Alexandra Manly (cycling) flew in specifically for the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games women’s road race after completing the inaugural women’s Tour de France. It was her second Commonwealth Games – and her first on the road – after her debut four years earlier on the Gold Coast where she won gold in the team pursuit at the Anna Meares Velodrome.

Manly, who has carved a successful career switching between Australia’s endurance track program and the world road tour, hails from Kalgoorlie and spent a year in Broken Hill before moving to Adelaide in 2009 where she was talent-spotted by the South Australian Institute of Sport when she was 14.

She won several national, Oceania and world junior medals on both track and road before her elite debut season in 2015 where she claimed a Track World Cup gold in the team pursuit. Just a few years later, she added under-23 and elite national road titles to her resumé.

At the 2019 World Track Championships in Poland, Manly shone with two gold medals in the  team pursuit and the points race.

After competing in the team pursuit at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, Manly returned the road and won the prestigious Thuringen Ladies Tour in Germany just before the Birmingham Games –including four stage victories – as well as her first WorldTour stage victory at the inaugural Tour of Scandinavia where she finished third overall.

She also won Madison national track titles in 2021 and 2023 and mixed team relay bronze at the 2022 world road championships in Wollongong.