preview tour down under

Preview Tour Down Under 2024 | Dutch powerhouses, two top favorites, and lots of young talent!

Ta-da! Here we are: the first official road race for men in 2024, and immediately a WorldTour category event. A portion of the peloton embarks on the annual journey to Australia for the Tour Down Under in the southern part of the country, and this season brings a different flavor with IDLProCycling.com hopping through it!

The average cycling enthusiast acknowledges that the Tour Down Under has secured its position in the global cycling landscape. However, in 2024, it is still perceived as a prelude to what lies ahead. This sentiment is honestly reflected in the winners of the last decade—with the exception of the two corona editions, all victors hailed from Australia (Vine, Porte, Gerrans, and Dennis) or rode for the GreenEdge formation (Impey).

The most recent winner with no direct connection to the land of koalas and kangaroos is Tom-Jelte Slagter from the Dutch town of Groningen. He clinched victory in the 2013 edition, making him the sole Dutchman to ever triumph in the race. Notably, no Belgian cyclist graced the podium between 1999 and 2023.

Practical information Tour Down Under 2024

• Tuesday, Jan. 16 - Sunday, Jan. 21
• Participants
• Classification: WorldTour

In this article:

• Latest winners
• Course and times
• TV information

Latest winners Tour Down Under

2023 Jay Vine

2022 Not ridden

2021 Not ridden

2020 Richie Porte

2019 Daryl Impey

2018 Daryl Impey

2017 Richie Porte

2016 Simon Gerrans

2015 Rohan Dennis

2014 Simon Gerrans

Tour Down Under 2024: course, favorites daily wins and times

Stage 1, tuesday, january 16, 2024: tanunda - tanunda (144 km).

This year's Tour Down Under will not commence with a prologue, as was the case last year. A slight disappointment for participants Joshua Tarling and Filippo Ganna, but in this edition, we kick off with a stage in and around Tanunda, a recurring venue for the Australian stage race. Featuring Menglers Hill along the route and a slightly uphill finish, Tanunda typically favors power sprinters, with Phil Bauhaus, Sam Bennett, and André Greipel emerging as the victors in the last three editions held in Tanunda.

31.5 km: Menglers Hill (2.1 km a 4%)

81.0 km: Menglers Hill (2.1 km a 4%)

130.5 km: Menglers Hill (2.1 km a 4%)

Phil Bauhaus (Bahrain Victorious)

Biniam Girmay (Intermarché-Circus-Wanty)

Caleb Ewan (Jayco AlUla)

Start: 11:10 a.m. (01:40 a.m. Dutch time)

Finish: 2:52 p.m. (05:22 a.m. Dutch time)

Stage 2, Wednesday, Jan. 17, 2024: Norwood - Lobethal (141.6 km)

On day two, the riders are immediately confronted with a sort of transition stage, featuring more than 2,400 altimeters in 141 kilometers. The route kicks off with an immediate climb towards Ashton, and three additional ascents of Fox Creek (1.6 kilometers at 8 percent) lie ahead, with a final one in the last ten kilometers. Is it too challenging for the sprinters and too gentle for the true climbers?

10.0 km: Ashton (10 km a 4%)

63.5 km: Fox Creek (1.6 km a 8%)

98.5 km: Fox Creek (1.6 km a 8%)

Corbin Strong (Israel-Premier Tech)

Danny van Poppel (BORA-hansgrohe)

Jhonatan Narváez (INEOS Grenadiers)

Stage 3, Thursday, January 18, 2024: Tea Tree Gully - Campbelltown (145.3 km)

On day three, another challenging start awaits, this time at Tea Tree Gully. The initial two kilometers feature a steep uphill section, but that's the most demanding part. Similar to last year, the route leads towards Mount Pleasant, though not from the steeper side. Sprinters are likely to come to the forefront in Campbelltown.

2.1 km: Tea Tree Guly Hill (2.1 km a 6%)

34.5 km: Whispering Wall (1.6 km a 2%)

Sam Welsford (BORA-hansgrohe)

Laurence Pithie (Groupama-FDJ)

Finish: 2:49 p.m. (05:19 a.m. Dutch time)

Stage 4, Friday, January 19, 2024: Murray Bridge - Port Elliot (136.2 km)

The fourth stage is unquestionably the easiest leg of this year's Tour Down Under, with only 481 meters of elevation gain. The destination is Port Elliot, situated on the South Australian coast. Could the wind possibly play a role in the dynamics of the stage?

86.0 km: Gemmell Hill (4.2 km a 4%)

Finish: 2:48 p.m. (05:18 a.m. Dutch time)

Stage 5, Saturday, January 20, 2024: Christies Beach - Willunga Hill (129.3 km)

There's Willunga Hill! For years, it was the focal point of the Tour Down Under, but it took a hiatus last season. In the 2024 edition, however, the well-known hill near Adelaide is 'just' back, and with its three-kilometer length and average gradient of seven percent, it will undoubtedly leave its imprint on the course of the race once more.

106.5 km: Willunga Hill (3 km a 7%)

129.3 km: Willunga Hill (3 km a 7%)

Julian Alaphilippe (Soudal Quick-Step)

Simon Yates (Jayco AlUla)

Finish: 2:31 p.m. (05:01 a.m. Dutch time)

Stage 6, Sunday, January 21, 2024: Unley - Mount Lofty (128.2 km)

Last season, the Tour Down Under witnessed its first decisive moments on Mount Lofty. However, this season, the organizers are taking it a step further with the Willunga-Lofty combo. While the summit provides a stunning view of Adelaide, the competing riders won't have the luxury to savor it. Mount Lofty has to be conquered three times, and the finish is set atop this challenging ascent.

3.8 km: Windy Point (3.8 km a 6%)

70.5 km: Mount Lofty (1.3 km a 8%)

98.5 km: Mount Lofty (1.3 km a 8%)

128.2 km: Mount Lofty (1.3 km a 8%)

Jack Haig (Bahrain Victorious)

Milan Vader (Visma | Lease a Bike)

Favorites final classification Tour Down Under 2024

Anyone perusing the start list for the Tour Down Under will notice two standout figures in terms of achievements. Firstly, there's grand tour winner Simon Yates , leading the home team Jayco AlUla—a squad that is imperative in this race, including the freshly crowned Australian champion Luke Plapp.

The second notable presence is Julian Alaphilippe , a two-time world champion and a prolific winner for Soudal Quick-Step. The Frenchman is entering the Year of Truth and could kick it off strongly Down Under, on a course that should particularly suit his style. Can he leave a lasting impression on team manager Patrick Lefevere and other teams?

Apart from these names, the start list is brimming with young talent. UAE-Team Emirates has paired experienced riders Diego Ulissi and Alessandro Covi with emerging stars like Isaac del Toro (Tour de l'Avenir winner), Antonio Morgado, and Finn Fisher-Black . Meanwhile, Visma | Lease a Bike Baby has flown in Giro winner Johannes Staune-Mittet to Australia. Milan Vader is expected to lead the charge for this lineup, with the support of Robert Gesink and Koen Bouwman.

Jonathan Narváez can rely on the support of INEOS hard riders Filippo Ganna and Joshua Tarling, along with the preliminary criterium winner, top talent Leo Hayter. In that race, he fended off challenges from Oscar Onley , the leader of DSM-Firmenich PostNL, among others. We place them in the same category in terms of chances as riders like Jack Haig (Bahrain Victorious), Ruben Guerreiro (Movistar), and Stephen Williams (Israel-Premier Tech)—all riders who have demonstrated excellence in similar races before. Guerreiro has Gonzalo Serrano alongside him at Movistar, while Williams leads a formidable team with George Bennett, Derek Gee, Nick Schultz, and Corbin Strong, among others.

Lidl-Trek brings a robust team, including Bauke Mollema, Quinn Simmons, Juan Pedro López, Mathias Vacek, and Natnael Tesfatsion, without a clear leader immediately evident. As for outsiders, we are also keeping an eye on Franck Bonnamour (Decathlon AG2R), Biniam Girmay (Intermarché-Wanty), Roger Adria (BORA-hansgrohe), Jason Osborne (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Samuele Battistella, Cristian Scaroni (Astana), and Michael Storer (Australian selection).

According to IDLProCycling.com , who are the favorites for the final classification of the 2024 Tour Down Under?

Top favorites: Simon Yates (Jayco AlUla) and Julian Alaphilippe (Soudal Quick-Step)

Outsiders: Oscar Onley (dsm-firmenich PostNL), Luke Plapp (Jayco AlUla), Jhonatan Narváez (INEOS Grenadiers) and Milan Vader (Visma | Lease a Bike)

Long shots: Jack Haig (Bahrain Victorious), Isaac del Toro, Diego Ulissi, Finn-Fisher-Black (UAE-Team Emirates), Ruben Guerreiro (Movistar), Roger Adria (BORA-hansgrohe), Johannes Staune-Mittet (Visma } Lease a Bike) and Stephen Williams (Israel-Premier Tech)

TV Tour Down Under 2024

The Tour Down Under runs annually at the same time as the Australian Open, which means we won't see the race live on Dutch TV. Eurosport.nl offers the solution with live footage of the race, which can be seen daily in its entirety on that platform and Discovery+ . Arrival is daily around five to six in the Dutch morning.

Tour Down Under Preview

The Tour Down Under begins on Tuesday. Here’s a preview so I know what time to set my alarm we can all see the stages this week and assess the likely contenders.

