An untimely crash in her home-state tour inadvertently set Tasmanian cyclist Annie Kleywegt on course for the UCI Road World Championships.
The Hobart teenager was faced with choosing a discipline to prioritise through the season when the accident effectively made the decision for her.
“There were definite positives to come out of that setback,” Kleywegt said six months after the crash.
“It’s really shaped my year and I’m quite happy with how it’s turned out. Everything does work out in the end.”
The daughter of two cyclists said she had been riding mountain bikes “my whole life” when a 2022 Tasmanian Institute of Sport talent ID test opened up alternative possibilities on the road.
Representing her home-town Praties Cycling Team in 2025, Kleywegt came third in the Canberra Junior Tour and recorded another top-10 finish in the Balmoral Junior Tour which helped her land a contract with the ARA Skip Capital junior team.
After top-five finishes in the individual time trial and criterium at national championships in January, she lined up for February’s Tour of Tasmania still intending to divide her time between road and mountain bike.
However, a huge pile-up just outside Longford on the third stage to Poatina brought a premature end to the women’s tour and left Kleywegt needing “about 45 stitches” in “some pretty big lacerations” and an enforced rest from all forms of riding.
“I only had to have a month or so off the bike but in that time there were all the mountain bike selection races and pretty much the entire season,” she recalled.
“So I missed mountain bike nationals, Oceanias and continental series races which were key for selections for anything else. They were all races that I had been targeting to do quite well in, so it was quite disappointing to have to sit those out.”
However, in March Kleywegt was named among 13 riders in AusCycling’s junior European Road Development Project and wasted little time producing more eye-catching performances when she resumed her road commitments a month later.
A hectic schedule of races across Northern Europe was highlighted by victory in a 69-kilometre kermesse in Zedelgem, Belgium, in June.
“I got some strong results and put myself out there on a national level,” she said.
“I did so much racing, something like 27 race days in three months, and learned so many team roles, what my strengths were in the team and how I could support others. It was an awesome experience.”
With the European road development camps centred around Nations Cup events, Kleywegt was able to help the Australian team earn global ranking points which subsequently saw her selected alongside Queenslanders Chloe Bowen, Megan Moore and Neve Parslow in the junior women’s team for September’s Road World Championships in Canada.
“It came as a bit of a surprise but I was really happy to get that,” said the Hobart Wheelers Dirt Devils member.
“At the time it was quite disappointing to have my mountain bike season ended, but at that point I didn’t have to choose between the mountain bike and the road. It all ended up working out for me on the road and now I’m really glad that I took the road opportunities. I think it’s been great for me.”
Kleywegt has also been a member of the Australian mountain bike team, was cross-country short-track national champion last year, won a bronze medal at Oceania championships and has been Tasmanian XCO champ every year since 2023.
So she landed an ideal mentor when she joined the TIS performance squad and Scott Bowden became her coach. A fellow dual-discipline rider, Bowden was an Olympic mountain bike representative in Rio de Janeiro before a lengthy road career capped by a podium finish in the 2021 national championships.
“Scott has always been all for his mountain bike athletes finding the road a bit, even if it is just club races for training,” said Kleywegt, who attended Princes Street Primary School, Taroona High and is now in Year 12 at Hobart College.
“He is a great person to have in my corner if I’m trying to juggle both because he’s done it all before and knows it’s possible. He’s the most supportive of dual-discipline athletes, I think.
“Also he’s raced at the top level while juggling studies in Year 11 and 12 so he fully understands that the balance is important and understands my endeavours to do the same.”
Bowden is proud to have been part of the 18-year-old’s journey and believes she has the necessary tools to have an impact on the world champs road race in Montreal where she will be under the guidance of another TIS cycling coach, Matthew Gilmore.
Asked whether she is now a mountain biker or road rider, Bowden replied: “Definitely both … but maybe leaning more into road.
“She has exceptional bike handling skills and has an ability to put herself in the position she needs to be. And she is also quite punchy. She is on a good trajectory towards reaching the top of the sport and is still very young.”
Kleywegt gives a more definitive answer.
“This year I’m a road cyclist, but who knows what the next seasons will hold. I’ll have to see where we’re at next season and how worlds goes.
“I’m definitely a lot more focused on the road now and I’ve found a love for the team environment. Long-term, I’d like to make it to professional level, the WorldTour, on the road. And potentially, if mountain bikes are still on the cards, do a bit of that on the side.
“If there is any mountain biking, it’ll be alongside a road career. Scott and I decided quite a while ago it would be the best way to make a career out of it.”