If and when the women's elite/U23 road race at Sunday's AusCycling Road National Championships turns into a small group sprint, and it often does, Amanda Spratt (Trek Segafredo) will be ready ...

The Australian rider has already won the title three times: in 2020, 2016, and 2012. Spratt hopes to break this four-year cycle on Sunday, when he returns to Buninyon after a two-year absence.

"It would be great (to win back-to-back titles), but apparently it only happens in Olympic years, so I would be happy to prove that theory wrong and take the jersey," Spratt said when Cyclingnews spoke with him by phone just before the season started.

The 35-year-old, who moved to Trek-Segafredo in 2023 and has spent his pro career with GreenEdge (this year with Jayco Alura), will be competing under very different circumstances this year.

"GreenEDGE has seven riders and a strong team. The only women's WorldTour team in Australia, Spratt said. 'Usually I've been on teams where everybody's focused on me. So it's a little bit strange, but I think we'll have a strong team, we'll be in good form, and I'd love to win [the national title]."

Many would.

For Spratt, even though she only has two teammates, she has two very valuable ones in Lauretta Hanson and Brody Chapman, who were on the podium at the 2021 national championships. In addition, she has experience and climbing talent that can be put to good use on Mount Buninyon Road. The Mount Buninyon Road is longer and steeper, but it is a climb that is repeated at least nine times in the 104.4 km race. But what might have been a question mark at the start of the season was Spratt's sprint speed. In the Citroën Bayklitz, Spratt caught the speedy Ruby Roseman-Gannon (Jayco Alura) on the first stage and went on to win the race.

"I think I was as shocked as everyone else. But I know I can still sprint well after a harder race, and I think coming back from surgery last year (for iliac artery endometrial fibrosis) has given me back some of the punch that I didn't get back much of during the season. I've been practicing sprints for the last couple of weeks in preparation for races."

She could be in line for another title on Sunday as she goes for her fourth national title.

"You have to be able to do almost anything these days," she said. We've seen how strong Australian women's cycling is, and now women's cycling is so strong, you have to be able to sprint from a small group.

"There is a possibility of finishing in a group of four or five riders, so you want to give yourself every chance."