• Forecast finish: 2.50pm / 05.20am CET / 04.20am GMT / D-1 11.20pm EST

• Forecast finish: 2.30pm / 05.00am CET / 04.00am GMT / D-1 11.00pm EST

Further notes

• No prologue but two summit finishes
• Fox Creek Road is selective, it could be a surprise
• The finish times used to vary, now the weekday stages all have the same time, then the weekend stages finish earlier
• The race uses a hub and spoke system for the stages with the riders and entourage staying in the same hotel all week in Adelaide and then racing in different places outside. Riders wanting more training can sometimes ride back to the hotel after a stage
• With the downtown criterium done there’s no racing in Adelaide itself this year
• Santos? The sponsor is one of Australia’s largest oil and gas companies (h/t brent) , it began as South Australia Northern Territory Oil Search in Adelaide and has grown into a big supplier in Australia and Asia
• There’s a chance of thunderstorms on the opening day, after this it’ll be warm and sunny
• Time bonuses often define the final result, 3-2-1 seconds at the intermediate points, 10-6-4 seconds on the finish line
• UCI points are 500 for the winner. 60 points for a stage win, full breakdown here .

Lyndon B. Johnson said “the first rule of politics is to learn how to count”, and while he meant votes he’d have a point about the TDU too. This is a race that’s often very close and where time bonuses and even countback can pick the winner. Ask Richie Porte who won the Willunga summit finish six times but took the overall twice. A good performance on Willunga is necessary but not sufficient, as mathematicians and others can say. This year’s race features two summit finishes so twice the chance to distance the sprinters and others who might rack up time bonuses before the weekend.

The archetypal winner can sprint for time bonuses and thrives on short climbs. So on paper Julian Alaphilippe (Soudal-Quickstep) is the perfect rider. Only form is unknown, his big goal is Flanders and the Giro and so he’s likely to be easing into the season and a few pedal strokes behind those who have enjoyed the full Aussie summer. Still he’s the team’s best option as they come without a sprinter and even at 90% he’s a competitor.

Jayco want a home result, and could get one with a stage win for Caleb Ewan. Simon Yates was second overall last time and absent 2023’s winner Jay Vine he’s an obvious pick, an excellent climber with good race craft and a very strong team behind him. Luke Plapp is the form pick because of his double Australian championship wins this month but now positioning and attacking count, there’s more to master. The team might have a third option in Chris Harper who surprised on the upside in the Australian championships and has been rustling KOMs in the Adelaide Hills today but he’s the loyal helper to a tee so might use his excellent form in service. They’re the team to beat.

UAE have a strong team but again form is unknown, Diego Ulissi is suited and has done well here before but a win is a big ask, especially after a recent family trauma . Isaac del Toro will be worth watching already.

Ineos have Jhonathan Narvaez who can climb and sprint well, maybe Leo Hayter in this role too. With Josh Tarling and Filippo Ganna there’s plenty of support.

DSM Firmenich-PostNL have Paddy Bevin who could be made for this race as he can sprint well and manage short climbs but is an infrequent winner at best and maybe better suited to guiding climber Oscar Onley to a good finish, the Scot is a promising rider suited to these climbs.

Milan Vader (Visma-Lease A Bike) can finish where he left off, winning the Tour of Guangxi at the end of last season but that was built on one summit finish, here he’ll have it harder piecing together a win via stage bonuses and marking the right riders on Willunga and Lofty. He’ll be helped by Johannes Staune-Mittet.

Jack Haig leads Bahrain but how to win? He’s a strong rider with a big engine but will surely have to win sprints and stages outright when he’s more suited to some longer, higher climbs. He’ll need the Lofty stage to turn into a slog.

Corbin Strong (IPT) started out as a track rider but his light build means he’s adept at sprints on hilly courses and being from New Zealand means he’s more likely to be on summer form. His challenge is going to be hanging with the climbers on Willunga and Lofty, it’s a big ask. The opposite for George Bennett, a top climber but the route to victory is typically via a stage win and the time bonuses. Stephen Williams can do a both.

Movistar’s Ruben Guerreiro climbs well. There’s an Australian team with Michael Storer and Damian Howson, Storer is a great climber but often wins from afar rather than sniping sprint wins while Howson is good at targetting a race and achieving a high GC finish but diesel-style. Alpecin-Deceuninck are very much a sprinter’s team but Jason Osborne and Luca Vergallito are worth watching because of their raw abilities, the challenge for them is to manage positioning going into a climb. Astana bring four strong Italians each due a decent win this year – and the team needs it – but more likely in March or April than mid-January.

TV : it’s live on Seven for Australians (free streaming, email sign up required) and VPN users looking for English coverage. Eurosport will also English and various European languages, and for French readers, it’s on L’Equipe TV too.

For those in Europe thinking of setting the alarm, it’s both a strength and a weakness of the TDU that it’s a rather predictable race. While the trend in recent years has seen riders take a flyer from far out to win many a race, the TDU is typically won by sniping stages. This doesn’t make it easy to win but it does mean TV viewers can often sit down with 15km to go and get 90% of the action.

78 thoughts on “Tour Down Under Preview”

Obviously this is not the tdf with most teams not sending the ultimate number one team like they do appartently to every race in western europe. Its not in western Europe so many feel the race should not exist at all but for all the faults I do like the format for a shorter stage race. By mixing up the stages with just enough hills it gives the chance for an overall victory to someone with a sprint who can climb just enough, a climber who can sprint a bit or even a more diesel climber. The list of winners in the last 10 years is quite diverse and not many races can match the diversity of types. Vine, Porte, Gerrans, Impey, Dennis. Even the sprint stages have something to interrupt the proceedings so the sprinters have to ride strong to get to the finish.

From memory last years race was a bit atypical with some further attacks than normal.

Minor correction. I doubt that santos is the biggest australian oil and gas company by a large margin (woodside would be biggest). Santos would however be the biggest one essentially based in south Australia. In fact probably the biggest south australian company of any type as South australia is a bit of a Coporate backwater.

I enjoy the race, it’s literally the only event I’ll get out of bed for… and to back to bed after ;-). The close format helps keep it open, I think it works as a season opener this way.

It might also be the last ‘Santos’ Tour Down Under as Woodside and Santos are looking at merging

“Its not in western Europe so many feel the race should not exist at all” Who says that? While I’m an old curmudgeon who thinks the real racing season only begins with MSR, I have no issues with TdU unless someone starts going on about the UCI points or how the winner’s gonna wipe-the-floor with everyone come June-July-August. No chrono stage this time? I don’t pay enough attention to TdU to know for sure but I thought they usually had one, one where the riders would use the same bike they used for the rest of the stages, which backed my claim chrono bikes are useless since the same guy wins when they don’t use ’em,

They did that with a prologue once and it kind of worked as a way of creating some time differences. Problem was that it rained and the course was very slippery in places. Adelaide is the driest city in Australia but whenever they have a Formula 1 race or a cycling prologue it rains.

Thanks INRNG and Happy New Year. All finishes too early for me here in the UK. I must admit this is another race that fails to ignite any of my enthusiasm. Those who do watch enjoy.

Good luck to you & anyone else on GMT or CET time who are planning to watch it live. I’m very happy to go for the catch up option rather than be up half the night. One night I might have managed but certainly not 6 in a row!

How would that work for world tour points for the “australian” team? Will the riders still keep their points for their original team?

Yes, points to the riders themselves and the team they are contracted with for the season.

“The Tour Down Under is an ambitious label because it’s not a tour of Australia, it’s not even the Tour of South Australia (one of Australia’s six states). It’s just a tour of the Adelaide hills and vineyards. And that’s fine” Considering the South Australian government funds the race for pure tourism purposes it’s no surprise they only really highlight the touristy areas and don’t venture in to other states (i.e. competition for tourist dollars) and South Australia is quite ‘Down Under’ so the title is not inaccurate 😉 Also something I just looked up, SA is the size of France and Germany combined so probably a bit of a stretch to get to cover a lot of the area in the span of a week. You can use this fact in next years write up if you like 🙂 Looking forward to everything the site produces in 2024. Many thanks.

All fair points, but still surprised the race doesn’t range further with SA, there must be politicians in other parts who might like the race to visit “their” place. That said Adelaide has some of the best terrain, always a hill within reach.

A Tour of South Australia would be a camel 🐫 race.

Over the years, one thing you hear repeatedly from the men’s peloton about TDU is about how chill it is outside of the racing. All the men’s teams stay at the same hotel every year, the Hilton, right in the middle of Adelaide and each stage start is only a short transfer from there so there’s no need for buses and all that entails. It might be different now because riders are generally in better race shape for all races but you would get some riders riding back to the hotel after a stage to get in more Winter (during Summer) training kilometres. I think there would be a bit of resistance from organisers and participants if one of the things that is fairly unique to TDU was to change. But rightly so, it should be called The Tour of Adelaide and surrounding areas 😀

The race is owned by the South Australian state government.

If any stages go outside of the Adelaide area, it will be to other areas within SA rather than to other states. This year’s edition does have Stage 4 being contested completely on the other side of the Adelaide Hills.

Politicians in other states are free to start up their own races – or restart ones they used to have and let die off in recent years like the Herald Sun Tour (didn’t come back after Covid) or Goulburn-Sydney one day race.

The worst aspect of this race is the washed out, low definition vision from channel 7. I am sure that watching this is bad for my eyes. Seems odd that Ineos brought both Ganna and Tarling but we will see what they do with them … recently stumbled on the fast that Ganna has a famous namesake.

I’ve tried the HD option on Seven and you’re right, the picture isn’t great and while they have bills to pay, a lot of ads too. By contrast both Eurosport and L’Equipe have a sharper picture, L’Equipe with 1080… and it’s ahead of Eurosport too, but just one lone commentator.

Despite living in the country there is no way i would watch this race on channel 7. Ironically virtually the only race in my time zone but i won’t watch it. Highlights from another channel on youtube will be my catch up. On past form channel 7 treats sports like this as an attempt to cross promote their normal programming and the commentators will generally understand they need to overhype the “action” and totally overhype the Australian riders. There will be no understanding in the channel that cycling spectators will follow their fav riders and don’t care much for the nationality. This in addition to meeting the max allowable number of minutes per hour of adds. You will be happy to note that these adds are in addition to some adds for there normal channel and any promotions for products they can stuff into the commentary. There is a reason i was so unhappy that GCN folded and there is no actual replacement in Australia so YouTube is the only way of catching up on my races now.

