William Holmes (Hagens Berman-Jayco) claimed the U23 men's time trial in a tight battle with Julian Baudry (Team Brennan) on the opening day of competition on Wednesday at the Westbridge Funds Road National Championships.
Holmes delivered a time of 36.38.58 in the 29.3km men's time trial on the 9.8km circuit in Bold Park with a relatively flat start, stepped climbs delivering just over 100m of elevation gain a lap and a hairpin turn. That was just one second faster than Baudry, who last year claimed the U23 men's road race title, while Lucas Stevenson (Team Brennan) was third 33 seconds back.
Riders set out into temperatures of around 30°C in the late afternoon, with the third starter Vinnie Manion (Hagens Berman-Jayco) holding his position in the hot seat till well into the final stages with his time of 37:51.68. However, Holmes, who was the sixth last rider to set out, changed that.
Manion was ultimately pushed down to fifth place, behind Holmes, Baudry, Stevenson and Max Goold (NSN Development Team), who slotted into fourth with a time of 37:24: 64.
"I'm super-happy to pull this off and start the year well," Holmes told SBS. "It's been a lot of hard work into this. Last year [2025] I didn't have the year I really wanted to, I struggled a little bit at a few points.
"But I reset well, the team's been really good and helpful and I'm super-happy to be able to pull it off.
"Of course I'd have liked it to be a bigger gap, but [it was a] great ride by everybody else, especially Julian, he was super-close all day."
Connor Wright (WWV Hagens Berman-Jayco) earlier claimed the junior men's time trial title while Neve Parslow (ARA Skip Capital) captured the junior women's title.
The time trials continue on Thursday with the U23 women's, elite women's and elite men's race against the clock. The elite time trial defending champions of Luke Plapp (Jayco-AlUla) and Brodie Chapman (UAE Team ADQ) are expected to face fierce competition in the form of Jay Vine (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) and Felicity Wilson-Haffenden (Lidl-Trek).
