AusCycling has released the course details for the 2025 Australian Road National Championships and while the location has moved to Perth, Western Australia it is once again a route that is neither flat nor mountainous, but in between. What has changed is the schedule, with the women's elite and U23 road race now closing proceedings on Sunday afternoon, with the men's race having taken its usual morning slot.
The January 8-12 event which opens the Australian summer of racing and decides the national titles is heading to Perth for three years, after spending two decades on a fixed course near Ballarat in Victoria, with its race shaping Buninyong climb a crucial part of the repeated 11.6km circuit.
As the race moves to Western Australia the road race will again play out on a loop, this time one that is 13.6km long with a similar amount of climbing, with 193m of elevation gain in each slightly longer laps that contain an uphill drag in the first half and pinches in the final stages.
“Between the lush greenery and spectacular lookouts of Kings Park, and the cosmopolitan city streets of the CBD, I can’t think of a more appropriate setting for Australia’s road race championships,” said Kipp Kaufmann, AusCycling’s Executive General Manager – Sport.
“The course is challenging, but equitable: it doesn’t suit just one type of racer. A punchy climber may be able to get away, while a cagey sprinter may be able to hang on. It’s anyone’s race."
The road race will be centered around King's Park, while the time trials will be run in the city's west and the urban time trial will take place in Northbridge.
Time Trial
The time trials from January 8-9 open up the competition, running on a flowing 9.8km loop, which the elite men will take on four times (39.2km) and the elite women three times (29.4km). The anti-clockwise lap heads around Bold Park, bringing riders onto the highway to finish off the loop which contains two small stepped climbs.
Criterium
The criterium racing will build through Friday January 10 on the Northbridge course, with Ballarat's hot dog circuit swapped for a 1.2km lap with six corners as it sweeps over the wide boulevards and narrow side streets, which could allow the attackers to get out of sight. The elite races will provide an evening finale for the inner city criterium in the restaurant and bar filled area, with the U23 and elite women racing for 50 minutes plus two laps and the elite men for an hour plus two laps.
Road Race
The road races from Saturday January 11 to Sunday January 12 will play out on a 13.6km course that starts and finishes in Perth's Kings Park. After setting off from the start line the riders will face an uphill drag within the parklands, head toward the water and race along the Swan River before sweeping into the CBD. A short, sharp climb up William Street and Malcolm Street then peaks 400 metres before the finish back in Kings Park.
The provisional schedule has the elite men setting out on Sunday morning to take on 177km, which is 13 laps of the course with 193m of elevation gain and a maximum gradient of 12.3%. The combined U23 and elite women's race is then set to take place as the final event on Sunday afternoon, with the final Australian national road title of 2025 to be decided over 109km or 8 laps.
