2020 Santos Tour Down Under (World Tour), Australia
Schwalbe Classic: Sunday, January 19
Back to 2020 Tour Down Under | Tour Down Under Podium History
Sunday, January 19: Schwalbe Classic: Adelaide, Australia, 30 laps x 1.7 km circuit = 51.0 km
Caleb Ewan is the day's fastest rider. Sirotti photo
The race: Here's the organizer's race report.
For the second time in two years, Caleb Ewan has given his Belgian Lotto Soudal team the opening win of the international racing calendar. Oozing confidence, the 25-year-old kept his cool in the opening stanza of the Schwalbe Classic, hanging at the rear of the peloton for the opening 10 laps while a breakaway absorbed the Ziptrak Sprints.
Come ‘Business Time’, the 165-centimetre dynamo ensured he was well positioned near the head of the peloton; out of the final turn he surged, sprinting from around 10th place on the final turn. Down the right-hand side of the road he sped while, in his wake, the other sprint specialists looked positively tall as they battled to find an answer to Ewan’s aerodynamic acceleration.
He would claim the win with a solid advantage over two Cofidis Solutions Credits riders Elia Viviani and his lead-out man Simone Consonni.
The rest of the top 10 included some strong sprinters: Jasper Philipsen (UAE Team Emirates), Kristoffer Halvorsen (EF Education First), young Italian sensation Alberto Dainese (Team Sunweb) and Deceuninck-Quick-Step’s versatile veteran Michael Morkov. The Australian criterium champion, Sam Welsford claimed eighth place for the UniSA-Australia team.
The race:
The 51-kilometre Schwalbe Classic, 30 laps of a 1.7 kilometre circuit, began with unusual conditions for the traditional prelude event of the Santos Tour Down Under: a new course in Adelaide’s city centre, overcast skies, intermittent rain, and a temperature of just 19 degrees. The headwind down the finishing straight that had been a feature of the final stage of the Santos Women’s Tour Down Under did, however, ease in time for the 6:45pm start of the men’s race.
In the 22-year-history of this criterium, it is the first-time riders began on wet roads and cool weather. Instead of the common sunscreen application scenes at the team shelters, jackets and wet weather gear was being retrieved by riders before the start.
The attacks began immediately with Manuel Boaro of Astana Pro Team getting things moving, soon followed by last year’s under-23 Australian road race champion Nick White (Uni SA-Australia) and Josef Cerny (CCC Team).
The leading trio were joined by Slovenian champion Domen Novak (Team Bahrain McLaren) and NTT Pro Cycling’s Stefan Jaco De Bod.
Boaro won the second Ziptrak Sprint, with an attack before the 350 metre finishing straight leading his escape companions to the line with a lead of six seconds. After 10 laps, the breakaway enjoyed its largest advantage on the peloton, 30 seconds.
White, who finished third in the national criterium championships 10 days ago, won the first and third Ziptrak Sprints. The wildcard Uni SA-Australia team had options: either White or the recently crowned Australian criterium champion, Sam Welsford… on his 24th birthday.
The average speed after 40 minutes of racing was 51.4 kilometres per hour.
Cerny attacked the lead group as dark clouds threatened to wet the circuit with 11 laps to go. The Czech rider took the final Ziptrak Sprint, leading the four by 12 inches and the peloton by 30 inches.
Last year’s ‘Classic’ champion, Caleb Ewan spent much of the opening stanza at the very rear of the peloton but Lotto Soudal’s sprint specialist moved up towards the front with around 10 laps to go.
With six laps to go, the skies opened up and rain began to fall but, curiously, only one some parts of the short city circuit. The finishing straight remained dry until just before the finish when the wind got stronger setting things up for a tough sprint at the end of a fast race.
Team INEOS sent three riders to the front of the bunch and their efforts reeled in the escapees with five laps remaining.
Max Kanter (Team Sunweb) and Marc Sarreau (Equipe Cycliste Groupama-FDJ) were victims of a crash near the rear of the peloton with three-and-a-half laps to go but both quickly remounted their bikes and finished with a little lost skin and some lost time.
