An exciting squad of nine junior riders has been selected to represent the ARA Australian Cycling Team at this year’s UCI Road World Championships in Canada.
Five men and four women have been confirmed by the AusCycling National Selection Panel after impressing at home and overseas this season.
In the junior women’s squad, Neve Parslow will race the UCI Road World Championships for the second consecutive year after a superb summer. The Brisbane native won the national championships in both the time trial and road race, before topping the ProVelo Super League’s under-19 classification and placing second in the junior Liège-Bastogne-Liège.
Oceania champions, fellow Queenslanders and ARA Skip Capital teammates Chloe Bowen and Megan Moore have also earned their selection – the latter having just won the Balmoral Junior Tour, part of the BikeChain J19 National Road Series.
Hobart’s Annie Kleywegt rounds out the squad, having chalked up a race victory in Belgium this spring.
Neve Parslow (centre) returns after debuting at last year's UCI World Championships. (Simon Wilkinson / SWpix.com)
In the junior men’s squad, Sydney’s Benjamin Coates, the junior road race national champion, will pull on the green-and-gold stripes in Montreal alongside dual Oceania champion Alistair Forsyth.
The versatile Connor Wright is set to make his Road Worlds debut less than a month after representing Australia on the dirt at the UCI MTB World Championships. The Bunbury native is the reigning junior national champion in the road time trial and mountain bike cross-country, and has earned UCI-level victories in both disciplines this year, including a stage win and the GC at a UCI Nations’ Cup event.
Melbourne’s Ollie Jirovec, who won the junior criterium national championship in Perth, has also earned selection. Jirovec has taken his race-winning form to Europe, also winning a UCI Nations’ Cup stage.
The men’s squad is completed by Lachlan Stewart, the bronze medallist from the junior time trial national championships.
Connor Wright won a stage and the GC in Czechia earlier this year. (Slovak Cycling Federation)
AusCycling’s High Performance Network Head Coach, Martin Barras, said, “Montreal's course, like Kigali last year and Haute Savoie next year, presents a serious challenge. Australia's junior team brings the depth and talent needed to deliver a great performance.
“The women arrive on the back of a strong Worlds performance and a solid European season, while the men come off Australia's most successful Nations Cup campaign in recent history. We look forward to a great championship.”
The junior individual time trials will be held in Montreal on September 22, followed by the junior men’s road race on September 24 and the junior women’s road race on September 25.
ARA Australian Cycling Team | 2026 UCI Junior Road World Championships
Junior Women
- Chloe Bowen, (University of Queensland CC, QLD)
- Annie Kleywegt, (Hobart Wheelers Dirt Devils, TAS)
- Megan Moore (Balmoral CC, QLD)
- Neve Parslow (Hamilton Wheelers CC, QLD)
Junior Men
- Benjamin Coates (Manly Warringah CC, NSW)
- Alistair Forsyth (Ballarat Sebastopol CC, VIC)
- Ollie Jirovec (Brunswick CC, VIC)
- Lachlan Stewart (Alpine CC, VIC)
- Connor Wright (South West CC, WA)
Feature photo: © Slovak Cycling Federation