of the sprint chances by a succession of misfortunes – from an Ill-timed broken spoke on stage 1, a late flat on stage 2 and getting caught up in both of the last lap crashes on the way to the line on stage 6 

However, that still left what was a challenging stage 4 to Victor Harbor, with climbs that put the dominant sprinter of the race, Sam Welsford (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), out of contention. The 23-year-old made the best of the opportunity, sticking with the lead group and working his way up the stretched out field to come agonisingly close to the podium, taking fourth on the stage.

Katelyn Nicholson

Oceania champion Katelyn Nicholson has already had a strong start to the year through January, taking second overall at the SA Kick It opening round on the ProVelo Super League and just missing the podium in both the time trial and the road race at the National Championships, but the best was yet to come. 

Through a fast and windy Lochard Energy Warrnambool Women’s Classic, the Butterfields ZipTrak rider played her hand to perfection and managed to get away and held out front for the final 40km of the 156-kilometre race. NIcholson had plenty of time to enjoy the moment as she crossed the line solo and will now head off to race in Europe in April with the Down Under Academy, put together by Valentina Scandolara, with a sought after win behind her.

Blake Agnoletto

Blake Agnoletto had already reminded his rivals of his powerful turn of speed by the second stage of the ProVelo Super League’s SA Kick It in January but the big question, as he was coming toward the Powercor Melbourne to Warrnambool finish line in a group of five, was would it hold up after 267 brutal kilometres? The answer was a resounding yes. 

Cameron Scott who had just come out of the WorldTour ranks and was racing with CCACHE X Bodywrap, was clearly a huge threat, particularly as the winner of the 2022 edition however not even he could touch the 22-year-old Team Brennan p/b TP32 rider once he launched at under 200m to go. It was a clear-cut victory for Agnoletto and, he has every reason to hope it is the start of even bigger things to come. 

“I really want to go pro this year, ” said the 22-year-old rider who last year had been more track-focussed though just missed out on Olympic selection. “It’s definitely a big road focus going into this year. I’ve started to show the form is already there and I just need to keep building on it until I leave for Europe at the start of next month.”

Alli Anderson

Alli Anderson was a name that just kept cropping up through the summer, with the rider showing she was back, in no uncertain terms, from the health problems that had stymied her season at the Tour of Bright. Anderson won that race overall and then kicked off January by claiming the women’s under-23 time trial title. 

The 21-year-old then delivered a clear demonstration of her racing nous, likely tuned by her place in the national team at the Tour Down Under and Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race, at the Lochard Energy Warrnambool Women’s Cycling Classic. The rider was not only present in the moves, ultimately finishing sixth, but it was her that spurred her Butterfields Ziptrak teammate into the winning break. 

“It was Alli Anderson who was in that little split just up the road that we had just caught up to,” winner Katelyn NIcholson said when asked by Cycling News what made her decide to attack when she did. “She was calling on the radio, ‘this is it, got to go, got to go, got to go’ so trusting her – she is a very experienced racer – I took a flyer and just had to hope for the best.” 

And the best was just what happened, with Anderson also demonstrating that as well as pulling in the results for herself she also could help bolster those around her.  

Rudy Porter

Rudy Porter was one of the riders among the Australian hopefuls that already knew what it felt like to get that WorldTour contract, having signed for two seasons with Jayco-AlUla from 2023. Unfortunately, all had not gone well for him when he got there. In 2024 he was not able to line up after May, less than ideal in a contract year, and that meant he found himself wondering what’s next and on the hunt again in Australia in 2025. 

“I got a left leg injury, it was a pinched artery … so I came back home to Australia to try and get it solved,” Porter told Cycling News in Warrnambool. It was, unfortunately, a process that took some time. “It wasn’t really until late November when I started doing a few efforts, that I wasn’t really getting any symptoms in my left leg which was a positive.”

He had decided to apply for a spot on the national team, and while he only had six to eight weeks of training “coming from pretty much nothing” he had a solid Tour Down Under, finishing 11th on the tough Willunga Hill stage and 16th overall. He then went on to take a dig at the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race and secure the King of the Mountains jersey. 

“Everything is really good with the leg now, no problems whatsoever, the training is going really well and I’m just trying to get back to WorldTour level.”