Eyes of the cycling world on Wollongong as Aussie wins silver in the first day of the ‘Tour de Gong’

It’s among the biggest cycling championships in the world, but to Wollongong locals the ‘Tour de Gong’ marks the largest event in the city’s history.

Elena Hartmann of Switzerland sprints during the 95th UCI Road World Championships 2022’s women’s individual time trial. Picture: Con Chronis/Getty Images

It’s among the biggest cycling championships in the world, a week-long spectacle attracting more than 200 million inter­national viewers and the sport’s leading names, but to Wollongong locals it marks the largest event in the city’s history.

The eight-day-long UCI Road World Championships kicked off in Wollongong in NSW’s Illawarra coast at the weekend, with more than 1000 international cyclists from 75 countries competing for a gold medal and a rainbow jersey.

The championships – one of the top five sporting events in the world – have been dubbed by locals as “the Tour de Gong” as the event returns to Australia for only its second time in a century.

The competition officially began on Sunday with time trials transforming the suburb streets of Wollongong into a racetrack for some of cycling‘s biggest stars who swept through streets thronged by cheering crowds in a gruelling contest of speed and endurance.

Australian Grace Brown won silver in the women’s event after Dutch champion Ellen van Dijk pipped her to take home the rainbow jersey, and Norwegian Tobias Foss won the men’s time trials.

Grace Brown of Australia took silver in the women’s individual time trial at the 95th UCI Road World Championships 2022 in Wollongong. Picture: Con Chronis/Getty Images

“I was hoping I would have a ­really good day and would be on the podium and didn’t know how the chips would fall among the top contenders” Brown said. “There was always a chance that I could win but I’m stoked with second.”

Wollongong mayor Gordon Bradbury, who has been part of the event’s planning for more than three years, said the championships would bookend an otherwise unhappy period in the city’s recent history, following the cumulative impact of bushfire, floods, border closures and the pandemic.

“It’s really a miracle we’ve gotten to this week considering everything that’s happened in the last three years since we started preparing for these championships and the other events supporting it,” he said. “The city is looking spick and span and for everyone who lives here, it’s a big moment to celebrate, not just because we’re hosting a global sporting event, but because we can hold something in relative normalcy.”

With more than 300,000 people tipped to visit the city during the championships, rental accommodation has skyrocketed, especially along scenic parts of the route, with the city’s waterfront apartments leased at record prices.

Michael Turk, a real estate agent in the Illawarra area for more than a decade, said residents by Wollongong’s waterfront and the city’s north were renting apartments for upwards of 100 per cent of the usual market price.

The elite road races – 267km for the men, 164km for women – will begin at the weekend in Helensburgh before descending into Wollongong via the gruelling Mt Keira loop and finishing with the circuit of the city centre.