Road cycling championships coming to Shepparton

The event will repurpose some of Shepparton’s central roads this Saturday and Sunday for criterium racing in the junior and Masters women’s competition divisions.

Meanwhile, Dookie will be hosting individual time trials before road racing along the canola fields across Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

Speaking Monday morning City of Greater Shepparton Mayor Shane Sali expressed his anticipation towards playing host to the national event.

“We’ll have more than 600 participants coming to the region and, of course, extensive support crews as well,” he said.

“There will be a large visitor base to support those who are riding and with that comes a great economic impact as well.”

Meanwhile, there is plenty of excitement among those closest to the action.

Olympic cycling gold medallist Brett Lancaster will be watching his son, junior rider Luca, compete this weekend.

“Luca started in Spain with some mountain biking classes and one day suddenly took one of my race bikes out on the road, taking it quite seriously,” Lancaster said.

“We’ve had him take up road and track cycling since coming back to Australia and to be in Shepparton now doing nationals is special.”

Luca and fellow Shepparton junior standout Jack Edwards were on hand for Monday’s event launch alongside coach and Masters women rider Rhianon Norton, who beamed excitedly as her students prepared for a huge opportunity.

“Myself and my husband, who coach these guys, we’re so proud of them and their training over the last couple of months,” Norton said.

“It’s really special to compete at home and train in Dookie and around Shepparton.

“We know what the environment is like and we’re very happy to get to race here at home.”

Council estimates indicate the likely number of visitors converging on the region throughout the four-day carnival could be more than 2000.

It is additionally assumed the economic boost to Greater Shepparton through this tourism will be measured at about $1.3 million.