NRS preview: 2022 Australian Unity Tour de Brisbane

The National Road Series (NRS) makes its way to Queensland for the first time in 2022 for the Australian Unity Tour de Brisbane as part of the Brisbane Cycling Festival presented by King St and the 2022 Oceania Cycling Championships.

A unique one-day race on the NRS schedule due to its city-based route, the Tour de Brisbane has already become a favourite among the NRS pelotons through its first two editions.

The route

An early Queensland sunrise start will greet the NRS and Oceania Road Championships pelotons on Gregory Terrace next to the Brisbane Showgrounds. Riders will roll out in neutral towards the spaghetti junction interchange high above the Clem7 tunnel and Inner City Bypass.

From there the races will quickly reach the Legacy Way tunnel for a surreal cycling experience underneath the city of Brisbane, before the flag drops and the race begins express to the city's western suburbs and Mount Coot-tha.

Coming out of the Legacy Way tunnel riders will continue down the Western Freeway as they did in 2021 to the sprint point on Centenary Bridge, then continue along the Centenary Highway to Sumners Road, before returning on the opposite side of the freeway to take on Coot-tha.

The ascent of Coot-tha has returned to the more gradual frontside approach in 2022, which features a rolling plateau after the main climb before the KOM at the summit adjacent to the ABC transmission tower.

From here, it is a very fast and technical descent down the backside of Coot-tha, continuing along Birdwood Terrace past Toowong Cemetery before reaching the Milton Road flyover.

Following each race’s final descent of Mount Coot-tha, riders will take a technical U-turn back into the Legacy Way tunnel to return to Brisbane CBD. Continuing out of the tunnel, riders will head back up the spaghetti junction interchange via a tight technical U-turn before a fast finish on Gregory Terrace where the race began.

Route specifications per race

Elite and U23 Men

• Distance: 123.5km
• Mount Coot-tha ascents: Three
• Sprints: Three

Elite and U23 Women

• Distance: 89.1km
• Mount Coot-tha ascents: Two
• Sprints: Two

U19 Men

• Distance: 89.1km
• Mount Coot-tha ascents: Two

U19 Women

• Distance: 76.1km
• Mount Coot-tha ascents: One

What to expect

With the race returning to frontside ascents of Mount Coot-tha, as it did in the inaugural edition of the race in 2019, we can expect more riders to stick with the main bunches over the climbs.

This is not to say the climb won’t be a deciding factor at all, however, the second and third (men only) ascents of Coot-tha are sure to rattle a few cages.

Past winners of Tour de Brisbane have been riders able to separate themselves from the pack on Coot-tha as Sam Hill and Danielle De Francesco did last year, with De Francesco winning solo by more than a minute.

Notably, out of four NRS finishes at Tour de Brisbane across the men and women, not once has more than two riders come to the line to contest a final sprint.

The twists and turns of the route, bar the Western Freeway out and back section, is the perfect recipe for a working breakaway to stay away until the finish.

We are expecting more riders will fight it out for the win on Gregory Terrace than in previous years, but it won’t be a large group.

Riders to watch

Both NRS leaders and winners of the Melbourne and Colac to Warrnambool respectively in Cameron Scott and Maeve Plouffe (ARA Pro Racing Sunshine Coast) will defend their series leads in Brisbane before departing for Belgium with the ARA Pro Racing Sunshine Coast squad.

The climbs should be no issue for riders as talented as Scott and Plouffe, however, if the out and out climbers among the NRS and New Zealanders decide to go full gas up Coot-tha then it will put pressure on the pair.

Scott will also be able to lean on the climbing prowess of teammate Angus Lyons, who showed his best to win the final stage of the NRS Santos Festival of Cycling atop Willunga Hill, which is similar in duration to Coot-tha.

The Oceania Championships factor means there are plenty of Kiwis in the Sunshine State champing at the bit to steal the show.

Most of the New Zealanders racing on Sunday also raced on the track over the past week and they were flying.

Aaron Gate (Bolton Equities Black Spoke Pro Cycling) is in some serious form if his exploits on the boards are anything to go by, and his two elite teammates in New Zealand road race national champion James Fouche and Thomas Sexton will be just as strong, as will U23 time trial specialist Logan Currie.

New Zealand national team riders Bryony Botha and Ally Wollaston (U23) will equally be just as dangerous.

Botha was just the fourth woman in history to break the 3 minutes and 20 seconds barrier on the track for the 3000m individual pursuit earlier this year and did so again last Saturday with another personal best time, while 21-year-old Wollaston is a supreme talent on the bike and claimed four Oceania titles on the track.

Team BridgeLane’s European racing exodus has already begun, meaning potential leaders such as James Whelan and Nick White won’t be in Brisbane.

The onus instead falls on the shoulders of Drew Morey and Matthew Dinham (U23) for Team BridgeLane, who will be in their element on the climbs.

Team BridgeLane will also be boosted by the hometown knowledge of James Panizza and Rhys Robotham (both U23), with the young climbers knowing every pinch and feature of Coot-tha inside out.

2021 Tour de Brisbane winners De Francesco (ARA Pro Racing Sunshine Coast) and Hill (Nero Continental) will be hoping for repeat success on Sunday but may not be able to pull off the same solo attacks they performed last year due to the deeper start lists.

NRS Tour of Gippsland winners Kane Richards (ARA Pro Racing Sunshine Coast) and Georgie Howe (Knights of Suburbia Racing) will no doubt feature at the front of the race at some point on Sunday, but getting over multiple ascents of Coot-tha among the leading riders will be a tough ask for the two powerhouses.

Darkhorse names to watch in the Elite and U23 men will be Mark O’Brien and Brenton Jones (Inform TMX MAKE), Ben Carman (Nero Continental), Team Ukyo Sagamihara duo Ben Dyball and Nathan Earle, Cyrus Monk (Meiyo CCN Pro Cycling) and Josh Burnett (NZ Cycling Project).

In the Elite and U23 women you can count on a strong InForm TMX MAKE squad comprising the likes of Carlee Taylor and Amber Pate to be launching attacks, as will ARA Pro Racing Sunshine Coast’s Chloe Moran and Anya Louw, Emily Herfoss will be flying the Roxsolt Liv SRAM flag in Brisbane while most of her squad prepares for Europe, NRS veteran Ruth Corset (VA Pro Racing) can never be discounted when a climb is involved, and locals Sophie Malowiecki (Giant Racing Team) and Mia Hayden (The Women’s Racing Project) could surprise their rivals on Coot-tha.

• Full start lists

Where to watch

The 2022 Australian Unity Tour de Brisbane will be live streamed on SBS On Demand, the SBS Cycling Central Facebook page and AusCycling YouTube on Sunday from 5:50am - 10:30am AEST.

You can follow the Australian Unity Tour de Brisbane on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, and visit their website for more information. Follow #TourdeBrisbane and #NRS22 on your favourite social media platforms.

For more content, follow AusCycling’s Road & Esports Facebook page, as well as our main Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts.

Results can be found here.

Pictures: Con Chronis, Veloshotz, Michael Shippley and Pete Wallis