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Sunday, January 25, 2026

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2025 Tour de France | 2025 Giro d'Italia

There is no Frigate like a book to take us lands away nor any coursers like a page of prancing Poetry. - Emily Dickinson

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Les Woodland's book Cycling's World Championships: The Inside Story is available in print, Kindle eBook & audiobook versions. To get your copy, just click on the Amazon link on the right.

Current racing:

• January 17 - 25: Tour Down Under
• January 25: Classica Comunitat Valenciana 1969-GP Valencia

Upcoming racing:

• January 28 - February 1: Challenge Ciclista Mallorca
• January 29: Surf Coast Classic
• February 1: Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race

Latest completed racing:

• January 1: GP Sven Nys
• December 30: Superprestige Diegem
• December 29: Trofee Loenhout-Azencross
• December 26: World Cup Gavere
• December 23: Superprestige Heusden-Zolder
• December 14: World Cup Namur
• November 16: Trofee Hamme-Flandriencross
• November 1: Trofee Oudenaarde-Koppenbergcross
• October 26: Superprestige Overijse-Vlaamse Druivencross
• October 14 - 19: Tour of Guangxi
• October 14 - 19: Tour of Holland

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Tour Down Under stage four team reports

We posted the organizer's report with the results.

Here's the report from stage winner Ethan Vernon's NSN Cycling Team:

It was a case of third time lucky for Ethan Vernon in the Tour Down Under sprints. After two attempts that didn’t go to plan, a change in race route on stage 4 presented another opportunity for the sprinters and Vernon grabbed it with both hands to score an emphatic win in Willunga.

Vernon was determined to put his name to NSN Cycling Team’s first victory of the season and after coming close in the prologue, where he missed the win by half a second, the 25-year-old Brit timed his uphill sprint to perfection to win by a clear margin while teammate Brady Gilmore followed closely behind in fourth place.

Ethan Vernon wins Tour Down Under stage four. Sirotti photo

“I really wanted to win out here,” said Vernon. “I wanted to start the season strong. We’ve got a new setup with the team, and to be the first rider to win in this jersey is really special. We’ve got some new sponsors, and I wanted to do those guys proud. I think when you win in Australia, it builds momentum for the whole team. Most of our guys are on training camp now, but winning here helps build momentum for them too. Hopefully they start the season in Europe strong as well.”

While the stage didn’t start well for the team with Jake Stewart crashing out and sustaining a left collarbone fracture and Corbin Strong abandoning following his crash on stage 1, Vernon turned the team’s fortunes around after Willunga Hill was removed from the race due to extreme heat and fire risk.

“Today’s stage was meant to be for our climbers, George and Nick, but last night it got changed, so we had to re-adapt our plan,” Vernon explained. “Then we lost Corbin and Jake, who are part of the lead-out, early in the stage. So again, we had to change things on the fly. We had quite a few changes today, but in the end it showed that we can communicate well and adapt to situations that are thrown at us. We came away with the win, and by quite a margin as well.

“Clarkey, George, and Schultzie lined it up perfectly over the last 10 kilometers and kept me out of trouble, which really saved my legs for the finish. Then Brady and Clarkey positioned me really well in the final kilometer. I knew I had good speed and went with about 250 meters to go. It was a long uphill sprint, but I could tell I had good legs and knew I wouldn’t fade.”

Vernon’s win wasn’t just his first win of the season but the first for NSN Cycling Team and an important one to set the tone this season said Sports Director Sam Bewley.

“Today is really meaningful in a number of reasons,” added Bewley. “Obviously, it was a surprise at six o’clock last night when we found out we were going to get the chance to have a sprint. The guys have been working really hard and committing to Ethan in the last couple of sprint stages, but didn’t quite execute. So it kind of felt like fate that we got another chance to do that today.

“So for Ethan, I know it’s going to mean a lot to win today, especially because we lost Corbin after he got hurt on stage one, so we stopped him today early in the stage. And then, of course, Jake today crashing and pulling out of the race with some injuries. So it’s nice for Ethan to be able to repay his teammates for what they’ve done, not just today, but over the last couple of days.”

Here's The Tour Down Under report from third-place Laurence Pithie's Team Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe:

Laurence Pithie powered to third place in the sprint on Stage 4 of the Tour Down Under, after the race’s queen stage was modified and no longer finished on Willunga Hill.

The fourth stage was changed in response to an Extreme Fire Danger Rating across the Mount Lofty Ranges and forecast temperatures of up to 43°C. With the much-anticipated Willunga Hill climb removed from the route, the stage finished instead on High Street in Willunga, where the final 600 metres rose at roughly three to four percent, setting up a tough, slightly uphill sprint.

The peloton races along Aldinga Beach. Sirotti photo

For Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe, the day demanded a quick pivot. The original plan had been to build the finish around Danny van Poppel, but van Poppel ultimately abandoned the stage, forcing another reshuffle in the run-in. From there, the focus turned fully to Pithie, with the team committing to positioning him for the final effort on the uphill drag to the line.

In the decisive sprint, Pithie launched strongly to secure third and claim a deserved podium on a day shaped as much by changing conditions as by speed.

