After two seasons away from the Australian National Road Championships, Jayco-AlUla leader Ben O'Connor will return to the startlist for the 2026 edition and on familiar roads for the first time.
The Perth native didn't race last year's championships, the first in Western Australia since 1997, and is eagerly looking forward to being in the mix for the national champion's jersey come early January.
Hosted in Perth's Kings Park, the Championships will run from Wednesday 7 January through to Sunday 11 January, on the same time trial, criterium and road race courses as the 2025 edition.
Speaking to Cyclingnews ahead of the EFGH Tour de France Criterium in Singapore, O'Connor, who won the second Tour stage of his career on the Col de la Loze this summer, is excited to be a part of the action in his home city and will tackle both the road race and time trial.
"I'll go back to Australia and do the nationals in Perth. A home race [for me], it'll be cool. I wanted to do it last year, but it just was going to be too difficult to fly home with my newborn daughter in the end.
"It'll be great to do it this year. I actually can't wait."
Asked what he's expecting of the Perth course and how the championships might play out, the Subiaco-born rider was clear in his response.
"It's just aggressive, it doesn't really matter, it could be pan flat and you'd still have a good race, to be honest.
"They can even make a criterium as a road race, if they wanted to, like a true Belgian kermesse, and it would still be a great race," the 29-year-old joked, before adding, "I wouldn't want to be left to a sprint, but it's just aggressive racing. In national championships, anything can happen."
It will be O'Connor's fifth tilt at the elite national championships road race, and his first since 2023, when he took seventh place, his best result to date.
However, one key factor that has changed since then is the 2024 World Championship runner-up's trade team. Back on the Australian-registered squad Jayco AlUla since the start of 2025, O'Connor believes it should make road race tactics much clearer.
The WorldTour squad have won the previous two editions of the road race, with fellow WA native Luke Durbridge claiming a fairytale second title last time out, 12 years on from his first. Fellow Jayco rider Luke Plapp also secured TT honours in the team's colours for the last two seasons, too.
"Being on Jayco will definitely make it a lot simpler. You actually have a teammate," O'Connor admitted.
"The last time I did this race with a teammate was [in my] Dimension Data days, and that was just one, Lachlan Morton, so it was a completely different thing back then."