Sounds like TV in the USA from back-in-the-day…or maybe not so long ago? But at least in the ancient Greg LeMond era the CBS production values were excellent and Shill Phigett’s bits were just a small part. Those shows really got me interested in pro bike racing! Maybe my favorite all-time bit is this one – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j1VbX34tq1o

Think I read somewhere that Ganna and viviani are doing some track racing in Australia after the tdu to help their Olympic ambitions hence them heading out to the tdu in the first place.

Yes, the UCI Track Nations Cup is on at the Adelaide Superdrome (home track of Australia’s national team program, also the venue where Dr Bridie O’Donnell set the women’s Hour Record) in two weeks time.

Those guys will probably head over to Melbourne/Geelong for a few days to do the Cadel Evans Race before focusing on the track.

Yes, I think it might have been Josh Tarling’s interview on the GCN website.

Streaming on Peacock in the United States.

I always get excited for the TDU even though my UK location means I’ve never watched it “live on TV”. For me it’s the start of a whole new year of pro racing and a first chance to get a hold on who now rides for whom and the new kits. For decades I had family living in Christie’s Beach so the area also has personal connections. Great to see you grant Oscar Onley two chainrings: he’s a rider I have my eye on for the coming years.

Ineos all in for Narvaez and working for him to pick up bonus points. So perhaps 2.5 chainrings now!

Is the TdU actually on Eurosport in the UK? I couldn’t see it anywhere so I visited the TdU Youtube channel and stuck their short highlights show on.

They seem to work on the bizarre assumption that if you’re watching their race highlights you already know who has won – as the commentator tells you who is going to win about 150m from the line. Daft.

Yep I watched the last 15km on catchup on Eurosport this morning in the freezing cold London gloom. Australia looks nice!

Come down here for the race next January! Being based out of one city makes it the most accessible of any international stage race for spectators who cycle themselves.

Better yet, come in 2026 and you can get to enjoy some banter about The Ashes as well 😀

I was looking for the content too and Eurosport (through virgin not on the Eurosport player) seems to be wall-to-wall Australian Open. Couldn’t even see a highlights show.

“Australia looks nice!” compared to London. Kind of a low bar, no? One thing about TdU is these races replace things like the Tour of Sicily https://bikeraceinfo.com/stageraces/Sicily-giro/sicilia-giro-index.html which, for entirely selfish reasons I miss. It wasn’t that long ago that pro teams used to come down here for winter training rather than going to Spain. https://cycleitalia.blogspot.com/2018/02/training-roads-of-stars.html Those were the daze 🙂

It does look nice. The bright sunshine, the green vegetation, the 6am sunrise and 8.30pm sunset and more. Sicily has its charms but January? More May to October.

It’s interesting how even Italian teams go to Spain now for training camps, eg Bardiani. But I heard from one team just how low the room rates are in Spain for them at this time of year and could see why.

Still waiting for the day Larry has absolutely nothing random to rant about in a post. That day hell freezes over and we will have everlasting peace in the MENA region. Facts!

Andrew – the reason? They’re called JOBS. Same reason Italians go anywhere. Funny thing is I don’t know a single one who wouldn’t come back in a heartbeat if they could find a way to earn a decent living. A friend in the bike biz (in the USA) told me not too long ago that as soon as his children can be on-their-own, he’s outta there!

Don’t hold your breath waiting, OK 🙂

Well, there’s 120 000+ Italians living in London, so we must have something over here that you don’t have over there 😉

80 K + Italians living in Tenerife, quite smaller than London – less jobs, even. But! Italians are just everywhere because we love to hate our country. Another reason, which added up brutally in the last decade to the traditional emigration from the poorer regions and social clusters, is now the mismatch between a high-quality, nearly free higher education system (from secundary school on), in part of the country at least, and the evolution of the country’s whole production structure within the frame of the EU “national spoil system”. More or less what happened to Southern Italy when Italia was “made one”. What goes around, comes around, karma is a b***h, and so on. Now, one might also expect that lessons are learnt from history, all around Europe I mean, but, as it’s way too well known, the only thing history can teach is that nobody ever learns from it.

“But! Italians are just everywhere because we love to hate our country.” And that’s not true about pretty much every country and citizen? I certainly don’t know a whole lot of Italians but the ones living elsewhere that I do know are elsewhere for one big reason – employment opportunities. I don’t have enough fingers and toes to count all the “Well, if I was retired and had nothing to do but ride my bike and drink wine all day, I’d be back in Italy in a second!” exclamations I’ve heard since we moved to La Bella Paese permanently. I am very fortunate in that regard.

Enough about Italians… unless you want to talk about [scans results] Michele Gazzoli’s 25th place in Lobethal today.

Gabriele, I would love to know exactly what you mean in this comment, but not having enough background knowledge, I’m left wishing you could explain more fully.

I’m not wishing 🙂

Nor is our host – see above (and rightly so).

Just one generalist link to start with (it refers to a scientific study on a ten year phenomenon) because if I posted more, the comment would be left waiting for mod. “To start with”, but “to end with”, too, because it would indeed be a long OT.

https://www.corriere.it/economia/lavoro/23_ottobre_19/giovani-emigrati-all-estero-dati-istat-numeri-reali-sono-triplo-grande-fuga-laureati-c35a3d0a-6e82-11ee-945f-3f883a74fca3.shtml

Back to cycling. Well, it’s a bit like Italy being the third overall nation for WT male cyclists (out of 42, or out of 13 with at least ten athletes), 2nd among women (out of 35, or out of 15 with at least five athletes), and not a single WT team anymore. Not an issue of grassroots or general movement (for now), since it’s also the 2nd overall nation for registred cyclists of any UCI level from Conti above, men and women.

PS @Larry …it’s “IL BEL Paese”.

Gabriele, thank you for the link; now if you’ll just send me your login so that I can read it without paying…

George, nothing annoys me more than links to articles that turn out to be “subscriber-only content”, but it gladdens me to assure you that this time linked article is indeed “free-to-read”. (Actually I suspect your comment was in jest…)

@George Old technology = free access

(Don’t update your browser and Android OS long enough and you’ll jump through many a paywall. Sorry, I don’t even know which websites are pay-blocked among those which I can still get access too. Try Google?)

You should really read international press, consider paying… ^___^

Is a pdf link ok?

https://media.algebris.com/algebris_policy_research_forum/Issue-3_Game-of-Brains-21st-century-Italian-emigration.pdf

“The boom in emigration observed since 2008 is not physiological but pathological: while during the previous decade emigration was fairly stable and insensitive to unemployment dynamics, starting in 2008 they have been going hand in hand.The growing trend is mostly explained by emigration of Italians younger than 45, while outflows have been increasing only slightly for the 45-64 cohort and have remained stable among those 65 years old or older. Geographically, most of those who migrate come originally from the north of Italy, which is perhaps unexpected in light of the historically high migration from the south – both internally and abroad.” “Most importantly, recent Italian emigration has been characterized by ‘brain drain’ features. The number of migrants holding at least a ba- chelor degree more than tripled in ten years, while the increase is much smaller among lower educated Italians.” “Moreover, there seems to be a strong process of self-selection among those who leave. Looking at the 2011 ISTAT survey cohort, the students who graduated with the highest marks (honours, or ‘110 cum laude’ in Italian) represent 40% of the graduates living abroad, but only less than 25% among those who stayed. In other words, not only is Italy losing arelatively larger proportion of high-skilled young people compared to low-skilled ones, but those who go are on the right tail of the distribution, in terms of their academic achievement (the ‘best and brightest’). Focusing on the felds of study prevalent among the emigrants, it emer ges from Figure 7 above that the largest increase in emigration has oc- curred among graduates in the STEM felds (science, technology, en- gineering and mathematics). The share of graduates in economics and statistics, scientifc subjects, and engineering living abroad has more than doubled between 2011 and 2015. In 2015, the graduates in scientifc felds represented the largest share among those residing abroad (7.4%), fol- lowed by the engineers (6.7%) and architects (6.5%).”

Molte grazie.

How does the TDU replace the Giro di Sicilia?

The original incarnation died off 22 years before the TDU started.

The current incarnation started only 5 years ago (by which time the TDU had 21 editions in the books) and is a race in April (not competing with the TDU in January) that RCS created to distract from their increasing reluctance to take the Giro d’Italia into the southern half of the country.

Italian races are dying off because they are incompetently organised and often just a front for money laundering, not because other races have pushed them out.

“Italian races are dying off because they are incompetently organised and often just a front for money laundering, not because other races have pushed them out.” If that’s your opinion I’ll not bother with trying to explain anything to you or asking for any sort of evidence to back up your xenophobic, stereotypical claim.

The above apparently made sense until the last couple of lines. Of course, I personally love something State-owned and funded by public money, but Italian races aren’t mostly like that, especially those which have been shut. In a market system so often it’s not about doing things competently, and money laundering actually helps a lot rather than the other way around. A lot is about controlling supervising institutions, channeling subsidies, hindering through gray-zone manouvres or directly black-ops as many supposed or potential rivals which you can’t collude with. Cycling looks like that. Watch as UK races and movement first rise than struggle with political power ebb and flow, no matter how competent or not they are. Same for France, on an obviously smaller scale due to inertial mass, in past decades when the institutions had taken a different national flavour. Being competent or not is switched on and off so fast? That said, I could make a long list of European races, men and women, which disappeared with no relation at all to organisers being competent or not, less so with money laundering. Generalising because of a single recent case, about which most facts haven’t been disclosed, either, is poor -at best- or libel in the worst scenario. Luckily for inrng no Italian race organiser will bother bringing him or her to court for the above, dunno what would happen in other democratic Western countries which love a litigation (note that in Italy it’s the blogger who’s held responsible for commentaries).