Shane Archbold, Sports Director:
“Last night we received the information that we would no longer go up to Willunga. It’s of course a shame that Willunga will no longer be in this year’s race. We had a really good chance there with Finn looking to prove himself after the Corkscrew earlier in the race. But it is what it is, and we respect the decision to change the course, and simply refocused and changed our strategy.

"The initial plan was to prepare the sprint for Danny. But he wasn’t at his best and didn’t finish the stage, so we had to change the plan again, which was then to look after Laurence. The guys did a very good job in that respect. They tried in the crosswinds and were fully motivated, in the end with Laurence taking third on the line. It’s a pretty good result. It’s been a difficult week, so it’s nice to see things getting slightly better, and tomorrow presents a good chance for the team we have here, so we’re looking forward to that.”

Here's the Tour Down Under report from Team Groupama-FDJ:

Despite the removal of Willunga Hill from the route, the fourth stage of the Tour Down Under still took its toll this Saturday. Several riders were forced to abandon after crashes, while others withdrew due to the intense heat, including Kevin Geniets and also Rémi Cavagna, who had animated the early part of the race within the breakaway. Tom Donnenwirth tried to get involved in the final sprint but fell just short of the top-10, finishing 13th. The race will conclude on Sunday with a hilly final stage around Stirling.

For its 2026 edition, the Tour Down Under was for once deprived of its “queen stage.” Due to the forecast extreme heat and a high risk of bushfires, the usual and iconic climb of Willunga Hill was removed from the course, which meant the GC contenders didn’t get a second opportunity to fight. “It completely changed the nature of the race,” explained Jussi Veikkanen. “From a climbers’ race, it became a sprinters’ race. In a way, it was also good for us because we had a nice day yesterday and wanted to build on that momentum.”

Stage four gets underway. Sirotti photo

Like Enzo Paleni 24 hours earlier, the Groupama-FDJ United cycling team immediately got involved in the mix, first through Guillaume Martin-Guyonnet, before Rémi Cavagna managed to make it into the day’s decisive breakaway, formed with three riders. “At the beginning, the peloton didn’t want to give too much time, then there was a big acceleration when we entered McLaren Vale because everyone was stressed by the wind,” Jussi added. “There were several crashes, the peloton split into several groups and that caused some confusion. The peloton stopped riding to let everyone get back on, which allowed Rémi’s group to gain time.”

The gap then passed the symbolic three-minute mark before the peloton gradually got going again in the second half of the stage. The trio’s advantage was reduced to two minutes with 50 kilometres to go, and shortly afterwards Rémi Cavagna was forced to let Luke Plapp and Matthew Greenwood go due to a heatstroke, which eventually led to his withdrawal. The breakaway was caught with more than 20 kilometres to go, and the bunch stayed together for a few minutes before things became serious as the sprint approached.

“We did a recon of the stage and knew it down to the last detail,” said Jussi. “Lewis felt confident last night and also when we asked him during the stage. We wanted to keep the same momentum and he had the opportunity to confirm his performance of the previous day. Unfortunately, when the pace really picked up, he didn’t feel great and told us three kilometers from the finish that he didn’t have the legs to sprint. It’s obviously frustrating and it disrupted us a bit, but Tom was already in position since he was meant to lead him out.” The French puncheur therefore tried to find his way through in the uphill drag to the line, but having started too far back, he could do no better than 13th at the finish.

In addition to Rémi Cavagna, Kevin Geniets was also forced to abandon due to the stifling heat. On Sunday, Groupama-FDJ United will start the final stage with five riders. “We’re heading to Stirling on a circuit we know, and they’re forecasting cooler temperatures, so things should return to normal,” Jussi concluded. “It’s a stage that can suit us, even if the circuit is never easy to handle. It’s still a great opportunity, and we’ll try to make the most of it.”

And here's the Tour Down Under stage four reeport from Team Visma | Lease a Bike:

Team Visma | Lease a Bike were unable to round off the fourth stage of the Tour Down Under with a top result. The black-and-yellow squad had already come close to victory in the opening stage with Matthew Brennan and were hoping to celebrate today, but the young Brit crossed the line in Willunga in sixteenth place.

Stage four of the Tour Down Under had been billed in advance as the queen stage, with the traditional ascent of Willunga Hill expected to act as the decisive judge. However, due to extreme heat, the organisers were forced to shorten the stage by several dozen kilometres and, among other things, remove the climb from the route.

Team Visma | Lease a Bike riders after the stage finish. Sirotti photo

Three riders went up the road, but were never given much space. That was partly down to the work of Team Visma | Lease a Bike, who had set their sights on a sprint victory with Brennan. In the final kilometre, however, the young Brit was positioned too far back, leaving him unable to contest the win. Brennan eventually rolled across the line in sixteenth place.

After the finish, sports director Jesper Mørkøv reflected on the fourth stage. “First of all, we were lucky to be able to race at all today. Credit goes to the organisation for adjusting the route, which kept things safe for both the riders and the fans. Throughout the stage we were consistently well positioned, and the guys can’t be faulted for that. Unfortunately, in the final kilometres we lost sight of each other. That’s a shame, but sometimes that’s just how it goes. Fortunately, there’s still one final sprint opportunity left tomorrow in this Tour Down Under.”

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