Australia's inaugural ProVelo Super League (PSL) continued over the weekend with the first one-day races on the calendar: the Melbourne to Warrnambool Classic and the Women's Warrnambool Classic.
In 2025, the PSL replaces Australia's National Road Series (NRS) as the highest level of domestic racing in Australia, with riders competing for the chance to earn a development contract with the GreenEdge organisation. The 'Warrny' was round 2 of the six-round series which started in late January with SA Kick It (coinciding with the Santos Tour Down Under) and concludes in Queensland in late March.
Here's how the Warrny unfolded.
Men's race
Some 168 riders signed on at Avalon Airport on Saturday morning to race the gruelling 267 km west to Warrnambool in windy conditions.
Two riders – Terence Hore (Duda Cycling) and Tim Cutler (Team Royal Bikes) – got away inside the first 10 km of racing and led for much of the day before being reeled back in with around 80 km left to race. There were attacks aplenty in the kilometres that followed as crosswinds lashed the course, but it wasn't until the closing kilometres that a winning move was established.
That move contained five riders: Blake Agnoletto and Tristan Saunders (Brennan), former WorldTour rider (and former winner) Cameron Scott (Ccache-Bodywrap), future WorldTour rider Hamish McKenzie (Hagens Berman Jayco), and defending champion Mark O'Brien. In the sprint that followed, Agnoletto got the better of Scott and McKenzie to take the biggest win of his career so far.
Highlights from the men's race.
"The sprint just seemed to happen," Agnoletto said. "I thought I was going to cramp but I got it done. I can’t believe it. It feels incredible. What a team, what a day."
Having won both rounds of the PSL so far, Team Brennan riders have a strangelhold on the overall competition, with Agnoletto now leading overall.
Women's race
On Sunday the 60-strong women's peloton gathered in Colac to race the 156 km out to Warrnambool.
Celestine Wells (Nostromo x Ccache) led solo through the early kilometres of a race that saw many groups come together and break apart on the long run out west. Eventually a reduced peloton of only around 20 riders came together inside the final third of the race before the decisive move was made.
Oceania champion Katelyn Nicholson (Butterfields Ziptrack Racing) attacked with roughly 30 km to go and led all the way to the finish to win by 47 seconds. Frankie Hall (Praties) took second, also on her own, while Josephine Pepper (Duda Cycling) completed the podium.
Highlights from the women's race.
"The Warrny is such an iconic race and everyone wants a shot at winning it so to be able to win it is truly special," Nicholson said. "It was one of my teammates, Alli Anderson, who was in that little split just up the road that we had just caught up to and she was on the radio calling 'This is it, you gotta go, you gotta go.'
"So trusting her, she is a very experienced racer so took a flyer and just had to hope for the best. When I looked back I got a gap and I just had to trust the training and the work that I’d put in, and try and pull it off for the girls. I knew once the gap was there, it was all in for them. Very exciting to do it."
After finishing fifth, Talia Appleton (Praties) – the winner of SA Kick It – still leads the PSL overall.
The ProVelo Super League continues with the Spirit of Tasmania Cycling Tour (Tour of Tasmania) from February 21-23.
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