A catalogue of untimely injuries and setbacks has done little to diminish the 21-year-old’s enthusiasm as he prepares to embark on the sport’s highest level.
“I’ve had a lot of injuries, even from my junior days, so I’ve got pretty good at dealing with them now unfortunately,” McKenzie said.
“I’ve learned to be resilient and determined and as a young cyclist the best thing you can be taught is to stick with it and that can get you far. It’s not a very secure job and very tough at times. It may look really nice from the outside but it’s a cruel and brutal sport.”
Success in such diverse locations as Sheffield and Scotland have set up the time trial specialist for what looms as a pivotal year in his fledgling cycling career.
After two seasons with development team Hagens Berman Jayco, McKenzie will begin a two-year contract with Jayco AIUIa, joining compatriots Luke Plapp, Luke Durbridge, Michael Matthews and Ben O’Connor in Australia’s only WorldTour team.
Having delayed making the step up to gain more experience, he is understandably thrilled about his neo-pro year prospects.
“Super excited,” he said. “It’s been a lifelong dream to be a professional cyclist and especially with an Australian team and one which has always been my favourite.
“It’s a surreal feeling to be in the same team as guys like Michael Matthews. I need to get my foot in the door and put in good performances early to get selected for the bigger races. I really want to show my level early and hopefully get the opportunity to do bigger races, ideally a Grand Tour, maybe the Vuelta (Tour of Spain) at the back end of the year.
“It’s a different level. It’s the very top end of the sport and everyone’s flying so you have to be good and if you turn up not so good you’re going to get exposed. With just two-year contracts it’s always a race to do your best to prolong your career.”
Launceston-born McKenzie joined his triathlete dad Paul in the city’s competitive bunch rides and was soon fitting the sport around his studies at St Patrick’s and Launceston colleges.
“The bunches in Launceston are so much fun, just emptying yourself and being around good people,” he recalled.
“I was just so determined and always had a goal to be a professional cyclist so was riding before school in the 6am bunch or after school as soon as I got home until it got dark.”
After success on the track, including a national individual pursuit title as a junior, McKenzie added under-19 individual time trial and criterium gold medals at the 2022 Australian Road Championships and joined ARA – Pro Racing based on the Sunshine Coast the following year.
His first taste of road world championships also came in 2022 on home soil in Wollongong where he came second in the under-19 ITT.
“That was pretty special to be able to race worlds in my own country and it turned out to be a special day. I got pipped by the very last rider in the time trial but I was super proud to be second in front of a home crowd and my family.”
Another world championship medal followed a year later when McKenzie took bronze over 36.4 kilometres in Glasgow.
“It was my first year in under-23s so noone really expected me to do much but I had a super preparation at altitude for three weeks beforehand. I knew I was in good shape and the course was suited to me. It was very like the roads at home. It was just like riding around Tassie so I just felt at home.
“I also had a lot of support because my last name and first name are both Scottish, so it was quite fitting to do well there!”
An injury-plagued 2024 saw McKenzie grateful for the support of the Tasmanian Institute of Sport.
A crash in his first race in Croatia resulted in a herniated disc and just two days before departing for world championships in Switzerland he was hit by a car near his home in France and sustained a fractured patella, broken nose, lost teeth and needed an operation on his wrist.
“I was knocked unconscious so don’t remember it, but it was devastating. I felt I was going the best I ever had and was feeling super.
“My mum was coming to watch me at worlds so diverted to Nice to be with me and she’s a nurse so it was good to have her look after me, but it was not the year I wanted to have.
“It was hard laying on the couch not really able to move and watching the world champs ride away from you on the TV. But I had to get back to work because at the end of the day it’s your job and I still want to be at the top level.
“Coming back to Tassie was the best thing I could’ve done because having all the support of the TIS was massive to me. Having my old coach Matt Gilmore, Pete Culhane the gym coach, the doctors and access to good healthcare and being around family and friends made it a lot easier and the return was smooth but long.”
Extending his recovery on home soil, McKenzie gave his 2025 season the perfect start when he took part in the Tour of Tasmania and won the 118km stage into Sheffield en route to a fifth-place finish.
Despite another crash in his first race in Greece and a broken wrist picked up in the Tour de Bretagne, McKenzie welcomed some familiar support at world championships in the Rwandan capital Kigali where he recorded a 10th place in the under-23 ITT.
“It was a very different worlds being in Africa and at 1800m altitude. I trained for three weeks in Andorra and felt I was going ok but conditions were very difficult. Everyone was struggling with breathing from altitude, humidity and air quality. When Matt Gilmore told me he was going to worlds I was super excited to see a familiar face and Scott Bowden from the TIS was also there. Matt was in the car on the radio when I was in the time trial. That was so nice because he’d been there in Wollongong and was my previous coach. It always gets me a bit more fired up when I have Matt in the car. He knows exactly how to speak to me on the radio and it was nice to have him there.”
Living between Nice and Monaco with a second residence in Andorra, McKenzie is delighted to be extending an illustrious line of elite Tasmanian cyclists having been inspired by Matt Goss’s Monument victory in 2011.
“Milan-San Remo would be in the top races that I’d love to compete in and dream of winning,” he said. “Seeing someone from Tasmania win that is pretty special and makes you realise your dreams are right there. We’ve had a lot of good cyclists like Richie Porte and Georgia Baker, Amy Cure, Cam Wurf and it was so inspiring to see all those guys when I was growing up.”
Article by Rob Shaw.