2026 Santos Tour Down Under
(World Tour), Australia

25th edition: January 17 - January 25, 2026

Tour Down Under Podium History | 2025 edition

Men's Tour Down Under: Overall course map | Start list | Prologue | Stage 1 | Stage 2 | Stage 3 | Stage 4 | Stage 5

Women's Tour Down Under: Women's race | Overall course map | Start list |
Stage 1 | Stage 2 | Stage 3

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2026 Men's Tour Down Under
Jan. 20 - 25

Start list | Prologue | Stage 1 | Stage 2 | Stage 3 | Stage 4 | Stage 5

Men's Tour Down Under stages:

The Men's Tour Down Under stages

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Sunday, January 25: 5th & Final Stage, Stirling - Stirling, 169.8 km

Stage 5 map & profile | Stage 5 photos

Matthew Brennan wins stage five. Sirotti photo

Les Woodland's book Cycling's 50 Triumphs and Tragedies: The rise and fall of bicycle racing's champions is available in print, Kindle eBook & audiobook versions. To get your copy, just click on the Amazon link on the right.

Weather at the start/finish city of Stirling at 11:15 AM, local time: 24C (75F), sunny, with the wind from the southeast at 16 km/hr (10 mph). No rain is forecast.

The stage: The toughest Santos Tour Down Under yet will finish on an unrelenting stage that has the Adelaide Hills community of Stirling at its heart.

It’s up, it’s down and it’s on as the men chase victory on this final day of racing. Stirling is set to host the stage start and finish, with scenic loops through towns including Mylor and Aldgate inviting fans to embrace the action.

At nearly 170 kilometres this is among the longest closing stages in Santos Tour Down Under history, chosen by race director Stuart O’Grady OAM to keep the world’s best working strategically until the very last moment.

We’ll see a two-kilometre climb on approach to Stirling, sprints in Heathfield and a weary winner emerge after a huge day in the saddle.  

The race: Michael Gogl (Alpecin-Premier Tech) did not start.

Here's the race organizer's stage five report:

An eventful final stage including a kangaroo nearly derailed Jay Vine’s chances of winning a second Santos Tour Down Under on Sunday. Vine spent anxious seconds with his heart in his mouth, perhaps wondering how he had hit the deck during efex Stage 5 in Stirling.

“I can’t fathom how much bad luck we have had in the last couple of days,” Vine said after claiming his second overall Tour Down Under victory since 2023. “We’ve got guys that are in the hospital. I have come out unscathed, but you never want that to happen.

“All the Europeans (riders) always ask me what’s the most dangerous animal in Australia, and I tell them kangaroos. They (kangaroos) wait in the bushes until you cannot stop and then they jump out in front of you.”

Great Britain’s Matthew Brennan (Team Visma Lease a Bike) won the stage at Stirling before Vine’s GC 1min 03 sec time gap over second-placed Mauro Schmid (Jayco AlUla) and Australia’s Harry Sweeney (EF Education Oatly) third overall. “It was quite chaotic (at the finish), we knew we couldn’t do a proper lead out,” Brennan said. “Everyone (on my team) was happy with the win.”

Vine’s GC was the second biggest time gap in Tour Down Under history, behind South Australia’s Patrick Jonker, who won by 1min 13 sec in 2004. But it wasn’t the perfect efex Stage 5 race for Vine.

Vine lost another two UAE Team Emirates XRG teammates during the stage Mikkel Berg and Juan Sebastian Molano after the kangaroo incident. Jhonatan Narvaez – the 2025 Tour Down Under champion – and Vegard Stake Laengden were forced out of the race during the Think! Road Safety Stage 4 on Saturday.

However, Vine, despite the fall on Sunday, recovered and got back on a teammate's bike after his team’s staff assessed the situation, claiming the 2023 win was one he will never forget.

“I don’t know what’s better,” Vine said. “But I got a stage win this year, the surprise of 2023 was nicer.”

The final GC podium, from left: Harry Sweeny (3rd), Jay Vine (1st), & Mauro Schmid (2nd). Sirotti photo

Vine had good company in Stirling as the stage race was drawing to a close. His two remaining team members Adam Yates and Ivo Oliveira were relentless and surrounded the 2026 Tour Down Under stage winner and the 2025 KOM at the Vuelta a Espana in a bid to keep him out of harm’s way.

