Fresh off of winning the Australian National Road Race Championships, Mackenzie Coupland (Liv AlUla Jayco) will make her Women's WorldTour debut on Friday, as she lines up in green and gold at the Tour Down Under.
Still only 20 years old and promoted from Liv AlUla Jayco's development team this year, Coupland won her first elite title before even making her official entrance to the WorldTour, but hasn't had to wait long to make that step and show off her new jersey.
Riding in a team that includes Ruby Roseman-Gannon, Ella Wyllie and Georgia Baker, Coupland is flying high on her result from Perth, but conceded that her role will be different in Adelaide.
"I'm feeling quite confident from last Sunday," she said at the pre-race press conference on Friday.
"My role will probably be trying to support and dig deep as far into the race as possible. And I feel like we've got a pretty strong team, so definitely helping out a couple riders."
Though she may not be expecting to go for the wins – though she's clearly in great form, and the Tour Down Under can be an unpredictable race – that doesn't mean that Coupland is starting her rookie season without ambitions.
"I definitely have personal goals," she said. "This is my first World Tour race, so it's very exciting, and I do have personal goals, but I'd probably see myself as more of a domestique this time around."
At only 20, Coupland is still defining what kind of rider she will be, but her extensive European racing experience from 2025 with Liv AlUla Jayco Continental has already highlighted her strengths, with ninth overall at the Tour de l'Avenir confirming her as an all-rounder with GC capabilities.
How that shapes the rest of her year and programme with the WorldTour squad remains to be seen, but first up, she's in Adelaide to try and help the home team take an overall win here for the first time since 2019.
In contrast to their men's team, who came under fire for confusing team tactics, Liv AlUla Jayco played the women's road race well and will be hoping that cohesion carries over to the Tour Down Under, especially with the green and gold jersey in their number.
"I think any of us Liv AlUla girls could have had the chance to win Nationals. We were all pretty strong just in that winning move," Coupland said. "So I think this jersey is sort of a representation of how strong our team is, and yeah, I feel like we'll be pretty confident coming into it."
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