Women get tv time at road cycling titles

Cycling Australia have made a major change to the national road championships schedule as the sport tries to develop women's competition.

The final day - Sunday, January 10 - is now a packed schedule featuring the elite women's and men's road races.

Previously, the women and under-23 men had their road races on Saturday and the men's race ended the nationals on the Sunday.

The reason for the change is so that the last hour of the women's road race can be broadcast live, leading into the men's event, the traditional showpiece of the road nationals.

"By showcasing a section of the women's road race on Super Sunday, it further extends Cycling Australia's commitment to women's cycling," said CA chief executive Nick Green.

The women's under-23 category, which is held within the senior women's race, will also have its own champion's jersey for the first time.

It means the 102km women's road race will start at 8am on Sunday, with the 183.6km men's event from 11.50am.

The two races will be held on the hilly 10km Buninyong circuit near Ballarat, a feature of the nationals for more than a decade.

Saturday will now include a Gran Fondo, or amateur ride at Buninyong.

The rest of the schedule will be unchanged, with the criterium championships in Ballarat on Wednesday night, January 6.

The individual time trials will start and finish at Buninyong the following day and the road races will be held over the weekend of January 9-10.