However, Menno Huising (Team Visma Lease a Bike) wasn’t as lucky as he was forced to abandon race. Oliveria and Yates worked extremely hard to pull the peloton about 10km before the Mount Barker Road finish line after the 169.8km final stage started frenetically.

There was attack after attack as soon as race director Stuart O’Grady waved the green flag after a neutral start from Mount Barker Road, Stirling.

Stirling at the start line was a comfortable 31C in the tree-lined street.

Jayco AlUla’s Luke Plapp, who was celebrating his 50th race day in Australia, was at the front of the race – just as he was during the scorching Think! Road Safety stage 4 Brighton to Willunga on Saturday. Plapp, 25, was joined by fellow Australian Robert Stannard (Bahrain Victorious) and Dutchman Pascal Eenkhoorn (Soudal Quick-Step). The trio led by 2min 46 sec before Plapp had to replace a punctured tyre.  

Eenkhoorn earned maximum bonus Ziptrak intermediate sprint seconds for the first time at Heathfield, followed by Stannard and Plapp.

Plapp was then rewarded when he picked up maximum points for the efex King of the Mountain for the first time at Stirling, but it didn’t dent Martin Urianstad Bugge’s (Uno-X Mobility) chances of keeping the 2026 KOM jersey for good.

Complete results:

Stage 5 photos

169.8 kilometers raced at an average speed of 42.783 km/hr

1	Matthew Brennan	Team Visma | Lease a Bike	3hr 58min 8sec
2	Finn Fisher-Black	Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe	s.t.
3	Tobias Lund Andresen	Decathlon CMA CGM Team	s.t.
4	Brady Gilmore	NSN Cycling Team	s.t.
5	Simone Velasco	XDS Astana Team	s.t.
6	Patrick Eddy	ARA Australian Cycling Team	s.t.
7	Sam Watson	INEOS Grenadiers	s.t.
8	Edoardo Zambanini	Bahrain Victorious	s.t.
9	Natnael Tesfazion	Movistar Team	s.t.
10	Andrea Bagioli	Lidl-Trek	s.t.
11	Anthon Charmig	Uno-X Mobility	s.t.
12	Matteo Sobrero	Lidl-Trek	s.t.
13	Andrea Raccagni Noviero	Soudal Quick-Step	s.t.
14	Tom Donnenwirth	Groupama-FDJ United	s.t.
15	Filippo Zana	Soudal Quick-Step	s.t.
16	Matthew Fox	Lotto-Intermarché	s.t.
17	Andreas Kron	Uno-X Mobility	s.t.
18	Mauro Schmid	Team Jayco-AlUla	s.t.
19	Marco Brenner	Tudor Pro Cycling Team	s.t.
20	Aaron Gate	XDS Astana Team	s.t.
21	Harry Sweeny	EF Education-EasyPost	s.t.
22	Chris Hamilton	Team Picnic PostNL	s.t.
23	Florian Kajamini	XDS Astana Team	s.t.
24	Georg Zimmermann	Lotto-Intermarché	s.t.
25	Ben O'Connor	Team Jayco-AlUla	s.t.
26	Jay Vine	UAE Team Emirates-XRG	s.t.
27	Embret Svestad-Bårdseng	INEOS Grenadiers	s.t.
28	Matthew Dinham	Team Picnic PostNL	s.t.
29	Rudy Porter	Team Jayco-AlUla	s.t.
30	Chris Harper	ARA Australian Cycling Team	@ 8sec
31	Sam Oomen	Lidl-Trek	s.t.
32	Enzo Paleni	Groupama-FDJ United	s.t.
33	Guillaume Martin-Guyonnet	Groupama-FDJ United	s.t.
34	Anton Schiffer	Team Visma | Lease a Bike	s.t.
35	Oliver Bleddyn	ARA Australian Cycling Team	0:11
36	Gonzalo Serrano	Movistar Team	s.t.
37	Jefferson Cepeda	Movistar Team	s.t.
38	Alessandro Romele	XDS Astana Team	s.t.
39	Marco Schrettl	XDS Astana Team	s.t.
40	Santiago Buitrago	Bahrain Victorious	0:14
41	Gal Glivar	Alpecin-Premier Tech	0:15
42	Michal Kwiatkowski	INEOS Grenadiers	0:30
43	Henri-Francois Haquin	Team Picnic PostNL	0:34
44	Davide Toneatti	XDS Astana Team	0:35
45	Tim Marsman	Alpecin-Premier Tech	s.t.
46	Jacopo Mosca	Lidl-Trek	0:37
47	Matthew Greenwood	ARA Australian Cycling Team	0:47
48	Adam Yates	UAE Team Emirates-XRG	s.t.
49	Sam Welsford	INEOS Grenadiers	s.t.
