Cycling
After winning all there is to win on the track, the Australian sprinter has his sights set on leaving a legacy on the road.
The Europe-centric nature of professional road cycling means that any riders from outside the continent have had to make more sacrifices than most to reach the top.
Take Sam Welsford as a prime example. After two Olympic cycles where he won silver and bronze on the track as part of Australia’s Team Pursuit quartet, the Perth native left his family and friends behind on the other side of the world to try his hand against the best on the road. But he believes this whole-hearted commitment to the cause provides added motivation to succeed. “You have to put absolutely everything into it. That gives you a big push forward as you really need to make it work.”
It’s a tactic that is bearing fruit too. Since signing for Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe at the start of 2024, Welsford has added an elusive Olympic gold medal at Paris 2024 and six Tour Down Under stage wins. And with that chapter complete, he now has ambitions to become the best sprinter on the road.
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He came last in his first race - never again
Welsford was inspired to ride by his dad, who would go out with his friends at weekends and explore on two wheels. “I’d always wonder where he was going and what he was doing, so eventually I wanted to go. I got a really small bike and got stuck in,” he says.
This led to him taking part in his first road race aged eight, and he was instantly hooked. “I’m a naturally competitive person, so when I jumped into the first race, I wasn’t fit or trained, and I went full gas for a lap, blew up and came last. I loved every minute of it. That was a big part of the reason why I got addicted to it.”
Despite the result, he was determined not to suffer the same outcome the following week. “Losing there made me realise that I needed to start training to go back the next week and beat them. It was only a three-lap race as we were so young, but I really enjoyed the aspect of being in a position to win, and the tactical side of using your strengths to win.”
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Track cycling unearthed a need for speed
After spending his teenage years competing on the road against now-team-mate Jai Hindley in Perth’s junior categories, Welsford decided to dedicate himself to the track.
“I always had the dream of being Olympic champion and representing your country at the highest level is something I really wanted to do. The Olympics was always a goal, but I started off on the road and then eventually got into the track as there was an option to do so in Australia. I fell in love with the speed aspect.”
I fell in love with the speed aspect
Welsford had a natural talent, and after winning his first Junior World Championship, he decided it was something he wanted to pursue professionally. By 20, he achieved his dream of representing Australia at the Olympics, missing out on a gold medal by 0.6s at Rio 2016. Five years later, a mechanical issue with a team-mate’s bike meant he had to settle for bronze. But come Paris 2024, things aligned for Welsford and he became Olympic champion in the Team Pursuit.
After achieving his dreams on the track, he’s happy to leave the velodrome behind and start the next chapter of his career. “The focus for me is now competing on the road and being one of the best sprinters there. I’ve got what I wanted from the track and it’s given me huge opportunities. It basically got me a WorldTour contract because of my results. It will always be a big part of my DNA and I’ll always love getting back on it, but this time of my career is to focus on the road and leave the same legacy as I did on the track.”
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Track riding has given him a sixth sense in sprint finishes
From the outside, a sprint finish in a road race looks like controlled chaos with riders all vying for the line. “Everyone wants to be in the same spot,” says Welsford. “You have maybe 10-12 sprinters who all want to be on the same 5m of road which creates a massive problem.”
Everyone wants to be in the same spot
Due to the speeds involved, he believes a lot of navigating this situation unscathed (and in the lead) comes down to instinct, but that racing in the velodrome has given him an edge. “I learned a lot of that from the track, being in sprint situations in a bunch of 20-30 guys and being able to move people around and go through little gaps that a lot of people wouldn’t want to put their nose in.”
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He dreams of winning on the biggest stages
Welsford’s results in 2025 show that he can already mix it with the best – the 29-year-old winning three stages and the points classification at the Tour Down Under WorldTour season opener. “With the right lead out, the right prep, I can be really up there at these big races.”
He believes it’s just the start too, and in the next three years he wants to be outsprinting everyone on the biggest stages: “That’s something I want to build on this season and really use that confidence in bigger races, the Grand Tours, the WorldTour sprint races when there’s 10 of the best there and show you can be competitive.
“My dream goal is to win multiple stages at a Grand Tour. Winning a Tour de France stage is what everyone dreams of doing. In the next three years, I’d really like to be up there asserting myself as one of the fastest sprinters in the peloton – if not the best – and trying to win as much as I can. I want to leave a big legacy behind with Danny [van Poppel] and recreate a sprint duo like [Mark] Renshaw and [Mark] Cavendish did. Winning consistently on the WorldTour is super hard and if I can do that, then it’s a really special thing.”
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His love of going fast extends to his free time
“I’m really into sports – especially F1. I don’t think the public understands how difficult it is and how fast they're going, nor how much braking force is required to stop those things.
“Hopefully now living in Monaco I can get a garage pass – it would be cool to see the technology and the data that goes into it. The drivers have so much skill and physical ability. Driving that car is so hard – the g-force on the neck would be crazy.”