The TDU can be a frustrating watch (and I’m an Australian-based viewer). Going to an Ad break at 5km to go in a sprint stage is pretty unforgiveable. No idea what happened in that intervening 3kms but anything could have happened, despite a pretty good comms team persisting with about 3 hours of virtually nothing happening beforehand. Also, god knows why the TDU has been shoved onto “7mate” (SD) when there are 2 or 3 others for Channel 7 to choose from with HD (which usually just show re-runs of 90s US sitcoms).

The race and area is actually a great race to visit on a bike – everywhere is pretty accessible and you can choose your route, catch the race and often ride back to the CBD with the pros. Adelaide is a very chilled out city with some great food. But be ready for the heat….

As far as the rest of Australia getting a look-in, bear in mind the country is a federation – laws (and police forces) are State-based. This race is very much an “advert” to visit Adelaide – virtually any other part of SA is so remote, it would just be impossible to organise. Also, some States just don’t give a stuff about bike racing and actively discourage it (the local NRS racing scene is really struggling as a result).

Alaphilippe for stage 2. I hope Grimay can hold on.

sorry, that was me…

Del Toro by name … El Toro by nature!

And what a strange result to wake up to with a couple of ultra-lean climbing types mixed up with multiple muscle-bound sprinters. Del Toro looks a decent candidate for his first WT GC.

It was a great route for the final of the stage – a climb topping out at 8.6km to go that sprinters could just get over if they put in a big effort, followed by a descent, a short run along the valley and a 300m uphill finishing straight. It had something for everyone.

This was one of the new race routes trialled during the Covid affected years when the UCI dropped the TDU from the international calendar, and that time it was won by TT specialist Luke Plapp with a solo attack launched just before the Fox Creek Road climb started.

I’m in Sicily at present. It’s January. Weather hasn’t changed much since UAE and Trek were down here for winter training. When we saw them they weren’t on Mt. Etna, if that’s what you’re thinking weather-wise. Can’t write anything about where they go these daze since I’ve never been there, but perhaps more (and cheaper) lodging choices are part of it? Maybe the (awful) “White Lotus” effect has something to do with it? While my sample is small and unscientific we encountered a lot of people who said they came here because of that terrible HBO series 🙁

American, loud and brash with a romanticised view of Sicily…

I really enjoyed the White Lotus.

It was certainly popular though IMHO it was a typical, terrible soap-opera, but did have great scenery shots that I can understand would create the “Honey, we have to go there!” invasion that we experienced a part-of this past summer. I’m sure some tourist-industry folks are as happy about that as I am disgusted with it. Kind of like the cruise ships in Venice, people who profit from ’em like ’em just fine while people who live there hate them and would like them banned.

Bora, Bora, Bora!

PS @Larry …it’s “IL BEL Paese”. Can I blame that on auto complete/spell check, etc? Probably not. In Italian I “sbagliato tutto con accento brutto” but my Italian teacher always points out that I’m never afraid to try vs her other students who often look up at the ceiling when called upon to speak, 🙂

Ooop! Sorry for the anonymous post above.

When I started to read this commentaries I was very far from thinking it would end in a debate about Italian emigration, Italian organisation and Italian weather… Nobody expects the Italian polemica !

Even less so when it’s soooo far from the topic ^___^ Off season OT toxines! Apologies.

Well, perhaps it’s a result of the oh-so-exciting race that was previewed? I have no real objection to TdU, just my own selfish wish they’d run a Tour of Sicily during this time instead, like back-in-the-day.

Staying off topic, about italian emigration there is the story of Gianni Savio, the old DS of Androni-Sidermec who went to Colombia in 2023 to found GW-Sidermec and for 2024 just moved to Mexico to manage Petrolike-Androni (they are near to win Vuelta a Tachira with Jonathan Caicedo).

Savio (met him once) is a character who just seems to love cycling – to the point of moving to Mexico to stay involved, as you note. Certainly a bit of what some would call a ham as he’s always in the TV frame when any of his riders are it seems. To many Anglos he has a dodgy reputation for reasons I don’t really understand but I’m sure plenty here will be happy to explain ’em all.

I suspect that Del Toro and UAE are finding it interesting as would be the Bora lead out train.

DSM must be feeling a little envious seeing former rider, Welsford, cleaning up three straight WT wins.

They rated Welsford a lot last year, taking him to the Tour de France (this blog’s sung his praises too for his apparent “long” sprint, as a former track pursuiter he can hit the front and just keep pouring on the watts as opposed to others who have a short but quick jump, eg Viviani). DSM have cleared out other sprinters to make way for Jakobsen. It’ll be interesting to see how this works because we can see how effective Bora’s leadout is, Van Poppel is powerful, quick and while not aggressive, just solid in the sense that others probably don’t want to try and bounce him as they might come off worse. DSM meanwhile are building a train and it might take time to get it working.

Don’t think so. At 28 despite a late start at pro level, DSM probably know well what *they* could get from him. Not much to regret if *other* teams are then able to bring an athlete to a higher level – which might be the case, or not, given the modest sporting meaning of TDU, especially when Austral athletes are those shining in the middle of their Summer. As a team you might regret if a growing athlete with undisclosed potential is taken away before you can reap the results (Matteo Jorgenson, Uijtdebroeks, Arensman etc.), but when a sprinter went to Quickstep and became top of the world, no previous team had any special regret, everybody knows how things are. Same for when 29 yo Knees went to Sky, nobody at then-closing Milram, as for what I’ve listened, ever thought that all those seasons they had had as a local scene podiumer what was “really” a potential world-class gregario able to make the best of the rest lined-up and sweating hard on TDF climbs. Some teams can improve athletes, and if the latter stayed in smaller teams they just wouldn’t perform as much, everyone involved is aware.

I think the Australian UCI team riders all live in Europe so it is not obvious to me what advantage they have. Welsford just seems to have struck gold with the Bora lead out set-up. Credit where credit is due I would have thought.

As a local Aussie you surely know better but several of those who were living in Italy through most of the year (before Girona triumphed) used to go back to the Southern emisphere during Boreal winter for obvious reasons, better training options, better rest options, reconnecting with broader family and old friends etc. Dunno about Welsford specifically. Still, have a look at TDU classifications through the years and don’t tell me that Austral (not only “Australian”) athletes aren’t “overperforming”… that’s normally been the reason. It’s just like when at a winter club ride some tanned guy shows up after a couple of Christmas weeks spent in Lanzarote.

However, if you read closely my post above, Welsford’s potential summer training is just a minor caveat (“maybe there’s something of that, or not”), the main points being instead related to team advantages, among with, surely, a powerful train in the case of a sprinter.

A lot of Australians keep a home in Australia and typically Andorra/Girona, or they stay with family in Australia. Plapp for example has been training in Australia for months at his parents’ place and so enjoying the good weather. Plus they’ve had their national championships as well, it’s something to aim for.

Some Europeans fly out for the TDU with just a few days to go but if teams can afford it, then they are giving riders a place to stay in January and even December so they can train in the Aussie summer.

I will take a look at the history but think it is more the case that the race doesn’t attract the cream of the crop and Australians obviously have more reasons to make the trip.

Look, I’ve just read an interview to Plapp saying he’s going to make the most of “summer form”, Chris Harper declared the same to SBS two years ago and there’s certainly more if one goes googling. But what do they know… ^___^ It implies *both* that they obviously go back home during Boreal winter (how could that be otherwise, frankly, be it only for human and personal reasons) *and* that they consider it relevant form-wise. And given you’ve looked at the numbers, does that look the usual quote of Austral winners? Yes, they’re good, as they are the rest of the year, so normally Aussie win half of the editions in any race since 2000? Not even the Belgian on the cobbles, and despite having had Boonen… It’s hugely skewed. But it’s fine because it’s an “have fun” warm-up race, which is great by the way.

Well Luke Plapp didn’t … and he should have ignored the message from the team car. My final comment on this is that I see Del Toro as the likely winner and that he will continue on to be a very big name. For a race that had very humble origins I think the TDU is travelling quite nicely.

“It’s hugely skewed. But it’s fine because it’s an “have fun” warm-up race, which is great by the way.” Agreed, great until the “he’s gonna wipe the floor with everyone this season” starts up based on what happens in that “have fun warm-up race” But by the time the real season begins that’s all been forgotten.

14 out of 23 to Australians but the names are generally respectable. Gerrans (4 time winner) and Stuart O’Grady (2) have both won big races in Europe and I think Ritchie Porte (2) has more than one stage race to his name. Then throw in a couple of world time trial champions and the trophy looks worth having your name on.

Too many names that are new to me now so I have no idea who will deliver the goods tomorrow.

Comments are closed.

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Women’s Tour Down Under 2024 Race Preview

Mathew Mitchell

• Published on December 30, 2023
• in Women's Cycling

Women's Tour Down Under History

The Women’s Tour Down Under came back after a Covid hiatus in January 2023 with a great edition. Grace Brown took the victory after a close battle with Amanda Spratt that saw just 10 seconds separate the pair of Australians. Georgia Williams rounded out the podium as the only other rider within 20 seconds of Brown. The opening stage of the 2023 Women’s WorldTour season saw Daria Pikulik take her first WWT win in an out-and-out sprint. A couple of late curves made it hard for some favourites to get into position but Pikulik managed to negotiate it with the fastest kick. 

Table of Contents

Alex Manly was able to take the win on Stage 2 , and was led out perfectly into a final 90-degree corner which left the final sprint comfortable for the Aussie. The GC was decided on the final day with the Corkscrew climb in the final kilometres deciding the race. A head-to-head sprint for the stage win saw Spratt leading out Brown who was able to come back for the win and GC . Despite not winning last year, Amanda Spratt is synonymous with the Women’s Tour Down Under. She’s been on the podium in each of the last 5 editions, with 3 of them wins, in a run stretching back to 2016. 