50	Laurence Pithie	Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe	s.t.
51	Luke Tuckwell	Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe	s.t.
52	Francesco Busatto	Alpecin-Premier Tech	s.t.
53	Erik Resell	Uno-X Mobility	s.t.
54	Per Strand Hagenes	Team Visma | Lease a Bike	s.t.
55	Pietro Mattio	Team Visma | Lease a Bike	s.t.
56	Haimar Etxeberria	Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe	s.t.
57	Alexander Cepeda	EF Education-EasyPost	0:50
58	Nicolas Prodhomme	Decathlon CMA CGM Team	1:08
59	Casper Pedersen	Soudal Quick-Step	1:11
60	Amanuel Ghebreigzabhier	Lidl-Trek	1:14
61	Reuben Thompson	Lotto-Intermarché	s.t.
62	Damien Howson	ARA Australian Cycling Team	1:18
63	Anders Skaarseth	Uno-X Mobility	s.t.
64	Luke Lamperti	EF Education-EasyPost	s.t.
65	James Knox	Team Picnic PostNL	s.t.
66	Patrick Konrad	Lidl-Trek	s.t.
67	Pierre Gautherat	Decathlon CMA CGM Team	s.t.
68	Fabio Van den Bossche	Soudal Quick-Step	1:25
69	Oscar Chamberlain	Decathlon CMA CGM Team	1:36
70	Callum Scotson	Decathlon CMA CGM Team	s.t.
71	Lionel Taminiaux	Lotto-Intermarché	s.t.
72	Florian Stork	Tudor Pro Cycling Team	1:45
73	Jack Haig	INEOS Grenadiers	1:56
74	Jensen Plowright	Alpecin-Premier Tech	2:00
75	Ivo Oliveira	UAE Team Emirates-XRG	2:08
76	Michael Leonard	EF Education-EasyPost	2:11
77	Pepijn Reinderink	Soudal Quick-Step	2:16
78	Oliver Peace	Team Picnic PostNL	2:31
79	Niklas Märkl	Team Picnic PostNL	s.t.
80	Baptiste Veistroffer	Lotto-Intermarché	3:26
81	Storm Ingebrigtsen	Uno-X Mobility	3:28
82	Tim Torn Teutenberg	Lidl-Trek	3:44
83	Fran Miholjevic	Bahrain Victorious	3:46
84	Filippo Fiorelli	Team Visma | Lease a Bike	4:32
85	Darren van Bekkum	XDS Astana Team	4:39
86	Javier Romo	Movistar Team	s.t.
87	Hamish McKenzie	Team Jayco-AlUla	4:40
88	Nick Schultz	NSN Cycling Team	4:44
89	George Bennett	NSN Cycling Team	s.t.
90	Kelland O'Brien	Team Jayco-AlUla	4:47
91	Petr Kelemen	Tudor Pro Cycling Team	4:55
92	Pascal Eenkhoorn	Soudal Quick-Step	s.t.
93	Sente Sentjens	Alpecin-Premier Tech	5:13
94	Lewis Bower	Groupama-FDJ United	6:36
95	Jarrad Drizners	Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe	6:38
96	Robert Stannard	Bahrain Victorious	s.t.
97	Alastair Mackellar	EF Education-EasyPost	s.t.
98	Lucas Hamilton	INEOS Grenadiers	6:40
99	Ben Swift	INEOS Grenadiers	s.t.
100	Tord Gudmestad	Decathlon CMA CGM Team	s.t.
101	Ethan Vernon	NSN Cycling Team	6:56
102	Simon Clarke	NSN Cycling Team	s.t.
103	Tim Rex	Team Visma | Lease a Bike	7:18
104	Callum Thornley	Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe	s.t.
105	Luc Wirtgen	Tudor Pro Cycling Team	s.t.
106	Joel Suter	Tudor Pro Cycling Team	s.t.
107	Pavel Novak	Movistar Team	s.t.
108	Luke Durbridge	Team Jayco-AlUla	7:29
109	Oliver Stockwell	Bahrain Victorious	s.t.
110	Martin Urianstad Bugge	Uno-X Mobility	10:39
111	Manlio Moro	Movistar Team	s.t.
112	Zak Erzen	Bahrain Victorious	s.t.
113	Maurice Ballerstedt	Alpecin-Premier Tech	s.t.
114	Luke Plapp	Team Jayco-AlUla	s.t.
DNF	Max Walker	EF Education-EasyPost
DNF	Titouan Fontaine	Groupama-FDJ United
DNF	Albert Torres	Movistar Team
DNF	Alberto Dainese	Soudal Quick-Step
DNF	Casper van Uden	Team Picnic PostNL
DNF	Menno Huising	Team Visma | Lease a Bike
DNF	Maikel Zijlaard	Tudor Pro Cycling Team
DNF	Mikkel Bjerg	UAE Team Emirates-XRG
DNF	Sebastian Molano	UAE Team Emirates-XRG
DNF	Stian Fredheim	Uno-X Mobility
DNF	Lucas Stevenson	ARA Australian Cycling Team
DNS	Michael Gogl	Alpecin-Premier Tech

