Tasmania is sending a record representation of four cyclists to the UCI Road World Championships in Canada next week.
Fresh from their golden showing at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Georgia Baker and Felicity Wilson-Haffenden will again team up in Montréal with Oliver Sims and Annie Kleywegt also named in the ARA Australian Cycling Team.
The selections recognise exceptional performances from the quartet who will find a familiar face among their support staff with Tasmanian Institute of Sport head cycling coach Matthew Gilmore operating as Australia’s junior coach at the titles.
“I think this is our best ever representation at road worlds even going back to the days of Matt Goss, Wes Sulzberger and Richie Porte being in the team,” Gilmore said.
Vastly-experienced triple Olympian Baker headlines the Tasmanian involvement.
Set to turn 32 on the second day of the championships, the Launceston-born rider has already had a superb year which included being named Australia’s Commonwealth Games closing ceremony flag-bearer. Baker won gold medals in the team pursuit and scratch race, silver in the elimination race and bronze in the points race four years after winning three golds in Birmingham.
In addition to the road race, Baker is likely to contest the mixed relay team time trial along with Wilson-Haffenden who helped Australia win the event last year in Rwanda.
The 21-year-old from Glendevie, who won a Commonwealth Games team pursuit gold medal with Baker in July, is also set to ride the under-23 road race and individual time trial - an event she won as a junior in 2023.
Gilmore said the international teammates are well placed heading to Canada.
“I touched base with Georgia a couple of nights ago and she’s really excited to be going to road worlds,” he said. “It’s been a great season for her and she can be super pleased with it.
“Felicity is also moving really well. She left the Commonwealth Games with a gold medal and rode a personal best in the qualification. She will be one of the favourites going into the time trial and that elevates the pressure a bit, but we’ve been chatting through that the last couple of weeks.
“Australia won the mixed relay last year and they’ll certainly be in the mix again this year. The circuit is right in the centre of Montréal, lots of turns but basically flat, so that really suits Felicity and Georgia.”
After several podium finishes and a couple of wins in Italy during his first European season in 2024, Sims has twice finished fourth in his home-state Tour of Tasmania and completed numerous multi-day tours across Europe and Asia.
This year, he won the third stage of the SA Kick It tour in January and a couple of months later repeated the feat in the final stage of the Q Tour to clinch overall victory. The Devonport 20-year-old spent the next six months contesting a series of one-day races in Italy plus a five-day tour in Spain after joining Pinarello Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team as a trainee.
“Ollie has been around for a long period of time and I’m super pleased that he got selected,” Gilmore said. “It will obviously be the biggest competition that he’s ever been to and the under-23s are so competitive now, but he’s a really good climber and the road race circuit is suited towards a climbing type, so I can see him playing a role pretty deep.”
Following top-five finishes in the individual time trial and criterium at national championships in January, Kleywegt was named among 13 riders in AusCycling’s junior European Road Development Project. A hectic schedule of races included victory in a Belgian kermesse and the Hobart 18-year-old was subsequently selected to contest the under-19 world champs road race.
Gilmore said the state and national mountain bike champion is an inspiration to other Tasmanian riders.
“I’ve been really pleased with Annie’s progression and how fast that’s happened,” he said.
“It’s a really good story for kids in Tassie to understand that you don’t just have to focus on one discipline. She has got some real transferable skills from the mountain bike, she handles herself really well in a bunch and had a really good European stint this year. On top of that, she is a selfless team member that will just muck in and help out.”
The 2026 UCI Road World Championships run from September 20 to 27. Australian fans will be able to watch them on Stan Sport, beginning with the elite individual time trials.
GEORGIA BAKER
EVENTS: Elite Road Race, Mixed Relay Team Time Trial (TBC)
BORN: September 21, 1994, in Launceston
AGE: 31
TEAM: Jayco AlUla
CLUB: Northern Districts CC
FELICITY WILSON-HAFFENDEN
EVENTS: U23 Road Race, U23 Individual Time Trial, Mixed Relay Team Time Trial (TBC)
BORN: July 16, 2005, in Glendevie
AGE: 21
TEAM: Lidl-Trek
CLUB: Hobart Wheelers Dirt Devils
OLIVER SIMS
EVENT: U23 Road Race
BORN: March 7, 2006, in Devonport
AGE: 20
TEAM: Pinarello Q36.5 Pro Cycling
CLUB: Mersey MTB Club
ANNIE KLEYWEGT
EVENT: U19 Road Race
BORN: July 27, 2008, in Hobart
AGE: 18
TEAM: ARA Skip Capital
CLUB: Hobart Wheelers Dirt Devils