With the road races of all categories, the 2026 Oceania Road Championships came to a close during the Italian night. Reinserted into the calendar this year after a season of absence, the event saw its final act take place along the Mount Crosby circuit roads where, in the two most anticipated races (those reserved for Elite and Under 23 men and women), the Australians Tully Schweitzer and Carter Bettles laid down the law.

Both, not without some curiosity, arrived to contest (and then win) the continental title in a two-up sprint that saw them relegate twenty-year-old Sophia Sammons and New Zealander Li Ning Star's Luke Mudgway to second place, who could do nothing against the superior finishing kick of those alongside them.

Schweitzer, who will turn 19 on May 23rd, has thus claimed the first (and most important) professional victory of his career, while Bettles (already admired in recent years on Asian stages wearing the Roojai Insurance Winspace jersey) has achieved his first win in two years, having not raised his arms to the sky since the fourth stage of the 2024 Tour of Taiwan.

At the junior level, Alistair Forsyth and Chloe Bowen secured the continental gold medals: the former had the strength to impose himself by a significant margin, handing more than a minute to New Zealander Alex Botha, while the latter prevailed in a sprint over her compatriot Neve Parslow.

ALL RESULTS

Men Elite and Under 23

1. Carter Bettles (AUS) 3h30:33

2. Luke Mudgway (NZL) s.t.

3. Alastair Christie-Johnston (AUS) +54

4. Fergus Browning (AUS) +54

5. Finlay Walsh (AUS) +56

6. Dylan Hopkins (AUS) +1:07

7. Oliver Bleddyn (AUS) +2:15

8. Caron Scott (AUS) +2:19

9. Kane Richards (AUS) +2:23

10. Brent Rees (AUS) +2:26

Women Elite and Under 23

1. Tully Schweitzer (AUS) 3h32:33

2. Sophia Sammons (AUS) s.t.

3. Katelyn Nicholson (AUS) +2:34

4. Bronwyn Macgregor (NZL) +2:35

5. Belinda Johnston-Bailey (AUS) +5:12

6. Ellie Hoitink (AUS) +5:15

7. Talia Chambers (AUS) +5:15

8. Brittany Dutton (AUS) +10:38

9. Kathryn Krosch (AUS) +14:01

10. Maddison Black (AUS) +15:27

Men Junior

1. Alistair Forsyth (AUS) 2h57:23

2. Alex Botha (NZL) +1:16

3. Zachary Douglas-Savage (AUS) +1:48

Women Junior

1. Chloe Bowen (AUS) 2h44:06

2. Neve Parslow (AUS) s.t.

3. Alex Milne (NZL) +10:36