 

Final GC:

• GC winner: Jay Vine (UAE Team Emirates-XRG)
• Mountains classification winner: Martin Urianstad Bugge (Uno-X Mobility)
• Points classification winner: Tobias Lund Andresen (Decathlon CMA CGM)
• Best Young Rider: Andrea Raccagni Noviero (Soudal Quick-Step)
• Teams classification winner: Team Jayco AlUla

713.7 kilometers (443.5 miles) raced at an average speed of 42.613 km/hr

1	Jay Vine	UAE Team Emirates-XRG	16hr 44min 54sec
2	Mauro Schmid	Team Jayco-AlUla	@ 1min 3sec
3	Harry Sweeny	EF Education-EasyPost	1:12
4	Marco Brenner	Tudor Pro Cycling Team	1:14
5	Andreas Kron	Uno-X Mobility	1:16
6	Andrea Raccagni Noviero	Soudal Quick-Step	1:19
7	Anthon Charmig	Uno-X Mobility	1:23
8	Filippo Zana	Soudal Quick-Step	s.t.
9	Matteo Sobrero	Lidl-Trek	1:27
10	Ben O'Connor	Team Jayco-AlUla	1:28
11	Natnael Tesfazion	Movistar Team	1:29
12	Embret Svestad-Bårdseng	INEOS Grenadiers	1:33
13	Chris Hamilton	Team Picnic PostNL	1:36
14	Anton Schiffer	Team Visma | Lease a Bike	1:39
15	Jefferson Cepeda	Movistar Team	1:41
16	Chris Harper	ARA Australian Cycling Team	1:44
17	Sam Oomen	Lidl-Trek	1:47
18	Edoardo Zambanini	Bahrain Victorious	2:01
19	Oliver Bleddyn	ARA Australian Cycling Team	2:05
20	Georg Zimmermann	Lotto-Intermarché	2:14
21	Gal Glivar	Alpecin-Premier Tech	2:19
22	Santiago Buitrago	Bahrain Victorious	2:20
23	Adam Yates	UAE Team Emirates-XRG	2:35
24	Nicolas Prodhomme	Decathlon CMA CGM Team	2:41
25	Finn Fisher-Black	Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe	2:42
26	Rudy Porter	Team Jayco-AlUla	2:45
27	Guillaume Martin-Guyonnet	Groupama-FDJ United	2:53
28	Alexander Cepeda	EF Education-EasyPost	3:04
29	Florian Kajamini	XDS Astana Team	3:06
30	Andrea Bagioli	Lidl-Trek	3:11
31	Simone Velasco	XDS Astana Team	s.t.
32	Marco Schrettl	XDS Astana Team	3:21
33	Enzo Paleni	Groupama-FDJ United	3:24
34	Matthew Dinham	Team Picnic PostNL	3:25
35	Michael Leonard	EF Education-EasyPost	3:33
36	Florian Stork	Tudor Pro Cycling Team	3:43
37	Brady Gilmore	NSN Cycling Team	4:14
38	Sam Watson	INEOS Grenadiers	s.t.
39	Matthew Greenwood	ARA Australian Cycling Team	4:17
40	Per Strand Hagenes	Team Visma | Lease a Bike	4:22
41	Aaron Gate	XDS Astana Team	4:24
42	Davide Toneatti	XDS Astana Team	4:32
43	James Knox	Team Picnic PostNL	4:45
44	Gonzalo Serrano	Movistar Team	4:53
45	Tom Donnenwirth	Groupama-FDJ United	4:54
46	Erik Resell	Uno-X Mobility	5:33
47	Michal Kwiatkowski	INEOS Grenadiers	5:58
48	Oliver Peace	Team Picnic PostNL	5:58
49	Javier Romo	Movistar Team	6:07
50	Damien Howson	ARA Australian Cycling Team	6:36
51	Anders Skaarseth	Uno-X Mobility	6:42
52	Jacopo Mosca	Lidl-Trek	6:46
53	Patrick Eddy	ARA Australian Cycling Team	6:53
54	Nick Schultz	NSN Cycling Team	7:02
55	Pascal Eenkhoorn	Soudal Quick-Step	7:04
