Newly minted Australian champions to contest Cadel races

Race Melbourne and the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race will feature four Australian champions.

Road national champion Michael Freiberg will race the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race. Source: Getty

Michael Freiberg leads a quartet of Australian road cycling champions confirmed for the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road race events.

Freiberg was a controversial omission from the UniSA national team for next week's Tour Down Under.

He produced a stunning finish to tear past Cam Meyer and Chris Harper and win last Sunday's championships road race.

Cycling Australia wanted a development focus for the national team at the Adelaide Tour and 28-year-old Freiberg missed out on a start.

It means a rare year when Australia's top bike race does not feature the national champion's jersey.

But Freiberg is in the KordaMentha national team for the men's Cadel Evans race on January 27, starting and finishing in Geelong.

Teenage sensation Sarah Gigante stunned Australian cycling when she won Sunday's women's road race and she will also race in Geelong on Australia Day for the KordaMentha Australian line-up.

Two days before the women's event in Geelong, Albert Park will also host the high-speed Race Melbourne circuit race.

That will feature Victorian Brenton Jones, having won his first senior criterium national title last week after several years of near misses.

The women's Race Melbourne will include Rebecca Wiasak, who had defended her women's criterium championship.

Race Melbourne and the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Rd races have attracted a strong field that includes Richie Porte, Caleb Ewan, Amanda Spratt and the defending champions in Geelong, Australians Jay McCarthy and Chloe Hosking.