The 2024 Women’s Tour Down Under route finally sees the Women’s WorldTour use Willunga Hill for a summit finish. It’s the climb most known from the men’s edition but hasn’t been used in the women’s race until now. During Covid, the Festival of Cycling, a sort of domestic Tour Down Under did go up Willunga Hill though. So we have an idea of who might be a threat this year. Back then, Sarah Gigante outpaced Lucy Kennedy (now retired) to the win. She will be back on a new team with the confidence of knowing that she can deliver there. 

Previous Winners

2023 Grace Brown 2022 Not held 2021 Not held

Women's Tour Down Under 2024 Profiles

Stage 1 profile.

Stage 2 Profile

Stage 3 Profile

TV Coverage

Friday 12th January to Sunday 14th January 2024

Live on Eurosport/Discovery+ across most of Europe, Channel 7 in Australia, FloSports/NBC in USA (Rest of World can use a VPN to access the Channel 7 coverage with a VPN and by registering free on 7+)

Stage 1: 00:30-04:00 Stage 2: 00:30-04:30 Stage 3: 00:30-04:30

All times in GMT

Twitter: #TourDownUnder

Startlist: FirstCycling

Women's Tour Down Under 2024 Contenders

FDJ-Suez come here to mean business. They’ve got last year’s winner in Grace Brown along with Cecille Uttrup Ludwig as big pre-race favourites. New signing Nina Buijsman was also 3rd here last year on the harder sprint stage. Either her or Gladys Verhulst-Wild will get the nod on Stage 1 this year and then might still be in the hunt on what is a tougher 2nd day in 2024. It’s obviously a home race for Grace Brown and she will want to do well but Cecille Uttrup Ludwig feels more suited for the blast up Willunga Hill for mine. Aussies are notoriously strong at this point of the season though, especially if they’ve been hunting national championships ( which are after the date of this preview but before the Tour Down Under ). They’ll play it by ear and see how Brown is faring against Spratt on the climbs.

For Lidl-Trek, the equation is simple. The Women’s Tour Down Under is very much an Amanda Spratt race. She’s going to have some great support from the likes of Chapman and Hanson to keep things under control. The course changes feel like the race has moved back to a parcours where Spratt will have more of an advantage over most of the other rivals. The sprinting on Stage 1 should be done by Ilaria Sanguineti , although there was just a hint that Elynor Backstedt was starting to get more opportunities last year too. Spratt threw the kitchen sink at the race last year and it wasn’t through want of trying that she didn’t take the win. 

The climbing GC threat from Liv-AlUla-Jayco should come from their new rider Ella Wyllie . She’s making the step up from Lifeplus-Wahoo after impressing last season. The 21-year-old Kiwi finished in the top 10 of the GC here last season before going on to finish on the podium at Navarre Elite Classics, winning the youth jersey at the WWT race Itzulia Women and finishing 11th on the Tourmalet in the Tour de France Femmes . She’s got a solid line-up behind her that includes a stage winner from last year’s race in Alex Manly and the all-round threat of Ruby Roseman-Gannon . I’m assuming Manly will get the Stage 1 sprint and maybe Roseman-Gannon the lead on Stage 2. That leaves Wyllie to do her best for GC on Willunga Hill on Stage 3. 

Human Powered Health has made a number of signings in the off-season and will look to get off to a better start in the new 2 year Women’s WorldTour cycle than the last one. Krista Doebel-Hickok  usually does well in Australia, finishing 5th in last year’s edition of the Women’s Tour Down Under but also finished 4th in GC back in 2019. She’s another rider for whom the inclusion of Willunga Hill will help her chances.  Henrietta Christie  also had a good race here last season, finishing 7th in GC and taking home the youth jersey. She will either be supporting or complementing Doebel-Hickok here, with the strongest of the pair going to be made clear on the road. We’re also going to get to see the return to the peloton of  Ruth Edwards  (who was Ruth Winder the last time she raced a WWT race). She won the 2020 edition of the Tour Down Under shortly before the lockdowns started. She had a career year in 2021 and retired at the top of her game to get a better life balance. That retirement has turned into a sabbatical with Edwards keeping her eye in by racing gravel in the meantime but is now back on the road. Her level will be interesting to see. 

Chloe Dygert is going to race the Tour Down Under for the first time since 2017. She was just 20 years old back then but took 3 top-10 stage finishes at the time. She’s here in Australia with no doubt one eye on the track cycling Nations Cup that will be taking place in Adelaide a couple of weeks afterwards. I’m going to be intrigued to see how she does on Willunga Hill here but there is no reason why she shouldn’t be in the mix on the opening 2 stages. Soraya Paladin should be one to keep an eye on, particularly on Stage 2. She’s not a sprinter but she does have a fast finish after a tough race, something we usually see at say Trofeo Alfredo Binda . We might also see a GC push from Neve Bradbury as a home hope. Her climb to 5th on Hautacam in the infamous CIC Pyrenees Tour last year shows she can go with the best on her day.

UAE Team ADQ are bringing their new sprinter, the Polish rider  Dominika Wlodarczyk  here to Australia. She took 6 wins last season and will be keen to show that she belongs at the WWT level. She should get the nod on Stage 1 at least and have a chance to replicate what her compatriot Daria Pikulik did on the opening stage last year. Sofia Bertizzolo  is possibly a better shout for Stage 2. She’s similar to Paladin in that she will have a fast finish from a reduced group after a tough race. Out of the team’s options, it feels like  Mikayla Harvey might be the best shot for GC contention. She can sometimes go quiet but now and again will pull out a strong result like at the UAE Tour last season . She can certainly be in the mix on Willunga Hill for sure.

AG Insurance-Soudal pulled off something of a coup recently by announcing the signing of Aussie  Sarah Gigante , a year before the end of her contract with Movistar. It allows Gigante to race the Tour Down Under for the first time since 2020. She won the following year’s Festival of Cycling, which finished on the summit of Willunga Hill, but since then has often been injured and not able to show her best. Her return to racing on a new team on home soil will be keenly watched. Teammate  Justine Ghekiere will also be one to watch as she can be a GC threat on a course with shorter climbs. Her win at Setmana Ciclista Valenciana last year was a notable breakthrough. She sometimes goes under the radar, usually supporting big-name teammate Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio but is more than capable of a strong result. The team will also back  Ally Wollaston  on the sprint stages. She’s got enough climbing legs to be a contender on both Stages 1 and 2, which might see her able to use bonus seconds to sneak into the leader’s jersey as one of the few able to double up both days. Her 2023 GC & stage win at the Festival Elsy Jacobs showed what she can do on mixed terrain.

St Michel-Mavic-Auber93 will look at their young hope Marion Bunel for a GC push. Only 19 years old, she had a strong Tour de l’Avenir Femmes, finishing 8th in GC against a host of bigger WWT level names, along with 7th in La Perigord Ladies as well. She’s certainly made people take notice of those results and might shine on Willunga Hill. The team also gets Roxane Fournier back in action for the first time since having iliac artery surgery in the middle of the 2023 season. She had been looking strong with a host of top-10 results across the season up until that point but actually, they were masking that there was an issue. Hopefully, back to full fitness, Fournier could be a threat in the sprints here. There’s also Victoire Guilman who left FDJ-Suez this off-season, despite finally winning the first UCI race of her long career at GP de Chambery. She will be one to keep an eye on across all 3 stages.

Two new recruits for Lifeplus Wahoo are going to be worth keeping an eye on at this year’s Women’s Tour Down Under. The experienced American Heidi Franz joins the team after an up-and-down 2023 season. She was embroiled in the Zaaf saga early on but later in the year came back to win her first UCI race in Europe at the Egmont Cycling Race. The British team also signed the young Czech rider Kristyna Burlova from Lotto Dstny Ladies. She impressed in 2023 as well, taking a good handful of top-10 results across the season. She should get the nod on Stage 1 and might be able to come to wider attention with a good result.

Finally, Visma-Lease a Bike will have their new signing  Lieke Nooijen  as a possible contender in the sprint on Stage 1. She took the first victories of her career last season, the first coming with a really long sprint that no other rider was able to match at  Districtenpijl – Ekeren-Deurne. A similar early launch might see her do well here as well with none of the truly big-name sprinters like Kool, Wiebes and Balsamo racing in Australia.

Women's Tour Down Under 2024 Outsiders

Domestic Australian hopes are tied to the teams of Bridgelane and ARA Skip Capital. For Bridgelane, Matilda Raynolds is always happy to get in the mix. I can certainly see her attacking and pushing on with the endurance that saw her win a 246km gravel race in the last few months. She also has a win in the notoriously long Melbourne-Warrnambool race too. Almost all of the rest of the Bridgelane team have domestic top-10 results from this year’s National Road Series, but Talia Appleton will be a young rider to keep an eye on as the current junior Oceania RR champion. Gina Ricardo also has a fast finish and might get a result against the international peloton too.

From the ARA Skip Capital team, there’s Sophie Edwards  who has top-10s in Europe at the 2023 Thüringen Ladies Tour, which was dominated by SD Worx. She’s also the reigning Oceania RR champion so will have a distinctive jersey. Lucinda Stewart was 9th on Stage 1 of the 2023 Women’s Tour Down Under and is still only 19. She spent most of 2023 racing in Belgium and we might see more progression from her.  Lucie Fityus has a couple of wins already from the National Road Series and finished just outside of the top-10 at the Tour of Berlin Feminin in 2023 on what was a very flat course. Chloe Moran also has a pair of NRS wins this season and has European experience too. She took wins in non-UCI level Belgian races which are tough to do.

