Oceania Championships heading Down Under

South Australia has enhanced its status as the centre of the cycling world every January by hosting the Oceania Road Championships as a curtain-raiser to the Santos Tour Down Under.

For the first time, Adelaide will host the Oceania Championships and deliver a time trial and road race from January 15-17 across the opening weekend of the Santos Festival of Cycling, which will also coincide with the first round of the ProVelo Super League Series.

It will crown men's and women's champions in elite, under-23 and under-19 categories.

The Oceania Cycling Confederation is made up of 16 members including Australia, New Zealand, Fiji and Samoa and names such as Luke Durbridge, Cameron Meyer, Lucas Hamilton, Chris Harper, Gracie Elvin, Katrin Garfoot, Jess Allen, Lauren Kitchen and Shara Gillow are on the honour roll.

This year’s championships were held in Brisbane but moving the event to Adelaide and from its traditional March/April time slot to January will allow more professional riders to participate before embarking on their European seasons.

Full course details including location and dates of the road race and time trial will be revealed in coming weeks.

The Oceania Championships will be followed by six-days of WorldTour racing when the 2027 TDU becomes the first race in the world to hold men’s and women’s racing over the same distance on the same day when the two races overlap. The six-stage men’s race will be held from January 19-24 and the three-stage women’s race from January 22-24.

Quotes attributable to Minister for Tourism Emily Bourke:

“Securing the Oceania Cycling Championships is the perfect lead-in to what will be an historic Santos Tour Down Under.

“It provides spectators with some fantastic racing to mark the start of our Festival of Cycling before the WorldTour action begins and showcases more of our state to an international audience.”

Quotes attributable to Oceania Cycling Confederation President and UCI Management Committee Member Tony Mitchell:

"Positioning the Championships in our summer ahead of the Santos Tour Down Under ensures prime position on the calendar and opens the opportunity for the top professionals to compete and chase the Oceania Champions jersey to wear in Europe.

"We look forward to welcoming our region's top riders from Australia, New Zealand and across the Pacific to Adelaide for what is sure to be an exciting Championships.

"Adelaide is well known as a cycling capital for hosting the Santos Tour Down Under for over 20 years as well as World Championships, World Cups, Oceania and National Championships across disciplines, and this is the perfect location to host the Championships.

"The OCC extends its thanks to the South Australian Government through the South Australian Tourism Commission, AusCycling and ProVelo Super League for supporting the Oceania Championships."