With just two laps to go, there was a light drizzle on the finish straight and the wind picked up in strength.
Team INEOS had command of the peloton until BORA-hansgrohe, Cofidis Solutions Credit, Lotto Soudal and EF Education First all arrived to set things up for their respective sprinters.
EF Education First had the weight of numbers for the final lap, with three at the front but no one had an answer to the top speed of the little aerodynamic sprint maestro from Lotto Soudal.
Caleb Ewan took the victory in fine style, leading the European champion Elia Viviani (Cofidis Solutions Credit) to the line with a solid advantage. It is Caleb’s second win on the opening Sunday of the Santos Tour Down Under.
Complete Results:
51.0 kilometers raced at an average speed of 47.454 km/hr
128 classified finishers, 12 abandons
| 1 | EWAN, Caleb (Lotto Soudal) | 1hr 4min29sec |
| 2 | VIVIANI, Elia (Cofidis) | s.t. |
| 3 | CONSONNI, Simone (Cofidis) | s.t. |
| 4 | PHILIPSEN, Jasper (UAE Team Emirates) | s.t. |
| 5 | HALVORSEN, Kristoffer (EF Pro Cycling) | s.t. |
| 6 | DAINESE, Alberto (Team Sunweb) | s.t. |
| 7 | MORKOV, Michael (Deceuninck-Quick Step) | s.t. |
| 8 | WELSFORD, Sam (UniSA-Australia) | s.t. |
| 9 | LAWLESS, Christopher (Team Ineos) | s.t. |
| 10 | NIZZOLO, Giacomo (NTT Pro Cycling) | s.t. |
| 11 | KLUGE, Roger (Lotto Soudal) | s.t. |
| 12 | SAJNOK, Szymon (CCC Team) | s.t. |
| 13 | VENDRAME, Andrea (Ag2R La Mondiale) | s.t. |
| 14 | LAAS, Martin (BORA-hansgrohe) | s.t. |
| 15 | KEUKLELEIRE, Jens (EF Pro Cycling) | s.t. |
| 16 | BENNETT, Sam (Deceuninck-Quick Step) | s.t. |
| 17 | BASKA, Erik (BORA-hansgrohe) | @ 4sec |
| 18 | GREIPEL, Andre (Israel Start-Up Nation) | s.t. |
| 19 | ZABEL, Rick (Israel Start-Up Nation) | s.t. |
| 20 | BYSTROM, Sven Erik (UAE Team Emirates) | 0:06 |
| 21 | ROELANDTS, Jurgan (Movistar) | s.t. |
| 22 | PEDERSEN, Mads (Trek-Segafredo) | s.t. |
| 23 | LIENHARD, Fabian (Groupama-FDJ) | s.t. |
| 24 | SCULLY, Thomas (EF Pro Cycling) | s.t. |
| 25 | VAN DER SANDE, Tosh (Lotto Soudal) | s.t. |
| 26 | GIBBONS, Ryan (NTT Pro Cycling Team | s.t. |
| 27 | CATTANEO, Mattia (Deceuninck-Quick Step) | s.t. |
| 28 | POWER, Rob (Team Sunweb) | s.t. |
| 29 | PERNSTEINER, Hermann (Bahrain-McLaren) | s.t. |
| 30 | DRIZNERS, Jarrad (UniSA-Australia | 0:12 |
| 31 | SCOTSON, Miles (Groupama-FDJ) | s.t. |
| 32 | ROOSEN, Timo (Jumbo-Visma) | s.t. |
| 33 | DE KORT, Koen (Trek-Segafredo) | s.t. |
| 34 | BOVIN, Guillaume (Israel Start-Up Nation) | 0:16 |