56	Haimar Etxeberria	Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe	7:05
57	Callum Scotson	Decathlon CMA CGM Team	7:07
58	Amanuel Ghebreigzabhier	Lidl-Trek	7:20
59	Jack Haig	INEOS Grenadiers	7:57
60	Casper Pedersen	Soudal Quick-Step	8:10
61	Darren van Bekkum	XDS Astana Team	8:23
62	Baptiste Veistroffer	Lotto-Intermarché	9:04
63	Luke Tuckwell	Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe	s.t.
64	Pavel Novak	Movistar Team	10:24
65	Luke Lamperti	EF Education-EasyPost	10:42
66	George Bennett	NSN Cycling Team	10:54
67	Tobias Lund Andresen	Decathlon CMA CGM Team	11:15
68	Matthew Brennan	Team Visma | Lease a Bike	11:26
69	Jensen Plowright	Alpecin-Premier Tech	11:27
70	Alastair Mackellar	EF Education-EasyPost	11:50
71	Laurence Pithie	Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe	12:18
72	Oscar Chamberlain	Decathlon CMA CGM Team	12:28
73	Pierre Gautherat	Decathlon CMA CGM Team	12:55
74	Luke Plapp	Team Jayco-AlUla	13:33
75	Alessandro Romele	XDS Astana Team	13:48
76	Sam Welsford	INEOS Grenadiers	14:07
77	Ivo Oliveira	UAE Team Emirates-XRG	14:14
78	Francesco Busatto	Alpecin-Premier Tech	14:51
79	Fabio Van den Bossche	Soudal Quick-Step	15:05
80	Patrick Konrad	Lidl-Trek	15:46
81	Tim Marsman	Alpecin-Premier Tech	15:53
82	Matthew Fox	Lotto-Intermarché	16:17
83	Reuben Thompson	Lotto-Intermarché	16:21
84	Tim Torn Teutenberg	Lidl-Trek	16:32
85	Pepijn Reinderink	Soudal Quick-Step	16:46
86	Pietro Mattio	Team Visma | Lease a Bike	17:09
87	Henri-Francois Haquin	Team Picnic PostNL	17:22
88	Fran Miholjevic	Bahrain Victorious	17:55
89	Filippo Fiorelli	Team Visma | Lease a Bike	17:58
90	Ethan Vernon	NSN Cycling Team	18:19
91	Petr Kelemen	Tudor Pro Cycling Team	18:21
92	Tord Gudmestad	Decathlon CMA CGM Team	18:29
93	Hamish McKenzie	Team Jayco-AlUla	18:46
94	Robert Stannard	Bahrain Victorious	19:19
95	Ben Swift	INEOS Grenadiers	19:29
96	Manlio Moro	Movistar Team	20:13
97	Storm Ingebrigtsen	Uno-X Mobility	20:29
98	Callum Thornley	Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe	21:10
99	Lewis Bower	Groupama-FDJ United	21:18
100	Niklas Märkl	Team Picnic PostNL	21:43
101	Simon Clarke	NSN Cycling Team	21:51
102	Lionel Taminiaux	Lotto-Intermarché	22:17
103	Luke Durbridge	Team Jayco-AlUla	22:41
104	Kelland O'Brien	Team Jayco-AlUla	23:10
105	Jarrad Drizners	Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe	23:50
106	Zak Erzen	Bahrain Victorious	24:36
107	Sente Sentjens	Alpecin-Premier Tech	25:29
108	Joel Suter	Tudor Pro Cycling Team	25:34
109	Tim Rex	Team Visma | Lease a Bike	25:35
110	Luc Wirtgen	Tudor Pro Cycling Team	25:44
111	Martin Urianstad Bugge	Uno-X Mobility	26:06
112	Oliver Stockwell	Bahrain Victorious	27:24
113	Lucas Hamilton	INEOS Grenadiers	29:40
114	Maurice Ballerstedt	Alpecin-Premier Tech	34:54

