Canyon-SRAM zondacrypoto opened their 2026 road season by featuring on the podiums of both the women's elite and under-23 Australian National Championships on Sunday.
The two events were part of the same race, the team starting with only three riders, but Neve Bradbury managed third in the elite race, while Emily Dixon was the second-best under-23 over the line after taking a hugely impressive sixth place.
The race was won by first-year professional Mackenzie Coupland, riding only her third race since graduating from Jayco-Alula's Continental team to the WorldTour squad. Her teammate, 2024 champion Ruby Roseman-Gannon, finished second with Jayco's World and Continental teams joining forces to field a total of nine women in the combined race.
Yet despite only having a trio of riders on the start line, Canyon-SRAM zondacrypoto had a huge impact on the race, with Tiffany Cromwell as the third rider representing the German outfit alongside Bradbury and Dixon, the latter part of the team's Continental-level Generation squad.
Just ahead of the final 13.5km lap, Cromwell attacked with eventual winner Coupland, but was unable to hold the wheel, and when she was caught, it was Bradbury's turn to pursue the leader. Bradbury, who has two WorldTour stage wins to her name, was joined by Roseman-Gannon and Katelyn Nicholson (Butterfields-Ziptrack) but was unable to catch the leader.
"We can be happy with today’s race given the circumstances," Bradbury said in a team press release. "The game plan was the same as in Friday’s criterium - to make sure that we were in the break with Jayco. We missed the main break of the day, but they never got a huge gap on us. Tiff and Emily did really well controlling all the breakaways and also attacking themselves multiple times.
"With just under one lap to go, there was only one Jayco rider ahead of the race, so I attacked one last time when the peloton looked to be hurting. Ruby followed me, but I then had to do the rest of the race by myself with Ruby on my wheel. I never made it to Coupland, and Ruby obviously out-sprinted me, so I had to settle for third."
Despite coming close in previous years, the result was Bradbury's best at nationals, and is sure to give her confidence ahead of this weekend's Santos Women's Tour Down Under. By contrast, Dixon's place on the under-23 podium and top six overall was only the second time she has infiltrated a race top-20 and is, perhaps, a sign of things to come for the 19-year-old.
"I didn’t expect to have anything left for the finish after working so hard all race, but I kicked into another gear," she said. "It’s nationals, so you can always find a few more watts to give it everything to the line. I’m really happy with the result and how we worked as a team. Neve and Tiff are clearly so experienced, and it’s a privilege to race alongside and learn from them."
Bradbury will be joined by Cromwell as they head to Adelaide for this weekend's three-stage Women's Tour Down Under, the opening Women's WorldTour event of the season.
