When Sophia Sammons lined up at the Australian Road National Championships in Perth last year, her results certainly signalled that she was enjoying having the national title battle on home territory, with the Praties rider making the most of her home ground advantage.
Sammons walked away with two under-23 podium spots, coming third in the race against the clock before coming second in the under-23 category at the road race after escaping in the early break. She was fifth over the line in the event, where Lucinda Stewart (Liv-AlUla-Jayco) crossed first to claim both the elite and age category titles.
"The road race, honestly, was a bit of a surprise," Sammons told Cyclingnews when looking back on the result. What wasn't a surprise, though, was how the race played out when, after decades of the national titles being decided in and around Ballarat, the event moved to Western Australia, giving the riders from Perth a chance to lean on local knowledge.
"I knew that course was a breakaway course, and I knew how tough it was going to be," said Sammons. "A lot of people underestimated it, but yeah, I kind of had a pretty good idea of what it was going to be all about."
There will not be the same surprise factor this year, now that the race is returning to Perth for the second edition. The Western Australian capital is also locked in as home to the competition for national titles for at least another year, and for Sammons, the timing of the shift couldn't have been better.
She might have had to make the trek across the nation to Ballarat in her first year as an under-23 rider, but the rest of those crucial years in the category where cycling careers are often shaped will be at home. That is the perfect scenario for a rider who is clearly focussed on the opportunity the National Championships offers to make a mark, given it's a rare chance on Australian soil to show just how the domestic-based riders stack up against the riders who have already made the leap to Europe.
"I've been putting in a lot of work," said Sammons in the month ahead of the event. "I mean, Nationals is my number one goal for the year.
"I put a lot of pressure on it, which is good in a way, also bad, but I see it almost as my main ticket to really getting my name out there even more. So, yeah, right now, just doing a lot of training, focusing on the TT bike, doing a lot of course work as well, which I'm lucky enough to be able to access in training as well," Sammons said.
The results of that training will become evident late on Thursday, when the 29km race against the clock in Bold Park plays out. The 20-year-old will be entering the competition as one of the key favourites – both those who finished ahead of her last year have moved up to the elite competition – and the rider who finished third last year is set to roll off the ramp last.
"I love the time trial," said Sammons enthusiastically. "It's my favourite event. It's so much more in my control. If I mess it up, that's 100% on me."
But if she doesn't, it's also 100% to her credit.
Still, her focus on the time trial doesn't mean she won't also be giving it everything she has got in the 81km combined elite and U23 women's road race on Sunday, which she is entering with a more pragmatic perspective.
Sammons may have a year more of experience on her side – with ProVelo stage and race podiums to show for it as well as multiple wins at National level races in Spain where she took on a block of racing to get some European exposure – but the element of surprise that was there last year when the early break got away and stayed away will not be there this time. There is always a chance of other surprises, though, that could play in her favour.
"The road race has hundreds of different factors that could lead to so many different results," said Sammons.
"It's always an unpredictable dynamic, because you've only got one full team there that's International, and then you've got so many other groups with so many different motivations and the individuals too. So who knows?"