The controversial Tashkent City Women team will be racing the Tour Down Under after securing invites to all Women’s WorldTour races in 2023. Like Dygert, they will have one eye on the track Nations Cup a couple of weeks after this road race but what they do here could set the tone for the rest of the season. Young Uzbek  Yanina Kuskova is the rider to keep an eye on as she has achieved a number of lower-level UCI victories already in her career.

Top 3 Prediction

• Amanda Spratt
• Grace Brown
• Sarah Gigante

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2024 Tour Down Under start lists confirmed

Filippo Ganna, Simon Yates, Julian Alaphilippe, Amanda Spratt, Grace Brown and Sarah Gigante feature in the first WorldTour races of the 2024 season

Daniel Benson

Editor in chief.

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The men's and women's Santos Tour Down Under kickstarts the 2024 WorldTour

The organisers of the men's and women's Santos Tour Down Under have released two star-studded start lists ahead of this month's opening WorldTour races.

The women's race runs from January 12 to 14 and concludes with a third and final stage on Willunga Hill. The finish marks the first time that the iconic climb has officially featured in the Women's Tour Down Under.

Defending champion Grace Brown ( FDJ-Suez ) returns to defend her title and will start as the main favourite in the women's race. The Australian will be ably supported by Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig and French climber, Évita Muzic .

Amanda Spratt ( Lidl-Trek ), who won the race three times in a row between 2017 and 2019 leads a powerful-looking squad that includes Brodie Chapman, Lauretta Hanson, and Elynor Bäckstedt.

Another former winner, Ruth Edwards (Human Powered Health) returns to the race too. Edwards retired from the WorldTour at the end of the 2021 season and devoted herself to gravel racing over the last few years but at 30 she returns to the fray with a team that includes fellow new signing Krista Doebel-Hickok, and former Trek teammate Audrey Cordon-Ragot. Doebel-Hickok finished a creditable fifth in 2023.

Ruby Roseman-Gannon, who was fourth in 2023 also heads to the race as part of a strong Liv AlUla Jayco squad, and Canyon-SRAM include Chloe Dygert and Adelaide native Tiffany Cromwell.

Grace Brown and Amanda Spratt confirmed for Tour Down Under battle

Stuart o’grady expecting an ‘epic finale’ at tour down under.

Another major favourite will be Sarah Gigante. The Australian ended her contract with Movistar a year early and signed for AG Insurance-Soudal Team. The 23-year-old is set to race the Australian nationals before setting her focus on the Tour Down Under.

Click here for the full start list for the women's Tour Down Under .

In the men's event, defending champion Jay Vine (UAE Team Emirates) has decided to skip the race and concentrate on a European start to his season .

The start list is still packed with talent with Diego Ulissi, Isaac del Torro, and Finn Fisher-Black part of a robust UAE team.

Ineos Grenadiers have signed up Filippo Ganna and Joshua Tarling to lead their squad, while Jayco AlUla arrive with possibly the strongest team. The Australian outfit start with Caleb Ewan for the sprints and Simon Yates and Luke Plapp for the GC.

Bora-Hansgrohe will focus on the sprint stages with their new signing Sam Welsford, and Julian Alaphilippe will raise hopes for Soudal Quick-Step.

Click here for the full start list for the men's Tour Down Under .

GCN will have complete race coverage from the men's and women's Tour Down Under this year, with race reports, tech, interviews and on-the-ground news from both races.

Amanda Spratt

• Team Lidl-Trek
• Nationality Australia
• UCI Wins 21
• Height 1.61m

Ruth Edwards

• Team Human Powered Health
• Nationality United States of America
• UCI Wins 17

Sarah Gigante

• Team AG Insurance-Soudal Team
• Height 1.65m

Julian Alaphilippe

• Team Soudal Quick-Step
• Nationality France
• UCI Wins 46
• Height 1.77m

Filippo Ganna

• Team INEOS Grenadiers
• Nationality Italy
• UCI Wins 32
• Height 1.93m

Simon Yates

• Team Team Jayco-AlUla
• Nationality United Kingdom
• UCI Wins 37
• Height 1.72m

Tour Down Under

• Dates 12 Jan - 14 Jan
• Race Length 291 kms
• Race Category Elite Women

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- 2024 Tour Down Under Live Online Coverage Guide -

Cyclingfans.com Tour Down Under Tour Tracker with live GPS tracking shows you key data about every stage, including every rider group, time gap, sprint and climb. Click any of the icons to get details about the item, including detailed gradients of every climb.

2020 Tour Down Under Stage 6 Profile

2020 Tour Down Under Stage 5 Profile

2020 Tour Down Under Stage 4 Profile

2020 Tour Down Under Stage 2 Profile

2020 Tour Down Under Stage 1 Profile

Previous live feeds:

- 2021 Santos Festival of Cycling, Australia

Men and Women Road races January 21 - 24 ----------------------------------------------

STAGE 1 - Thursday, January 21 - Seppeltsfield TO Tanunda (Ziptrak Stage 1)

Women's Race Start at 9:00am local, 11:30pm CET, 5:30pm ET (Wednesday night in the US) Finish at 11:30am local, 02:00am CET, 8:00pm ET

Men's Race Start at 1:15pm local, 03:45am CET, 9:45pm ET Finish at 4:11pm local, 6:41am CET, 12:41am ET ----------------------------

Stage 2 - Friday, January 22 - Birdwood - Lobethal (BikeExchange Stage 2)

Women's Race Start at 9:00am local, 11:30pm CET, 5:30pm ET (Thursday night in the US) Finish at 11:45am local, 02:15am CET, 8:15pm ET

Men's Race Start at 1:30pm local, 04:00am CET, 10:00pm ET Finish at 4:25pm local, 6:55am CET, 12:55am ET

----------------------------

Stage 3 - Saturday, January 23 - McLaren Vale - Willunga Hill (Be Safe Be Seen Stage 3)

Women's Race Start at 10:00am local, 12:30am CET, 6:30pm ET (Friday night in the US) Finish at 11:30am local, 02:00am CET, 8:00pm ET

Men's Race Start at 1:00pm local, 03:30am CET, 9:30pm ET Finish at 3:20pm local, 5:50am CET, 11:50am ET ----------------------------

Stage 4 - Sunday, January 24 - Victoria Park (Trek Stage 4)

Women's Race Start at 4:45pm local, 7:15am CET, 1:15am ET Finish at 5:45pm local, 8:15am CET, 2:15am ET

Men's Race Start at 6:45pm local, 09:15am CET, 3:15am ET Finish at 7:45pm local, 10:15am CET, 4:15am ET ----------------------------

Adelaide time zone is ACDT Australian Central Daylight Time (GMT+10:30) 9:30 hours ahead of CET 15:30 hours ahead of ET

- Giacomo Nizzolo (NTT Pro Cycling) won Stage 5.  Daryl Impey (Mitchelton-Scott) took over the lead in the general classification.

- Tour Tracker LIVE here .  More feeds to come...

- Expected LIVE video here . (Sky Sport, geo-restricted)  - Expected LIVE video here . (SuperSport, geo-restricted)  - Expected LIVE video here . (TV2.dk, geo-restricted)  - Expected LIVE video here . (SenalColombia, geo-restricted)  - Expected LIVE video here .  (GCN Racing, geo-restricted)

- Expected LIVE video here & here & here . (English, Seven, geo-restricted?)

- Caleb Ewan (Lotto-Soudal) won Stage 4.  Richie Porte (Trek-Segafredo) remains overall leader.

- Richie Porte (Trek-Segafredo) won Stage 3 and is new race leader.

- Caleb Ewan (Lotto-Soudal) won Stage 2 and took over the lead on G.C.

- Stage 1 Results: Overall Ziptrak Stage 1 Winner: Sam Bennett, Deceuninck – Quick-Step Santos Ochre Leader’s Jersey: Sam Bennett, Deceuninck – Quick-Step Crowds: 75,000 Santos Best Dressed Town Daily Winner: Tanunda Business Group   Stage 2 Cycling Action Race:                 Santos Tour Down Under What:                Novatech Stage 2 Start:                 11:00am @ Woodside Finish:               2:23pm @ Stirling Distance:          135.8km

Stage 2 Broadcast Details 2020 Santos Tour Down Under – Novatech Stage 2 Sydney 12.30pm LIVE on Channel 7 and 7plus Melbourne 12.30pm LIVE on Channel 7 and 7plus Brisbane 11.30am LIVE on 7TWO, 12.00pm LIVE on Channel 7 and 7plus Adelaide 12.00pm LIVE on Channel 7 and 7plus Perth 9.30am LIVE on 7TWO and 7plus

- Sam Bennett (Deceuninck-Quickstep) won Stage 1 and is first leader in the general classification.

- South Australian Premier Steven Marshall commenting on the region: "Spectators can not only enjoy some elite cycling action but can also experience everything the Barossa has to offer – from the region’s quality produce to world-class wineries only a stone’s throw away from the racing.  The Barossa region is a popular destination for domestic and international travellers, helping to put South Australia on the map. It’s great to be able to have the cycling go straight through here so visitors can make the most of their time in this fantastic part of the state."

- Mike Turtur, Race Director: "The design of our race is a unique feature of the event and this year we have three days for both the sprinters and the all-rounders.  We’re going back to Paracombe and will climb Willunga Hill again for the finale in Be Safe Be Seen Stage 6 but also have a fast race set for today in the Barossa and we’ll challenge the peloton with a return to Stirling.  We recognise that circuit racing gives people the opportunity to see the race multiple times and really does allow the full colour of the race to be presented to spectators. The riders like them too because they can familiarise themselves with the circuit and the climbs, and it reduces the danger of corners because they do them multiple times."