 

Stage 5 map & profile:

Stage 5 map

 

Stage 5 profile

Stage five photos by Fotoreporter Sirotti:

Opening ceremonies, Team Jayco AlUla is presented.

A compact peloton

We don't have warning signs like this in Oregon

Clearly summertime in Australia, shorts and short sleeves.

Swiss champion and GC second-place Mauro Schmid

Descending some curves

Matthew Brennan wins the final stage.

Stage winner Matthew Brennan

Best young rider Andrea Raccagni

Jay Vine has won the Tour Down Under for a second time. He also won the race in 2023.

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Saturday, January 24: Stage 4, Brighton - Willunga, 130.8 km

Stage 4 map & profile | Stage 4 photos

Ethan Vernon (NSN Cycling Team) wins stage four. Sirotti photo

Roman philosopher Seneca’s Letter to his Friend Lucilius and an Essay Addressed to Emperor Nero is available in both audiobook and Kindle eBook versions. To get your copy, just click on the Amazon link on the right.

Weather at the finish city of Willunga at 10:20 AM, local time: 36C (97F), fair, with the wind from the north-northwest at 24 km/hr (14 mph). There is just a 1% chance of rain. Upon checking as the stage was half finished the temperature had risen to 38C (101F).

The stage: Who can deliver when it counts? We'll find out on this 131-kilometre stage. Action begins in beachside Brighton before travelling through coastal sprints at Aldinga's Snapper Point and Port Willunga, with peloton set to pass many of McLaren Vale’s best wineries along the way.

Racing will finish on Willunga’s main street after a double lap, another ideal vantage point for fans touring the action.

Due to the ‘Extreme’ Fire Danger Rating for the Mount Lofty Ranges and predicted maximum temperatures of 43 degrees, THINK! Road Safety Men’s Stage 4 has been modified for the safety of riders, staff and fans.

The Santos Tour Down Under confirms that Saturday’s THINK! Road Safety Men's Stage 4 will be modified due to the ‘Extreme’ Fire Danger Rating for the Mount Lofty Ranges and predicted maximum temperatures of 43 degrees.

Following consultation with emergency services including the Country Fire Service and South Australia Police, riders and the UCI, the following changes to the Stage will be made:

The stage will still start from Brighton but one hour earlier, at 10:10am, instead of 11:10am as previously planned, following the same route to Willunga.

The Willunga Hill component of the stage will be removed from the route entirely.

The stage will now finish on High Street in the Willunga township using the same location as Ziptrak Stage 1 of the Women’s Race.

The revised distance of the stage will be 131km.

Three efex King of the Mountain points will be moved to Chandler’s Hill and two in Willunga. The two Ziptrak sprint points will remain at Snapper Point.

The Efex Men’s Stage 5 is expected to proceed as planned, with the overall winner of the Santos Tour Down Under to be determined that day.

Santos Tour Down Under Race Director Stuart O’Grady said: “While the removal of the famous Willunga Hill climb is disappointing news for cycling fans – ultimately rider and spectator safety is always the number one priority for our event.

“Following consultation with emergency services authorities, riders and the UCI, we have agreed to proceed with a modified program for Saturday’s racing."

The race: Adam Yates (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) did not start after crashing in stage 4.

Jhonatan Narvaez (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) crashed just ten kilometers into the this stage and had to abandon the race. Midway into the stage there were three more abandons: Danny Van Poppel (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe), Jake Stewart (NSN Cycling), & Vegard Stake Laengen (UAE Team Emirates-XRG). Vegard Stake Laengen and Jake Stewart had to abandon after crashing.

Here's the race organizer's stage four report:

Great Britain’s Ethan Vernon overcame the odds and the searing heat to claim a maiden Santos Tour Down Under Think! Road Safety Stage 4 in Willunga on Saturday.

