Julian Baudry (Atom 6 Bikes - Decca) won the U23 men's road race at the AusCycling Road National Championships in Perth on Saturday, taking victory on the new course through Kings Park and centre of the city which shattered the field.
The 18-year-old from the high country of Victoria flew solo from the leading group near the end of the second-last lap of a 136km race where repeated climbs, wind and heat all took their toll.
Baudry held firm, however, keeping an unrelenting pace through the final 10 km lap and winning the title 51 seconds ahead of his nearest rival. In the process, he announced his arrival among the most promising prospects in Australian cycling.
"I can't believe it. I didn't expect this coming here focussing on the TT," said Baudry in an interview with broadcaster SBS. "I was just trying to see how I could go in the road race, I was aiming to get in the break and I achieved that and saw how I was going around the course and I made my move."
The 2024 winner Fergus Browning (CCache x Bodywrap) went out in pursuit of the riders out front in the break, which had stretched its advantage to close to three minutes. While he couldn't catch Baudry he did pick off all the rest, claiming his second silver of the 2025 National Championships. Jack Clark (XSpeed United) was close behind in third.
The race worked its way through the laps of the 13.6km loop, with 193m of elevation gain each lap in temperatures of around 30°C – hot weather, but that's no surprise from Perth in January, which could certainly have dished up even more.
It was a quick turnaround for the riders that had also lined up in the criterium on Friday afternoon. However, as they never really appeared to be in with a chance on the new course, the sprinters didn't get a full opportunity to test how they would fare following the fatigue of the Northbridge battle - an outcome that may well cause some consternation for the fast finishers among the elite and women's U23 riders set to race on Sunday .
How it unfolded
The air was thick with nervous anticipation as riders set off on the course, missing the stretched-out climb of Buninyong but retaining its own challenges, including punchy climbs, one with a maximum gradient of 12.3%, in the last 2.5 km.
It was a fast first lap, with Victorian rider Dylan Proctor-Parker and Queensland’s Tyler Tomkinson launching off the front. Then on lap 2, Will Heath (CCache x Bodywrap) joined and by the third lap of a course including bush, city and water views, a number of other riders had set off from the peloton in pursuit.
By the fifth lap the initial chase group of four had swelled to 11 and then caught the leaders, making it a group of 13 on the front. More counter-attackers were also in pursuit, while the key favourites sat back in the bunch.
The halfway mark ticked past and there was some attrition in the lead group, but as it was still around ten strong and with the gap approaching three minutes, it was beginning to look like a dangerous scenario for the favourites. By around 40km to go, a group of key riders had set off in pursuit –including 2024 winner Browning, Will Holmes (Hagens Berman Jayco), Tour of Bright revelation Jack Ward and time trial winner Zac Marriage (Butterfields Ziptrak).
With the pressure on as word of the pursuit filtered through, at a little more than 30km to go the leading group was shredded apart with attacks flying. Four riders emerged at the front: Finlay Walsh (CCACHE x Bodywrap), Proctor-Parker, Julian Baudry (Atom 6 Bikes - Decca) and Nate Hadden. Then when the race hit the two laps to go mark, at around 27km, Browning decided if he was going to have any chance at securing the green and gold stripes once again, he needed to up the ante and continue the chase solo.
As Browning worked his way through the groups and up towards the front of the race, on the brutal final climb near the end of the second last lap Baudry decided his time had come to go it alone.
He quickly dropped his break companions and set into time trial mode. Browning continued his pursuit, but with more than 50 seconds as the gap and Baudry still appearing strong, as the race entered the final lap, the writing was on the wall - and Baudry forged on to victory.
Earlier in the day the U19 races had taken place, with Anna Dubier of New South Wales winning the junior women's national title, while time trial and criterium winner Amelie Sanders came second. Queensland's Alexander Hewes claimed the Junior men's title.
The road races continue on Sunday, with the 109km elite women's and 177km men's races concluding the national title chase.
Results
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