| 35 | SAGAN, Juraj (BORA-hansgrohe) | 0:24 |
| 36 | ARCHBOLD, Shane (Deceuninck-Quick Step) | s.t. |
| 37 | KRAGH ANDERSEN, Asbjorn (Team Sunweb) | 0:32 |
| 38 | HALLER, Marco (Bahrain-McLaren) | 0:37 |
| 39 | DOWSETT, Alex (Israel Start-Up Nation) | 0:43 |
| 40 | RUTSCH, Jonas (EF Pro Cycling) | 0:46 |
| 41 | DOCKER, Mitchell (EF Pro Cycling) | 0:48 |
| 42 | O'BRIEN, Kelland (UniSA-Australia) | 0:58 |
| 43 | VANBILSEN, Kenneth (Cofidis) | 1:04 |
| 44 | HAAS, Nathan (Cofidis) | s.t. |
| 45 | TILLER, Rasmus (NTT Pro Cycling) | 1:13 |
| 46 | DE VREESE, Laurens (Astana) | 1:20 |
| 47 | ULISSI, Diego (UAE Team Emirates) | s.t. |
| 48 | WYSS, Danilo (NTT Pro Cycling) | s.t. |
| 49 | FRANKINY, Kilian (Groupama-FDJ) | s.t. |
| 50 | BOARO, Manuele (Astana) | s.t. |
| 51 | VENTOSO, Francisco (CCC Team) | s.t. |
| 52 | HOLLMANN, Juri (Movistar) | s.t. |
| 53 | MATHIS, Marco (Cofidis) | s.t. |
| 54 | BATISTELLA, Samuele (NTT Pro Cycling) | s.t. |
| 55 | MAS NICOLAU, Enric (Movistar) | s.t. |
| 56 | VAN KEIRSBULCK, Guillaume (CCC Team) | s.t. |
| 57 | WISNIOWSKI, Lukasz (CCC Team) | s.t. |
| 58 | POWLESS, Neilson (EF Pro Cycling) | s.t. |
| 59 | REIJNEN, Kiel (Trek-Segafredo) | s.t. |
| 60 | LAENGEN, Vegard Stake (UAE Team Emirates) | s.t. |
| 61 | PRADES REVERTER, Eduard (Movistar) | s.t. |
| 62 | ARASHIRO, Yukiya (Bahrain-McLaren) | s.t. |
| 63 | PIBERNIK, Luka (Bahrain-McLaren) | 1:24 |
| 64 | ROSSKOPF, Joseph (CCC Team) | 1:25 |
| 65 | BUITRAGO SANCHEZ, Santiago (Bahrain-McLaren) | s.t. |
| 66 | CULLAIGH, Gabriel (Movistar) | s.t. |
| 67 | DIBBEN, Jonathan (Lotto Soudal) | s.t. |
| 68 | DE BOD, Jaco (NTT Pro Cycling) | s.t. |
| 69 | SABATINI, Fabio (Cofidis) | s.t. |
| 70 | STORK, Florian (Team Sunweb) | s.t. |
| 71 | MARCATO, Marco (UAE Team Emirates) | s.t. |
| 72 | ALMEIDA, Joao (Deceuninck-Quick Step) | s.t. |
| 73 | GRUZDEV, Dmitriy (Astana) | s.t. |
| 74 | BAUER, Jack (Mitchelton-SCOTT) | s.t. |
| 75 | KEISSE, Iljo (Deceuninck-Quick Step) | s.t. |
| 76 | WARBASSE, Larry (Ag2R La Mondiale) | s.t. |
| 77 | GOLDSTEIN, Omer (Israel Start-Up Nation) | s.t. |
| 78 | HANSEN, Adam (Lotto Soudal) | s.t. |
| 79 | CHEVRER, Clement (Ag2R La Mondiale) | s.t. |
| 80 | DOMONT, Axel (Ag2R La Mondiale) | s.t. |
| 81 | SCOTT, Cameron (UniSA-Australia) | s.t. |
| 82 | GESCHKE, Simon (CCC Team) | s.t. |
| 83 | JORGE, Arcas (Movistar) | s.t. |
| 84 | PICCOLI, James (Israel Start-Up Nation) | s.t. |
| 85 | SCHELLING, Ide (BORA-hansgrohe) | s.t. |