Vernon 25, was superfast in a bunch sprint, slight uphill finish at the shortened stage, and the NSN sprinter was ecstatic with the biggest win of his career.

“I really wanted to win out there and start the season strong, and to be the first rider (from the team) to be in this jersey is really special,” Vernon said. “When I left my home country (Andorra) it was minus 15C so it was a big shock to the weather difference. In the end, the boys looked after me and kept me cool and showed that in the end they supported me the best.

“We had to readopt our plan, and we lost Corbin (Strong) and Jake (Stewart) at the start of the stage. In the end, it showed we can communicate and adapt to situations that are chucked at us.” 

Tobias Lund Andresen (Decathlon CMA CGM Team), who has been consistently brilliant throughout the stage race, finished second ahead of Laurence Pithie (Red Bull BORA Hansgrohe).

Australia’s Jay Vine ended the stage in the Santos Ochre Leader’s jersey, but he lost two teammates during the race.

The reigning Santos Tour Down Under champion, Ecuadorian Jhonatan Narvaez (UAE Emirates XRG) abandoned the race and was taken to the hospital for observation. Narvaez was just 13 minutes into the stage race, before the incident. He was only six seconds behind Vine on the GC before the shortened stage on Saturday before crashing inside the first 20kms.

GC second-place Jhonatan Narvaez (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) is checked out after crashing early in the stage. He had to abandon the race.

The team suffered another blow when Norway’s Vegard Stake Laengen abandoned the race so too did fan favourite Danny Van Poppel (Red Bull BORA Hansgrohe).

The depleted UAE Emirates XRG needed to regroup to sort out new tactics with just five of its seven starting riders in the race. Especially with third-laced GC hopeful Jayco AlUla’s Swiss Mauro Schmid shaving two seconds off Vine’s 1min 05 sec lead when he earned a time bonus in the second Ziptrak intermediate sprint at Aldinga Beach.

Italy’s Andrea Raccagni Noviero (Soudal Quick-Step) earned the maximum time bonus at Snapper Point, Aldinga.

The revised start time was 10.10 am, and the stage distance was 131 kilometres.

Without the two Willunga Hill climbs to worry about, the peloton eased into the day’s work, starting at Brighton in 32C. The efex King of the Mountain jersey holder Martin Urianstad Bugge (UnoX Mobility) was the first man to work hard.

The Norwegian attacked the peloton as soon as race director Stuart O’Grady signalled the start of racing. Urianstad Bugge aimed to secure the KOM jersey with Australia’s Matthew Greenwood leading the charge towards the first points of the day at Chandler's Hill.

However, Luke Plapp (Jayco AlUla), Remi Cavagna (Groupama FDJ United), and Greenwood upset the Norwegian's plans when they led another breakaway. Cavagni earned maximum KOM points ahead of Plapp and Green with the trio at that early stage of the race 55-seconds in front. Urianstad Bugge, however, came in fourth and earned two points to take his KOM jersey tally to 43.

Greenwood was first up Chandler's Hill the second time, followed by Cavagni and Plapp. Plapp earned the maximum time bonus for the first Ziptrak sprint of the day at Aldinga Beach, followed Cavagni and Greenwood.

Saturday’s THINK! Road Safety Men’s Stage 4 was modified in response to an ‘Extreme’ Fire Danger Rating across the Mount Lofty Ranges and forecast temperatures of up to 43 degrees. The stage still started in Brighton, but an hour earlier than scheduled, before heading towards Willunga.

The Willunga Hill climb was removed from the route, with the stage finishing on High Street in Willunga town. Three efex King of the Mountain points were reassigned to Chandlers Hill, with two additional KOM points in Willunga, while the two Ziptrak sprint points remained at Snapper Point.

Complete results:

