NRS Preview: Cycle Sunshine Coast

The men's and women's AusCycling National Road Series (NRS) heads to south-east Queensland for the second edition of Cycle Sunshine Coast, taking in the beautiful hinterland and surrounds from Thursday through Sunday.

Expect the action to be hot as the Queensland sun over the next four days as the race for the 2022 NRS title heats up.

The Stages

Stage 1

Rural Peachester in the Sunshine Coast Hinterland hosts the opening road race on Thursday. The 18.3km circuit is punctuated by a 160m climb each lap, providing a testing initiation for the NRS bunches. The NRS men will cover 110km (six laps), while the women will take on 73km (four laps).

Stage 2

Friday kicks off with the Montville Team Time Trial, also in the hinterland. The 7.4km course is characterised by some tightly cornered sections and a continual ascent over the entirety of the stage, climbing 351m in total and testing the lung capacity of the NRS bunches.

Stage 3

Day 2 concludes with the Cricks Volkswagen Street Criterium in the Kawana Sports Precinct. Running alongside Sunshine Coast Stadium and Lake Kawana, the 0.8km flat course will have NRS men and women racing over 55 minutes plus two laps.

Stage 4

Cycle Sunshine Coast heads back to the hinterland on Saturday for the North Arm Road Race near Yandina. The circuit features mostly moderate terrain, although a small climb will test riders on the back half of each lap. The NRS men will cover 79.9km (ten laps), while the women cover 59.9km (seven laps).

Stage 5

The festival culminates with the demanding USC Hinterland Road Race on Sunday morning. After heading off from the University of the Sunshine Coast, riders complete laps of a demanding circuit near Eudlo that features multiple unpaved sections and rises of 90m each lap, before returning to the finish line. The NRS men’s course takes in 115.8km, while the women cover 89km.

Key Riders

A three-way battle has emerged in the Men’s Team competition, with InForm TMX MAKE (1919 points) just ahead of Team BridgeLane (1793 points) and ARA Pro Racing Sunshine Coast (1452 points).

On the women’s side, ARA Pro Racing Sunshine Coast (2006 points) appear to have the NRS team title sewn up, well ahead of Knights of Suburbia Racing on 1347 points.

An intriguing battle is emerging for third place however, with InForm TMX MAKE a mere 62 points behind Sydney Uni-Staminade.

Cameron Scott holds a strong points advantage over InForm TMX MAKE rival Brenton Jones, and both Scott and ARA Pro Racing Sunshine Coast teammate Kane Richards must look to press their advantage in the penultimate NRS round.

Third-placed Richards is just five points behind Jones, setting up for what should be enthralling contests over the five stages on the Sunshine Coast.

NRS Women’s tied leaders Maeve Plouffe (ARA Pro Racing Sunshine Coast) and Josie Talbot (Sydney Uni-Staminade) are both non-starters for the penultimate round, with Plouffe on Australian Cycling Team duty ahead of the 2022 UCI Track World Championships and Talbot enjoying some time back home after representing Australia at Wollongong 2022.

However, their absences do open the door for ARA Pro Racing Sunshine Coast’s Danielle De Francesco to close the 85-point gap from third place.

Keely Bennett of Knights of Suburbia Racing leads the Young Rider classification and sits in seventh overall, well clear of the next rider in that classification, teammate Emily Watts who currently sits in 13th overall.

• Start lists

How To Follow

For race updates, head over to the Cycle Sunshine Coast website.

AusCycling and SBS Sport will have daily highlights on our Road & Esports Facebook page, our AusCycling YouTube channel and SBS Sport.

For National Road Series news and content, follow AusCycling’s dedicated Road & Esports Facebook page, and our main Twitter and Instagram accounts using the hashtags #CycleSunshineCoast22 and #NRS22.

Results will be available at the AusCycling results website.

Images: Alexander Polizzi