Australian champion - Miniature cyclist figurines

Robbie McEwen

The Championship of Australia is an annual cycling race where riders compete for the national title. The championship of Australia is held in several categories. As champion of Australia, the winner may wear the Australian champion jersey throughout the year in the races of the respective category.

The men's competition has been organized annually since 1950. This is noticeably later than the championships in the traditional cycling countries such as Belgium, the Netherlands, France, Italy and Spain. But in the years before 1950 it was also organized a few times. The very first time was in 1909. Then Ivar Munro won. The women had to wait until 1989 for the national title. From 1996 there is also a championship for time trial.

The Australian record holder on the road is Hubert Opperman with 4 victories in the men’s race (1924, 1926, 1927, 1929). There are 3 riders who became Australian champions 3 times: Russell Mockridge (1956, 1957, 1958), John Trevorrow (1978, 1979, 1980) and Robbie McEwen (1995, 2002, 2005). In the female race Kathy Watt holds the record with 4 victories.

Another successful Australian cyclist never became champion of his country, namely Cadel Evans. Although he won the Tour de France and the World Championship in the autumn of his career, he never became Australian champion.

The Australian champion jersey is white with yellow and green stripes.

Winners men's elite:
1909 Ivar Munro
1924 Hubert Opperman
1926 Hubert Opperman
1927 Hubert Opperman
1929 Hubert Opperman
1930 Richard Lamb
1932 Richard Lamb
1948 Alby Barlow
1950 Keith Rowley
1951 Vin Beasley
1952 Neil Peadon
1953 Alby Saunders
1954 Eddy Smith
1955 Eddy Smith
1956 Russell Mockridge
1957 Russell Mockridge
1958 Russell Mockridge
1959 Fred Roche
1960 Fred Roche
1961 Neville Veale
1962 John O'Sullivan
1963 Warwick Dalton
1964 Barry Waddell
1965 Matt Martino
1966 Kerry Hoole
1967 Graeme Gilmore
1968 Barry Waddell
1969 Robert Whetters
1970 Graham McVilly
1971 Graham McVilly
1972 Kevin Spencer
1973 Kerry Hoole
1974 Graham Rowley
1975 Donald Wilson
1976 Peter Besanko
1977 Donald Wilson
1978 John Trevorrow
1979 John Trevorrow
1980 John Trevorrow
1981 Clyde Sefton
1982 Wayne Hildred
1983 Terry Hammond
1984 Peter Besanko
1985 Laurie Venn
1986 Wayne Hildred
1987 Alan Dipple
1988 Paul Miller
1989 Gary Clively
1990 Dean McDonald
1991 Neil Stephens
1992 David McFarlane
1993 Eddy Salas
1994 Allan Iacuone
1995 Neil Stephens
1996 Nick Gates
1997 Jonathan Hall
1998 David McKenzie
1999 Henk Vogels
2000 Jamie Drew
2001 Steve Williams
2002 Robbie McEwen
2003 Stuart O'Grady
2004 Matthew Wilson
2005 Robbie McEwen
2006 Russell Van Hout
2007 Darren Lapthorne
2008 Matthew Lloyd
2009 Peter McDonald
2010 Travis Meyer
2011 Jack Bobridge
2012 Simon Gerrans
2013 Luke Durbridge
2014 Simon Gerrans
2015 Heinrich Haussler
2016 Jack Bobridge
2017 Miles Scotson
2018 Alexander Edmondson
2019 Michael Freiberg

Winners women's elite:
1992 Kathy Watt
1993 Kathy Watt
1994 Kathy Watt
1995 Elizabeth Tadich
1996 Lynn Nixon
1997 Symenko Jochinke
1998 Kathy Watt
1999 Tracey Gaudry
2000 Anna Millward
2001 Katie Mactier
2002 Margaret Hemsley
2003 Olivia Gollan
2004 Oenone Wood
2005 Lorian Graham
2006 Katherine Bates
2007 Katie Mactier
2008 Oenone Wood
2009 Carla Ryan
2010 Ruth Corset
2011 Alexis Rhodes
2012 Amanda Spratt
2013 Gracie Elvin
2014 Gracie Elvin
2015 Peta Mullens
2016 Amanda Spratt
2017 Katrin Garfoot
2018 Shannon Malseed
2019 Sarah Gigante

One of the best and most famous Australian riders is Robbie McEwen.

Robbie McEwen is one of the fastest Australian sprinters of all times. He was a pro rider in the peloton from 1996 to 2012. He married a Belgian woman and spent his entire career in Belgium. That's why he speaks perfect Dutch. After his career he moved with his family to Australia.

He became a pro with the Dutch team Rabobank in 1996. In 1999 he won his first big race with the last stage in the Tour de France on the Champs Elysées. In 2002 he did even better. He won the green jersey for the best sprinter and won 2 stages. In 2004 he could repeat all that beauty: again 2 stage victories and the green jersey. In 2005 he won 3 stage victories in the Tour. In 2006 again 3 stages and also the green jersey. In the Tour de France he won a total of 12 stages.

Also in the Giro he had many successes. Just like in the Tour he won 12 stages. He also became 3 times champion of Australia (1995, 2002 and 2005). He also won 5 times Paris-Brussels (in 2002, 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008). Also Dwars door Vlaanderen is a race he won in 2003. In 2008 he was the best in the Vattenfall Cyclassics.

From 2009 it went downhill. The couldn’t win races and due to a heavy fall he had to stop racing for the rest of the season. Also in 2010 his season was full of crashes and bad luck. In 2011 McEwen moved to the Australian team Team Pegasus. But his team had financial problems and McEwen had to find a new team. He moved to Team RadioShack. After that season, he moved to Australia. In 2012, he joined the Australian team GreenEdge for a few more months. After that he went to work there as team leader.

Overview of his teams:
1996-1999 Rabobank
2000-2000 Farm Frites
2001-2001 Domo-Farm Frites-Latexco
2002-2002 Lotto-Adecco
2003-2004 Lotto-Domo
2005-2006 Davitamon-Lotto
2007-2007 Predictor-Lotto
2008-2008 Silence-Lotto
2009-2010 Katjoesja
2011-2011 Team RadioShack
2012-2012 Orica-GreenEdge

Discover all our miniature cyclist figurines.