Welsford, Pate snare criteriums at cycling nationals

Olympic cycling gold medallist Sam Welsford has proved he is the fastest gun in the west, outsprinting his rivals to win the Australian criterium title for the second time.

Welsford and Amber Pate took radically different paths to the elite national criterium championships on Friday night, held on a circuit at Perth's inner-suburban Northbridge district before a big crowd.

While Welsford dominated the reduced bunch sprint that decided the men's title, Pate and newcomer Keira Will broke away early and forced the women's race to be shortened by 10 minutes because they were about to lap the peloton.

The men's race featured three members of the team pursuit squad that won gold in Paris last year - Welsford, Oliver Bleddyn and Conor Leahy.

Notably, their Olympic teammate Kelland O'Brien did not start Friday's twilight race. He and Jayco AlUla teammate Chris Harper were late withdrawals, perhaps an indication that the top Australian team is targeting Sunday's nationals road race.

That left Luke Durbridge, one of Australian cycling's most respected competitors, as the only Jayco AlUla rider in the men's criterium.

Typical of "Turbo Durbo", he tried to break away by himself before conceding defeat at the start of the last lap in the one-hour race, with Welsford going to the front and executing his final sprint to perfection.

"It was a super-fast race - from lap one, it was on," Welsford told SBS.

"There was an electric atmosphere out there and I loved every minute of it."

He paid credit to the local CCache team, featuring Leahy, who did their best to put Welsford under pressure.

CCache rider Cameron Scott was second, with Blake Quick (Roojai Insurance) third.

Welsford will now combine with Red Bull BORA Hansgrohe teammate Jai Hindley, another Perth native, to form a dangerous double act on Sunday in the elite men's road race that caps the national titles.

Earlier, Pate and Will were also a lethal combination, as they combined to catch the women's peloton napping.

After they broke away early, Pate then attacked by herself late in the race and soloed to the win, celebrating with the crowd on the last lap.

Like Welsford (2020), Pate is a repeat Australian criterium champion.

The 29-year-old Liv AlUla Jayco rider also won the title two years ago and it and comes a day after she finished runner-up to Brodie Chapman in the Australian time trial championship.

Two-time Olympic track cyclist Maeve Plouffe won the sprint for third place, before Pate had her ceremonial finish and Will crossed the line 19 seconds behind.

Along with finishing second overall, Will also claimed the national under-23 title in her first Australian championships up from the juniors.

"I knew I could go long, but I didn't know how long I could go long for," Pate told SBS.

"I'm a bit tired from the time trial, but I knew I had 'long' in me and I just thought, let's keep fighting.

"I'm really proud to pull it off for the team. We all went in with the right mindset, any of us could have won.

"It just worked out really well. She (Will) is a fantastic little rider."

It is the fourth-straight year Liv AlUla Jayco have claimed the women's criterium title, with Ruby Roseman-Gannon also winning last year with a breakaway, and in 2022.

Earlier on Friday, John Carter took out the men's under-23 criterium.