Day 1 Cycling Action Race: Santos Tour Down Under What: Ziptrak Stage 1 Start: 11:00am @ Tanunda Finish: 2:45pm @ Tanunda Distance: 150.0km

Today’s Broadcast Details 2020 Santos Tour Down Under – Ziptrak Stage 1 Sydney: 12.30pm LIVE on Channel 7 and 7plus Melbourne: 12.30pm LIVE on Channel 7 and 7plus Brisbane:  11.30am LIVE on 7TWO, 12.00pm LIVE on Channel 7 and 7plus Adelaide: 12.00pm LIVE on Channel 7 and 7plus Perth: 9.30am LIVE on 7TWO and 7plus

- Caleb Ewan (Lotto Soudal) won the 2020 Men's Tour Down Under Schwalbe Classic.  Said Ewan post-race: "I started this season, I think, with a bit of pressure to replicate what I did last year or try to grow my wins on top of that. This is my first race of the season, usually, I’ve done some races before but I felt really good out there. I was pretty relaxed for the first half sitting down the back and then when I needed to go, I got up into position and that was it.

- Simona Frapporti (BePink) won Stage 4.  Ruth Winder (Trek-Segafredo) wins the 2020 Women's Tour Down Under.  Frapporti following her stage win said: "It’s always nice to win on the first stage race of the year. Coming from Italy, we were behind the locals in terms of condition but I was feeling very well today. So I took my chance. I’m sure my two brothers [Marco and Mattia Frapporti] who are professional cyclists too will be happy to hear that I’m a winner today. It’s important to start an Olympic year with a victory. It’s perfect for the confidence."

- Ruth Winder following her overall victory in the 2020 Women's TDU: "It feels pretty crazy to win the Santos Tour Down Under. Team Sunweb and Mitchelton-SCOTT really put us under pressure. I’m really happy to pull it off. I’m still really excited after the stage I won yesterday. It’s such an incredible feeling. It’s not a single person’s sport. For every win, you need a strong team. I wish my team-mates could accompany me on the podium."

- TDU Schwalbe Classic - Sunday, January 19 -

- Expected LIVE video here . (Sky Sport, geo-restricted)  - Expected LIVE video here . (SuperSport, geo-restricted)

- Expected LIVE video here .  (English, 7TWO)

- Expected LIVE video here .  (English, 7mate)

- Santos Women's Tour Down Under -

- Stage 4 - Sunday, January 19 -

- Expected LIVE video  here .  (English, GCN Racing)

- Expected LIVE video here .  (English, 7plus)

- Ruth Winder (Trek-Segafredo) won Stage 3 and took over the lead on G.C.  Winder had this to say after the stage: "My teammate Tayler Wiles, she was just leading me out perfectly. I was talking to her the whole time, we’ve been teammates for years and she’s helped me with so many wins, so every time I do I feel so grateful for her in the last 500 metres. The whole team the entire race was really active at the front covering things, making sure I was really safe until the circuits, which were pretty hard with Mitchelton-SCOTT destroying it on the times pretty much."

- Amanda Spratt (Mitchelton-Scott) won Stage 2 and is new overall leader.  Spratt post-stage: "Very, very, very excited. We had a solid team plan today, we knew it could be really hard in the final if we made it that way, and that’s exactly what we did. The girls did it perfectly into the climb, Lucy [Kennedy] did her job in the climb and split it into a group of five – we had three and five – and then we knew we just had to make it hard after that. I’m really excited that I could win that sprint in the end. After a great team effort it’s the best way to win."

- Chloe Hosking (Rally Cycling) won Stage 1 of the women's race and is first leader in the general classification.  Said Hosking post-stage: "I am just so proud of the girls, it's our first race all together but you wouldn't know it on the road. They were always there, when there was trouble in the wind they were rolling, and they did exactly what we planned in the finish which was just to keep the speed high and keep me out of trouble...we committed to our plan and we executed it."

Santos Tour Down Under - Men's race - January 19 - 26

Stage 1 - Tuesday, January 21 - Tanunda-Tanunda (Ziptrak® Stage 1) Start at 11:00am local, 01:30am CET, 7:30pm ET (US times the previous day) Finish at 2:45pm local, 5:15am CET, 11:15pm ET

Stage 2 - Wednesday, January 22 - Woodside-Stirling (Novatech Stage 2) Start at 11:00am local, 01:30am CET, 7:30pm ET (US times the previous day) Finish at 2:23pm local, 4:53am CET, 10:53pm ET

Stage 3 - Thursday, January 23 - Unley - Paracombe (Subaru Stage 3) Start at 11:00am local, 01:30am CET, 7:30pm ET (US times the previous day) Finish at 2:27pm local, 4:57am CET, 10:57pm ET

Stage 4 - Friday, January 24 - Norwood - Murray Bridge Start at 11:00am local, 01:30am CET, 7:30pm ET (US times the previous day) Finish at 3:08pm local, 5:38am CET, 11:38pm ET

Stage 5 - Saturday, January 25 - Glenelg - Victor Harbor (100% Stage 5) Start at 10:40am local, 1:10am CET, 7:10pm ET (US times the previous day) Finish at 2:40pm local, 5:10am CET, 11:10pm ET

Stage 6 - Sunday, January 26 - McLaren Vale - Willunga Hill (Be Safe Be Seen Stage 6) Start at 10:40am local, 1:10am CET, 7:10pm ET (US times the previous day) Finish at 2:28pm local, 4:58am CET, 10:58pm ET

Adelaide time zone is ACDT 9:30 hours ahead of CET 15:30 hours ahead of U.S. Eastern 16:30 hours ahead of Chicago

Santos Women's Tour - January 16 - 19

Stage 1 - Thursday, January 16 - Hahndorf to Macclesfield (Ziptrak® Stage 1) Start at 10:00am local, 12:30am CET, 6:30pm ET (US times the previous day)

Stage 2 - Friday, January 17 - Murray Bridge-Birdwood (Novatech Stage 2) Start at 10:00am local, 12:30am CET, 6:30pm ET (US times the previous day)

Stage 3 - Saturday, January 18 - Nairne to Stirling (Subaru Stage 3) Start at 10:00am local, 12:30am CET, 6:30pm ET (US times the previous day)

Stage 4 - Sunday, January 19 - Adelaide (Schwalbe Stage 4) Start at 4:45pm local, 7:15am CET, 1:15am ET ------------------------------------------

Adelaide, Australia time zone is ACDT 9:30 hours ahead of CET 15:30 hours ahead of U.S. ET 16:30 hours ahead of Chicago

- More 2020 Tour Down Under TV broadcast details to come...

- The 2020 Women's Tour Down Under is being held January 16-19.

- The 2020 Tour Down Under Classic (Schwalbe Classic) is being held Sunday, January 19.

- The 2020 Santos Tour Down Under is being held January 19-26.

2024 Men’s Tour Down Under Preview

The first world tour race of the year for the men is here, welcome to the Tour Down Under. This is a race that’s been dominated by southern hemisphere riders for many years, but this year there’s a chance we’ll get the first northern hemisphere winner since Tom-Jelte Slagter, way back in 2013. We have six stages, three sprints, two GC days and one grippy day where the outcome is currently unknown. Just like most years, it’s going to be tight and bonus seconds could go a long way to determining the winner.

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‘Drag Race Down Under’ Season 4 to Be Hosted by Michelle Visage

By Jazz Tangcay

Jazz Tangcay

Artisans Editor

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Can we get an Amen up in here?

For the first time in “Drag Race” history, Emmy-award winner Michelle Visage , who has been a judge on “ RuPaul’s Drag Race ” and “ RuPaul ‘s Drag Race: U.K.,” will step onto the main stage and host the fourth season of “RuPaul’s Drag Race: Down Under.”

As he hands the hosting baton to Visage, RuPaul will remain on the series as an executive producer. He said, “It has been my great honor to bring Drag Race to Australaisa. I can’t wait to see the franchise continue to flourish under the leadership of the incredible Michelle Visage.”

Visage is no stranger to hosting. She gave audiences a taste of what she could do last year when she had to fill in for RuPaul on “ RuPaul’s Drag Race: U.K. ”

She joined the show as a regular back on Season 3 of “RuPaul’s Drag Race” and has been a staple ever since. Visage also hosts “Whatcha Packing,” an exit interview style series where she sits down with the eliminated queen from the show to talk about their journey and experience.

The newly titled “Drag Race Down Under” is set to premiere later this year exclusively on WOW Presents Plus in the U.S. and select territories including New Zealand, day and date with its local airing on Stan in Australia. Guest judges and the queens who will be competing for the crown will be announced in the coming weeks.

Comedian Rhys Nicholson will also return as judge for the new series.

In a new judging twist, Visage and Nicholson will be joined on the main stage by a rotating cast of Down Under’s glittering drag royalty. This is the first time “Down Under” queens have been enlisted for their expertise to mentor the new cast of fierce local queens vying for the crown.

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All roads lead to Willunga Hill – Women’s Tour Down Under preview

The three-day stage race that opens the 2024 Women's WorldTour and an undulating path to crowning glory

It's the second edition of the Women's Tour Down at WorldTour level, but somehow it feels like the race is stepping into a new realm again. It may still be just three stages long and still opens the year of international top-tier racing –just like before – but with more Women's WorldTour teams on the start list, a space of its own on the calendar and a weekend finale up an iconic summit finish that is set to delight both the riders who love to climb and fans.

In 2023 Grace Brown (FDJ-Suez) won the event after a tight battle with three-time winner Amanda Spratt (Lidl-Trek) but there is definitely a different twist to the friendly rivalry between former teammates heading into this year's event from Friday, January 12 to Sunday January 14. When Spratt was asked at the race press conference if the summit finish on the last stage on Willunga Hill was the point where she could get back at Brown, there was no hesitation when she answered with a chuckle 'absolutely'.

It was a course announcement which put a spring in Spratt's step as she targets a fourth title but Brown – who mowed down Spratt on the Corkscrew descent to claim victory in 2023 – was perhaps hoping that the finish line of the final stage would be placed a little differently.

