ARA Australian Cycling Team: riders selected for Tour de l’Avenir Femmes

AusCycling is delighted to announce the ARA Australian Cycling Team for the 2024 Tour de l’Avenir Femmes.

The second edition of the under-23 women’s stage race will run from August 21–24 over a mountainous parcours in the French and Italian Alps.

At age 18, Mackenzie Coupland and Talia Appleton will be the two youngest members of the team. Both riders impressed in their last representative outing when they finished ninth and 19th respectively at the UCI Junior Road World Championships in Glasgow – with Coupland also placing fifth in the time trial.

Former under-23 national champion Alyssa Polites will join the squad after spending a year at the Women’s WorldTour level.

The Australian outfit will be completed by second, third and fourth place from this year’s under-23 road race national championship: Haylee Fuller from NSW, Ella Simpson from Queensland and Sophie Marr from Victoria. Simpson is also the reigning under-23 time trial national champion.

The race begins on August 21 with an uphill prologue at La Rosière. The three subsequent road stages will parallel the final stages of the men’s race. Each stage includes a climb of category 1 or higher, culminating in the finale atop the hors catégorie, partly unpaved Colle delle Finestre.

The ARA Australian Cycling Team’s participation in the 2024 Tour de l’Avenir and Tour de l’Avenir Femmes has been made possible by Commonwealth Games Australia's Green2Gold2Great funding.

Donna Rae-Szalinski, AusCycling’s Director of Pathways, said, “The Tour de l’Avenir is viewed as the most important race for under-23 riders besides the World Championships. It is a pivotal opportunity for our pathway athletes to showcase their performance on a global scale. We are grateful to CGA for their support in this process, with the under-23 cohort being potential contenders to represent Australia in the 2026 Commonwealth Games.”

Commonwealth Games Australia CEO Craig Phillips AM said, “CGA looks forward to continuing the work with sports and high-performance partners at the AIS, the Australian Olympic Committee, Paralympics Australia and State and Territory Institutes of Sport to ensure the best possible preparation for Australian athletes to compete.”

ARA Australian Cycling Team for 2024 Tour de l’Avenir Femmes:

• Talia Appleton (Team BridgeLane, Mansfield Mt Buller CC, 18)
• Mackenzie Coupland (Liv AlUla Jayco Continental, Midland CC, 18)
• Haylee Fuller (Team BridgeLane, Dubbo CC, 20)
• Sophie Marr (ARA Skip Capital, Blackburn CC, 19)
• Alyssa Polites (Liv AlUla Jayco Continental, Carnegie Caulfield CC, 21)
• Ella Simpson (ARA Skip Capital, Sunshine Coast CC, 21)

Photo: Zac Williams / SWpix.com