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'I could hear my name every lap': Hometown hero Sam Welsford becomes criterium national champion

Jan 10, 2025

Perth sprinter Sam Welsford has thrilled an enormous home crowd with victory in the criterium on the third day of the 2025 AusCycling Road National Championships.

As the sun set over inner-city Northbridge on Friday, the Olympic track champion sprinted to the win in front of thousands of enraptured spectators.

Welsford was among just 15 of the 34 starters who finished the attritional, high-speed elite men's race.

It's Welsford's second national title in the elite men's criterium, an event he won in 2020 in Ballarat.

"I was pretty nervous today. I was just visualising how the finish would be, exactly how I wanted to do it. I started to get a bit nervous," Welsford said.

"I think it just means a lot to me being here in WA, having a home Nationals. I mean, you saw the home support, it was amazing out there. I could hear my name every lap. It makes a huge difference to me.
 
“I always want to win a national title, it’s been a while I’ve won this one, the crit, so starting off my Nationals campaign in a really good way.
 
“The CCACHE boys are really strong, they did their best to try and get away from me. They had a really strong team out there, hats off to those boys, they were really strong today. Cam Scott running second to me, he is a close friend to me on the track as well, so always nice to see them do well. They took it to me and made me really, really work for it."

The hour-long criterium took place on a technical 1.2-kilometre street circuit.

The early phases were animated by the CCACHE x BODYWRAP team, who first sent Tali Lane Welsh and then Liam Walsh on the attack, while Conor Leahy marked several moves in the bunch behind for the entire duration of the race.

The streets of Northbridge were lined with spectators − early estimates put the number at 20,000 − who erupted with applause each time one of their Western Australian heroes Luke Durbridge, Oliver Bleddyn or Brady Gilmore accelerated in the bunch.

With the race all together, Durbridge launched one last solo attack with two laps to go, but was reeled back in. Welsford then took control, positioning himself to the front in the final corners and launching a powerful sprint to claim the win ahead of Cameron Scott and Blake Quick.

Welsford was the second Perth favourite to taste victory in Northbridge after CCACHE x BODYWRAP's John Carter won the under-23 men's crown.

The tall, powerful Carter was a prominent player in the race and timed his winning move to perfection with the assistance of teammates Jack Dohler and Dylan Eather.

Earlier in the day, Melburnian Ollie Jirovec won an animated junior men's criterium.

ARA Skip Capital dominated the race by numbers and if not for Donovan Mackie's silver medal would have locked down the top-five finishers all on their own.

Results - Men's Criteriums

Elite Men

  1. Sam Welsford (Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe) 1h04:12
  2. Cameron Scott (CCACHE x BODYWRAP) +0
  3. Blake Quick (Roojai Insurance) +0
  4. Brady Gilmore (Israel Premier Tech Academy) +0
  5. Liam Walsh (CCACHE x BODYWRAP) +0
  6. Pat Eddy (Team Picnic PostNL) +0
  7. Blake Agnoletto (Atom 6 Bikes - Decca - Cycleur de Luxe Continental Team) +0
  8. Rob Stannard (Team Bahrain Victorious) +3
  9. Reece Tucknott (Canberra Off-Road Cyclists) +3
  10. Elliot Schultz (Victoire Hiroshima) +3

U23 Men

  1. John Carter (CCACHE x BODYWRAP) 52:39
  2. Leo Zimmermann (SASI/Norwood CC) +0
  3. Brayden Bloch (Fundación Ciclismo Benicadell) +0
  4. Oscar Gallagher (Blackburn CC) +0
  5. Jack Dohler (CCACHE x BODYWRAP) +0
  6. Benjamin Pepper (Midland CC) +0
  7. Luke Richert (Gold Coast CC) +0
  8. Jack Clark (X-Speed United) +0
  9. Michael Bryant (Butterfields Ziptrak Racing) +0
  10. Andre Dubier (Lidcombe Auburn CC) +0

Junior Men

  1. Ollie Jirovec (ARA Skip Capital) 39:36
  2. Donovan Mackie (Cycling Development Foundation) +0
  3. Alex Hewes (ARA Skip Capital) +0
  4. Jonas Shelverton (ARA Skip Capital) +0
  5. Ben Coates (ARA Skip Capital) +0
  6. Connor Wright (ARA Skip Capital) +0
  7. Jack Edwards (Shepparton CC) +0
  8. Jaco Nel (Peel District CC) +0
  9. Maxx Nuspan (Bendigo and District CC) +0
  10. Samuel Castle (Roues Chaudes CC) +0

Feature picture: ZW Photography/AusCycling