Women's Tour Down Under - Nine riders to watch as race builds to Willunga finale ‘Diamonds in the legs’ for new Australian road champion Ruby Roseman-Gannon Grace Brown claims fourth Australian elite women's time trial title

"I was looking to see if the descent had been cut off the profile, but it turns out we finish at the top of Willunga," said a jovial Brown at the pre-race press conference. "But I think it is really cool that we get to race up a climb that is so iconic in the men's race and I like a challenge so we will see how I go."

Spratt and Brown may be two of the key riders to watch, but the race of course, contains a far broader list of contenders, with a dynamic road race at the Australian Championships providing a clear demonstration of the strength of the local riders in the field. Plus the start list is also delivering a growing array of international challengers.

A queen of Willunga

There has long been a heavy emphasis on the climb of Willunga in the men's Tour Down Under, with Richie Porte having claimed the mantle of King of the Mountain. The climb, however, has not been in the women's international race before. Still, one member of the WorldTour peloton has managed to carve her name on the sign post alongside Porte that outlines the fastest times and that is Sarah Gigante.

Gigante claimed the Queen of the Mountain on Willunga in 2021 when the climb was included in the Santos Festival of Cycling – the domestic replacement race for the COVID-19 cancelled international event. Going by her performance at the National Championships where she drove the pace on the climbs and claimed the Queen of the Mountain jersey, she'll be a fierce competitor again on the ascent in 2024. Still, just in case there happens to be a new fastest time on Sunday and it's not her, she made a stop on the way to the race to make sure she had a memento. 

A post shared by Sarah Gigante (@slipstreamsarah) A photo posted by on

There's also a raft of other powerful prospects, from FDJ-Suez's Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig to returning 2020 victor Ruth Edwards (Human Powered Health), the new recruit to Liv-AlUla-Jayco from New Zealand of Ella Wyllie and Neve Bradbury (Canyon-SRAM). 

Though of course while Willunga is an exciting addition to the race, the build to it will be just as crucial.

Stage 1 is certainly not flat on the route from Hahndorf to Campbelltown as the 93.9km day of racing contains 1483m of elevation gain, but it is a downhill run through the final stages. Then comes a lumpy stage 2 with 2079m of climbing from Glenelg to Stirling, with an uphill kick before the line of the 104.2km stage. Those two days should set the scene for a final showdown on the 93.4 km stage from the centre of Adelaide right to the top of Willunga Hill and its 3km climb with an average gradient of 7.4% and a maximum of 15.6%.

"I think they have done a really great job with the course this year," said Spratt. "I think there is probably a bunch sprint on the first stage and then Stirling is a bit unpredictable, it could probably go either way and then obviously we have Willunga.

"Time bonuses are going to be really crucial too, so I think we are really not going to know who is going to win until we cross that finish line in Willunga. I think there are going to be a lot of plot twists, things are going to change so I think it is going to be a really exciting race." Get unlimited access to all of our coverage of the Tour Down Under and Women’s Tour Down Under, including reporting from Australia, breaking news and analysis.  Find out more .

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Simone is a degree-qualified journalist that has accumulated decades of wide-ranging experience while working across a variety of leading media organisations. She joined Cyclingnews as a Production Editor at the start of the 2021 season and has now moved into the role of Australia Editor. Previously she worked as a freelance writer, Australian Editor at Ella CyclingTips and as a correspondent for Reuters and Bloomberg . Cycling was initially purely a leisure pursuit for Simone, who started out as a business journalist, but in 2015 her career focus also shifted to the sport.

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Profiles & Route Tour Down Under 2024 - Old Willunga Hill and Mount Lofty to decide overall classification

Profiles . The Tour Down Under is the first major road race of the road season and opens up the World Tour racing. From the 16th to 21st of January the season kicks off with racing in Australia.

The first race of the season when it comes to stage-racing at the highest level features only short stages. The riders come in for the heat, UCI points and reputable victories. The route doesn't change much from it's traditional format with the Willunga Hill and Mount Lofty to decide the overall classification. Furthermore, there will be two stages which should all end in sprints - providing plenty opportunities for the fast men.

PREVIEW | Tour Down Under 2024 - Simon Yates the favourite for GC; Alaphilippe, Ganna and Tarling among star-studded start to 2024 season

The race begins in Tanunda with a 144-kilometer day. This one features three laps of a large circuit which includes the slight ascent to Mengler's Hill, however as the riders come down back into town they will organize to a bunch sprint.

With 45-kilometer laps, the first stage is not all easy but it's not tough business either. Most of the riders will be on their first competitive day in months and won't be looking to take many risks or tests themselves too much. As usually is the case, this should be a calm day on Australian roads. Menglers Hill is not too hard, a slight rise into 5% which summits with 13.5 kilometers to go. There will be some fight for positioning however as a steep descent follows, but the final kilometers are flat.

Flat and not too technical. There will be a 90-degree turn around the 1-kilometer mark however that, alongside a slight turn right after will be just about it. The finishing straight is still long so it won't be tackled with urgency by some. The finishing straight has a slight gradient but a bunch sprint is hard to avoid.

PREVIEW | Tour Down Under 2024 stage 1 - Caleb Ewan and Sam Welsford big favourites to win opening big sprint of the year

Stage 2 into Lobethal is a relatively open day. Short on the bike and with another circuit, however the final three-lap circuit features some hilltops where attacks can come. Here the racing will be open, the GC can be played for, but a sprint is also possible. It is a day with a 10-kilometer climb right from the start, although not many are likely to risk it all at this point in the race. However it's an interesting and explosive start for a 141-kilometer day.

Then we have a three-lap circuit around Lobethal, not too different than the previous day. three small ascents to note. 1Km at 5.7% with 20 kilometers to go, 1.6Km at 7.5% with 8.5 kilometers to go, and 600 meters at 5.6% with only 4.5 kilometers to go. Then, a small descent and a slight drag to the line.

All in all, a very open finale. It could well finish in a reduced bunch sprint, however the small climbs offer plenty opportunities for puncheurs, rouleurs and classics specialists to launch attacks. In a race that is often decided by just a few seconds, it can be a key day and specially because it will be the first real climbing test and riders will be unaware of who has the best legs.

PREVIEW | Tour Down Under 2024 stage 2 - Hilly finale provides opportunity for explosive GC battle

Stage 3 starts uphill however it should be a relatively easy day to control. The race rides into Campbelltown but will not tackle the Corkscrew climb. Instead, a flat day where a bunch sprint will be hard to prevent. However, with such a tricky start and mostly downhill finale, a breakaway could certainly take advantage.

Again, it is a day that immediately starts with a climb. The first 35 kilometers of the 145-kilometer day are very explosive, they feature several climbs. If there are enough riders willing to take the risks, this could lead to a very interesting day. The day is quite rolling, and then the final 25 kilometers have a downhill trend. Speeds will be very high and it is difficult to cut much of a gap in such terrain.

However, a bunch sprint remains the most likely scenario. Campbelltown, in the outskirts of the Adelaide city center, hosts a finale that has a technical approach, but a pan-flat finale.

PREVIEW | Tour Down Under 2024 stage 3 - Sam Welsford and Caleb Ewan headline sprinter showdown

Stage 4 to Port Elliot will also be short and just as suited to the sprinters. There will be very little obstacles to tackle en route to the finish line. A day that can be exposed to the wind as it takes place quite close to the coast and does not feature this time around the rolling terrain of the previous days.

Instead, the first half is pan-flat. We've got Gemmel Hill that summits with 48 kilometers to go however it doesn't pose much of a challenge, and the final third of the day isn't much of an issue profile wise. In the final few hundred meters there will be a fast approach to Port Eliott, a sharp final corner with just a few hundred meters to go means a race up to that point, and then an all-out sprint in the day that suits the fast men the best.

PREVIEW | Tour Down Under 2024 stage 4 - Can Sam Welsford make a hattrick of sprint wins?

Stage 5 sees the return of the Willunga Hill. It's the traditional Tour Down Under finale, and a stage that can be decisive. This is the comeback of the race's (and region's) most famous climb. It is a day that is very short and should be very calm all throughout, with the exception of the end. Like Milano-Sanremo, it is a slow buildup towards what should be a very explosive finale.

The riders will climb twice the 3-kilometer ascent at 7.5%, the first of which summits with 22.5 kilometers to go. However here there's rarely action, just positioning towards the base but then the race calms down. It's a non-technical and consistent climb so the riders will likely remain in a calm zone. Then in the run-up to the final climb the fight is serious.

Then, it's a 10-minute effort approximately - including the run-up to the ascent. High speed and big chainring, it's a climb where attacks have to be very powerful to make the difference as it will be raced at high speed. Still, the few seconds, and bonifications at the finish line, often prove vital for the decision of the ochre jersey.

PREVIEW | Tour Down Under 2024 stage 5 - Old Willunga Hill showdown likely to decide GC

The race ultimately ends in Mount Lofty. After it's success of 2023 the race organizers decided to repeat the formula. On the menu is an interesting finale, with an explosive start to the stage and then a three-lap circuit which ends atop the ascent each time. It's one with slight gradients, but the hilltop finish provides opportunities for attacks and for the ochre jersey to change hands right in the race's end.

Two 3-kilometer climbs provide space for attacks early in the day. A rolling day in the hills, it's not too difficult to image a big breakaway trying to establish itself and threatening the overall classification. A three-lap circuit around Mount Lofty will take place. In total, it's around 14 kilometers of false-flat climbing with a couple of small downhill sections. However as we've been able to observe last year, everything is in preparation for the final 1.6 kilometers.

The gradients here average 6.5%, but at the base of it the grades do go higher. A finale for puncheurs and climbers simultaneously, it's an explosive one. Not a climb to make big differences, but every second matters in such a race.

PREVIEW | Tour Down Under 2024 stage 6 - GC battle reaches exciting climax atop Mount Lofty

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