Sam Welsford OAM (born 19 January 1996) is an Australian professional racing cyclist, who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam .
Cycling career
Welsford's father was a keen cyclist, and Sam began joining him on rides when he was seven. Welsford worked hard at his cycling and won team pursuit junior world titles in 2013 and 2014.
He rode in the men's team pursuit at the 2016 UCI Track Cycling World Championships winning a gold medal. Welsford won the 2019 UCI Men's elite Scratch race world championships less than an hour after breaking the Men's team pursuit World Record in a time of 3 minutes 48.012 seconds.
Welsford qualified for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics and was part of the Men's team pursuit together with Kelland O'Brien, Leigh Howard and Alexander Porter. They secured a bronze medal after overlapping New Zealand who had crashed. Welsford also competed in the Men's Madison where the team finished fifth with a time of 3:48.448 and therefore did not qualify for the final.
After spending much of his career as a track specialist with occasional forays onto the road, Welsford signed with UCI WorldTeam in November 2021, for two years.
Welsford participated in the 2024 Tour Down Under, where he won in three group sprints on the first, third, and fourth stages.
Beginning his 2026 season at the Santos Tour Down Under, Welsford won Stage 3, sprinting to victory in Nairne for his seventh-ever TDU stage win and his first with Ineos Grenadiers after being delivered perfectly by his team in a chaotic finale.
Major results
Road
2011
2nd Time trial, National Novice Championships
2014
1st Stage 1 Goldfields Classic
2016
2nd National Under-23 Criterium Championships
2017
1st Overall Tour of Gippsland
:1st Stages 1, 2 & 3
2nd Melbourne to Warrnambool Classic
2018
1st Noosa International Criterium
2nd Oita Ikoinomichi Criterium
3rd National Under-23 Criterium Championships
3rd Overall Tour of the King Valley
:1st Stage 2
4th Overall Tour of the Great South Coast
:1st Stage 3
2019
1st Wal Smith Memorial - Casterton 50
1st Stage 1 Tour of the Riverland
3rd Overall Tour of the Great South Coast
:1st Stages 1 & 3
2020
1st National Criterium Championships
1st Overall Bay Classic Series
:1st Stage 1
2022 <small>(1 pro win)</small>
1st Stage 5 Tour of Turkey
3rd Scheldeprijs
4th Bredene Koksijde Classic
2023 <small>(4)</small>
1st Grand Prix Criquielion
Vuelta a San Juan
:1st Stages 6 & 7
1st Stage 4 Renewi Tour
2nd Overall ZLM Tour
2nd Scheldeprijs
3rd Bredene Koksijde Classic
3rd VeenendaalâÂÂVeenendaal Classic
2024 <small>(4)</small>
Tour Down Under
:1st Points classification
:1st Stages 1, 3 & 4
1st Stage 1 Tour de Hongrie
7th Scheldeprijs
2025 <small>(3)</small>
1st National Criterium Championships
Tour Down Under
:1st Points classification
:1st Stages 1, 2 & 6
2nd Surf Coast Classic
10th Classic BruggeâÂÂDe Panne
2026 <small>(1)</small>
1st Stage 3 Tour Down Under
Grand Tour general classification results timeline
Track
2013
UCI World Junior Championships
:1st Team pursuit
:1st Omnium
:3rd Madison (with Joshua Harrison)
2014
UCI World Junior Championships
:1st Team pursuit
:2nd Omnium
Oceania Championships
:1st Team pursuit
:1st Madison (with Scott Law)
National Championships
:2nd Team pursuit
:2nd Madison (with Matthew Jackson)
:3rd Individual pursuit
:3rd Scratch
2015
2nd Scratch, Oceania Championships
National Championships
:2nd Points race
:2nd Scratch
:2nd Omnium
2016
1st Team pursuit, UCI World Championships
1st Individual pursuit, National Championships
2nd Team pursuit, Olympic Games
2017
1st Team pursuit, UCI World Championships
Oceania Championships
:1st Team pursuit
:1st Points race
:3rd Omnium
National Championships
:1st Madison (with Cameron Meyer)
:1st Team pursuit
:1st Scratch
2018
Commonwealth Games
:1st Scratch
:1st Team pursuit
National Championships
:1st Individual pursuit
:2nd Team sprint
UCI World Cup
:1st Omnium, Berlin
:1st Team pursuit, Berlin
2019
UCI World Championships
:1st Scratch
:1st Team pursuit
Oceania Championships
:1st Omnium
:1st Scratch
National Championships
:2nd Madison (with Cameron Scott)
:3rd Team pursuit
UCI World Cup
:2nd Madison, Hong Kong (with Kelland O'Brien)
:3rd Madison, Glasgow (with Leigh Howard)
2nd Six Days of Melbourne (with Cameron Scott)
3rd Six Days of Brisbane (with Cameron Scott)
2020
Oceania Championships
:1st Omnium
:1st Madison (with Kelland O'Brien)
2021
3rd Team pursuit, Olympic Games
2024
1st Team pursuit, Olympic Games
References
External links