| 86 | SCHWARZMANN, Michael (BORA-hansgrohe) | s.t. |
| 87 | FRAILE, Omar (Astana) | s.t. |
| 88 | SANCHEZ, Luis Leon (Astana) | s.t. |
| 89 | BARDET, Romain (Ag2R La Mondiale) | s.t. |
| 90 | CERNY, Josef (CCC Team) | s.t. |
| 91 | SAMITIER, Sergio (Movistar) | s.t. |
| 92 | FELLINE, Fabio (Astana) | s.t. |
| 93 | LINDORFF, Tyler (UniSA-Australia) | s.t. |
| 94 | HINDLEY, Jai (Team Sunweb) | s.t. |
| 95 | DEVENYNS, Dries (Deceuninck-Quick Step) | s.t. |
| 96 | STORER, Michael (Team Sunweb) | s.t. |
| 97 | DOULL, Owain (Team Ineos) | 1:46 |
| 98 | HERMANS, Ben (Israel Start-Up Nation) | 2:01 |
| 99 | VALLS, Rafael (Bahrain-McLaren) | s.t. |
| 100 | WHITE, Nick (UniSA-Australia) | s.t. |
| 101 | SUNDERLAND, Dylan (NTT Pro Cycling) | s.t. |
| 102 | JENNER, Samuel (UniSA-Australia) | s.t. |
| 103 | YATES, Simon (Mitchelton-SCOTT) | s.t. |
| 104 | IMPEY, Daryl (Mitchelton-SCOTT) | s.t. |
| 105 | BOUCHARD, Geoffrey (Ag2R La Mondiale) | s.t. |
| 106 | NOVAK, Domen (Bahrain-McLaren) | s.t. |
| 107 | MCCARTHY, Jay (BORA-hansgrohe) | s.t. |
| 108 | VAN DER HOORN, Taco (Jumbo-Visma) | s.t. |
| 109 | STANNARD, Ian (Team Ineos) | s.t. |
| 110 | SIVAKOV, Pavel (Team Ineos) | 2:13 |
| 111 | ELISSONDE, Kenny (Trek-Segafredo) | s.t. |
| 112 | RIES, Michael (Trek-Segafredo) | 2:32 |
| 113 | LOPEZ PEREZ, Juan Pedro (Trek-Segafredo) | s.t. |
| 114 | GASTAUER, Ben (Ag2R La Mondiale) | s.t. |
| 115 | PORTE, Richie (Trek-Segafredo) | s.t. |
| 116 | DELAGE, Mickael (Groupama-FDJ) | s.t. |
| 117 | FOMINYKH, Daniil (Astana) | 2:41 |
| 118 | DE GENDT, Thomas (Lotto Soudal) | s.t. |
| 119 | GUARNIERI, Jacopo (Groupama-FDJ) | 2:43 |
| 120 | MORTON, Lachlan (EF Pro Cycling) | s.t. |
| 121 | VAN BAARLE, Dylan (Team Ineos) | s.t. |
| 122 | ROWE, Luke (Team Ineos) | s.t. |
| 123 | DENNIS, Rohan (Team Ineos) | 2:45 |
| 124 | RIABUSHENKO, Aleksandr (UAE Team Emirates) | s.t. |
| 125 | LINDEMAN, Bert-Jan (Jumbo-Visma) | 2:48 |
| 126 | BENEDETTI, Cesare (BORA-hansgrohe) | s.t. |
| 127 | ARMIRAIL, Bruno (Groupama-FDJ) | s.t. |
| 128 | HOLMES, Matthew (Lotto Soudal) | 3:17 |
Schwalbe Classic photos by Fotoreporter Sirotti:
The peloton riding under dark clouds
Kiel Reijnen
Thomas Scully
Lennard Hofstede
Richie Porte
Thomas de Gendt
Manuele Boaro
Mickael Delage & Marc Sarreau
Josef Cerny on the attack
Caleb Ewan starts his season in the best possible way.
Winner Caleb Ewan
The podium, from left: Elia Viviani (2nd), Caleb Ewan & Simone Consonni (3rd)
