Victoria’s iconic Great Ocean Road delivered a spectacular 2025 UCI Gran Fondo World Championships saw 46 UCI world titles awarded across different age categories during the four days of action (16-19 October) in Lorne and Geelong. The event returned to Australia nine years after the inaugural edition in Perth.
In total, more than 2,000 riders from 58 countries participated in the time trial (raced over 22.7km), the team relay (with 4 riders each covering three 1.9km laps) and the road race (contested over 130 kilometres).
Special champions double up
Seven riders returned home with two rainbow jerseys of UCI World Champion, including three of the 22 Australian riders who reigned supreme on home roads, claiming a total of 25 gold medals for local heroes. All three Aussie two-time winners are women, with Jenny Pettenon ruling the 50-54 age category, while Glenda Signorini impressed among the 70-74 contenders and Gaye Lynn dominated the 75-79 field.
In the men’s categories, Spain’s Rául Patiño Delgado (50-54) repeated last year’s victory in the time trial and added success in the road race on Sunday. As for France’s Marcel Ève (85-89), he is the oldest UCI World Champion crowned in Victoria after celebrating his 85th birthday on Friday. The day before, he had claimed rainbow glory in the ITT. A couple of days later, he added another gold medal to his record, his first in the road race, after previous successes against the clock.
On the other end of the spectrum, Australia’s Emma Ochoa (F19-34) turned 19 years old in June and was the youngest rider crowned at the UCI Gran Fondo Worlds as she won the ITT. Her Victoria roots made this success even more special.
Poland’s Alina Mylka and Wojciech Szczepanik also enjoyed a special time Down Under. Already a winner of the team relay in 2024, this year Szczepanik partnered up with Mylka along with Jakub Rucinski (also a winner in 2024) and Piotr Bielinski to double up in 2025. The day before, Mylka had won the ITT in the F40-44 category. And on Sunday, she took silver in the road race – with Szczepanik also claiming victory in the M35-39 category.
Patterson and Van Voorden storm the Great Ocean Road
Sunday’s road race packed two climbs – where the difference was made – with the wind making the battle even harder.
The Netherlands’ Jeroen van Voorden proved to be the fastest, ruling the M19-34 competition after 3h08’28’’ of intense racing (average speed: 41.38km/h). After taming the main ascents of the day, the Dutch rider attacked with 10km to go and soloed his way to victory. Across all age categories, he was the very first rider to make it to the finish in Lorne, ahead of two Polish contenders, Gracjan Szelag (+14’’) and Adrian Mrówka (+15’’).
With UCI World Champions earning their crowns along the day, it was the USA’s Jill Patterson (40-44) who proved to be the fastest female rider, covering the 130 kilometres in 3h41’43’’ to narrowly edge Poland’s Alina Mylka, also in the 40-44 category. Australia’s Matilda Raynolds finished third overall, taking victory in the women’s 35-39 category and narrowly edging out the winner of the F19-34 category, France’s Gwénaëlle Legendre, who shares her training advice on social media.
All in all, riders from ten nations took rainbow jerseys at the 2025 UCI Gran Fondo World Championships, where 54 nations were represented.
The race for the 2026 UCI Gran Fondo World Championships is already underway, with the first qualifier event - The Valli Varesine (Italy) - held at the beginning of October, ahead of three UCI Gran Fondo World Series events in November: UCI Gran Fondo Loutraki (Greece), UCI Granfondo Brasil (Brazil), and Granfondo Antalya (Turkey).