Grace Brown has taken on some of the globe's best cycling courses, but the Aussie Olympian has given the thumbs up to the Wollongong circuit for the 2022 UCI Road World Championships.
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Brown test ran some of the 267-kilometre course on Thursday in preparation for the major titles, which will take place in September. She was joined for the trip by elite Australian cycling coaches Donna Rae-Szalinski and Matt Gilmore.
There were not many athletes with better credentials to get a dress rehearsal ahead of the championships.
Brown's achievements include competing at last year's Tokyo Olympics, where she narrowly missed a podium finish in the women's time trial. The 29-year-old, who represents French team FDJ Nouvelle-Aquitaine Futuroscope, recently returned to Australia after being pipped by one second in the prestigious Women's Tour in Great Britain.
But there's little time to rest for Brown, who will return to Europe soon for the women's Tour de France and Commonwealth Games.
However, she will continue to keep one eye on the Wollongong championships.
"I think it's going to be a really good course. It has quite a few elements that could make for exciting racing," Brown said.
"For me, especially with the time trial, it's really valuable to be able to go over the course and have an understanding of what the challenges are going to be and what I'm going to need to do in my training to properly prepare for the race so, come race day, I'll have a bit of an advantage over my competitors."
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The 267km championship course will have a total elevation of 3945 metres and maximum incline of 15 per cent.
Starting at Helensburgh, mens and womens participants will wind their way south along Sea Cliff Bridge and Lawrence Hargrave Drive to Wollongong's city centre.
They will then take on demanding ride west and up Mount Keira, with a 473m elevation and trick section.
After completing the loop, cyclists then navigate a 10km descent through Kembla Heights and Figtree into the Wollongong City circuit, with 12 laps for men and six for women.
The field will then attack the Mount Pleasant climb along Ramah Avenue where, over 1.1km, riders will climb 119m at an average gradient of 7.7 per cent, before finishing with a fast decent.
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It was a circuit both challenging and enjoyable for Brown.
"For the time trial course, there's lots of corners and it's about working out how to move through those efficiently,'' she said.
''And for the road race, Mount Keira is a lovely climb and quite early in the race, so I'm not sure how much of an impact it will have overall.
''The Mount Pleasant climb is brutal, and that'll definitely be where the race is won or lost. The person who wins is going to be a really top cyclist and I think it's got that element of unpredictability, so the racing will be exciting and we won't know who's going to win, but they're going to be the best person on the day.
"I think this course has similar elements to the British racing that I just did, where I did well, so hopefully that means I'll have a good day in Wollongong too.
''My family has already booked out an Airbnb for a week, so it's going to be really cool to have them on the sidelines cheering me on."
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