Worlds Watch - Garry Millburn

Welcome to Worlds Watch! The 2024 UCI Cyclo-cross World Championships are fast approaching, and Australia will be sending its biggest ever team to the Czech city of Tábor to compete.

To help you get to know the members of the team who’ll be racing for the rainbow bands, we’ll be profiling each of the riders competing over the next week.

Our last rider profile is Garry Millburn, who’ll be competing against the likes of Mathieu van der Poel and Eli Iserbyt in the Elite Men’s race.

Cover photo by @fellusch.

Rider name 

Garry Millburn

Instagram handle

@garrymillburn

Club & State

Alpine Cycling Club, VIC

Team/Sponsors

MAAP SIXPENCE, which also includes Cannondale, Shimano, Lazer, Skratch Labs and Lead Out Sports.

Have you raced at worlds before?

This will be my fifth time at worlds - my first one was at Tábor in 2015, so I know a bit about what it’s about.

How are you feeling heading into worlds?

I'm coming off a little bit of sickness, so it’s been good to get that out of the way. I missed Otegem, but I’m feeling pretty good now and punching out some nice rides on the trainer.

Tell us about your prep for worlds!

Prep was mainly riding in Australia. We arrived here [in Belgium] on the 18th of December, and I did nine races through the Kerstperiode [Ed: the Christmas period of cyclocross races, when around 10 races are held between mid-December and New Year’s Day] and I’ve now been doing basically one race a weekend leading into worlds.

Overall this year the experience has been pretty good. The fields this year have been a lot deeper than in previous years - where you previously had 40-60 riders in the bigger races you now have 70-80. I think we even had about 100 or 110 in one World Cup! It’s certainly an interesting experience not having many UCI points [and having to start at the back of the grid], but that’s part and parcel of being an Australian cross racer.

The other thing I’ll add is that it’s been bloody cold this year - minus 6ºC to minus 8ºC, whereas normally it hovers more around freezing. Let’s hope it warms up a bit leading into world champs!

What are you hoping to get out of your worlds experience?

Trying to stay trouble-free, stay warm and trying to navigate around anyone who gets too cold.

How do we spot you on course?

I will be wearing the Aussie kit with a black Lazer helmet, and a fluoro Cannondale sticker on the downtube - I might not be overly noticeable down the back somewhere!