Stage 4 photos

130.8 kilometers raced at an average speed of 44.465 km/hr

1	Ethan Vernon	NSN Cycling Team	2hr 56min 30sec
2	Tobias Lund Andresen	Decathlon CMA CGM Team	s.t.
3	Laurence Pithie	Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe	s.t.
4	Brady Gilmore	NSN Cycling Team	s.t.
5	Aaron Gate	XDS Astana Team	s.t.
6	Edoardo Zambanini	Bahrain Victorious	s.t.
7	Sam Watson	INEOS Grenadiers	s.t.
8	Anthon Charmig	Uno-X Mobility	s.t.
9	Andrea Raccagni Noviero	Soudal Quick-Step	s.t.
10	Pierre Gautherat	Decathlon CMA CGM Team	s.t.
11	Maikel Zijlaard	Tudor Pro Cycling Team	s.t.
12	Patrick Eddy	ARA Australian Cycling Team	s.t.
13	Tom Donnenwirth	Groupama-FDJ United	s.t.
14	Tim Torn Teutenberg	Lidl-Trek	s.t.
15	Andreas Kron	Uno-X Mobility	s.t.
16	Matthew Brennan	Team Visma | Lease a Bike	s.t.
17	Javier Romo	Movistar Team	s.t.
18	Mauro Schmid	Team Jayco-AlUla	s.t.
19	Natnael Tesfazion	Movistar Team	s.t.
20	Marco Brenner	Tudor Pro Cycling Team	s.t.
21	Jensen Plowright	Alpecin-Premier Tech	s.t.
22	Lionel Taminiaux	Lotto-Intermarché	s.t.
23	Ben O'Connor	Team Jayco-AlUla	s.t.
24	Matteo Sobrero	Lidl-Trek	s.t.
25	Gonzalo Serrano	Movistar Team	s.t.
26	Filippo Zana	Soudal Quick-Step	s.t.
27	Harry Sweeny	EF Education-EasyPost	s.t.
28	Georg Zimmermann	Lotto-Intermarché	s.t.
29	Jay Vine	UAE Team Emirates-XRG	s.t.
30	Alberto Dainese	Soudal Quick-Step	s.t.
31	Embret Svestad-Bårdseng	INEOS Grenadiers	s.t.
32	Sam Oomen	Lidl-Trek	s.t.
33	Michael Leonard	EF Education-EasyPost	s.t.
34	Florian Kajamini	XDS Astana Team	s.t.
35	Nicolas Prodhomme	Decathlon CMA CGM Team	s.t.
36	Chris Harper	ARA Australian Cycling Team	s.t.
37	Tord Gudmestad	Decathlon CMA CGM Team	s.t.
38	Anton Schiffer	Team Visma | Lease a Bike	s.t.
39	Jefferson Cepeda	Movistar Team	s.t.
40	Chris Hamilton	Team Picnic PostNL	s.t.
41	Florian Stork	Tudor Pro Cycling Team	s.t.
42	Rudy Porter	Team Jayco-AlUla	s.t.
43	Oliver Bleddyn	ARA Australian Cycling Team	s.t.
44	Santiago Buitrago	Bahrain Victorious	s.t.
45	Alexander Cepeda	EF Education-EasyPost	s.t.
46	Guillaume Martin-Guyonnet	Groupama-FDJ United	s.t.
47	Pascal Eenkhoorn	Soudal Quick-Step	@ 13sec
48	Luke Lamperti	EF Education-EasyPost	0:18
49	Finn Fisher-Black	Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe	s.t.
50	Ivo Oliveira	UAE Team Emirates-XRG	0:25
51	Simone Velasco	XDS Astana Team	s.t.
52	Gal Glivar	Alpecin-Premier Tech	s.t.
53	Marco Schrettl	XDS Astana Team	s.t.
54	Pavel Novak	Movistar Team	s.t.
55	Erik Resell	Uno-X Mobility	s.t.
56	Adam Yates	UAE Team Emirates-XRG	s.t.
57	Oscar Chamberlain	Decathlon CMA CGM Team	s.t.
58	Damien Howson	ARA Australian Cycling Team	0:36
59	Jack Haig	INEOS Grenadiers	s.t.
60	Enzo Paleni	Groupama-FDJ United	s.t.
61	James Knox	Team Picnic PostNL	s.t.
62	Nick Schultz	NSN Cycling Team	s.t.
63	Oliver Peace	Team Picnic PostNL	s.t.
64	Matthew Dinham	Team Picnic PostNL	0:41
65	Lucas Stevenson	ARA Austrailian Cycling Team	s.t.
66	Sam Welsford	INEOS Grenadiers	s.t.
67	Alastair Mackellar	EF Education-EasyPost	0:44
68	Anders Skaarseth	Uno-X Mobility	s.t.
69	Manlio Moro	Movistar Team	s.t.
70	Luc Wirtgen	Tudor Pro Cycling Team	0:57
71	Fabio Van den Bossche	Soudal Quick-Step	0:58
72	Haimar Etxeberria	Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe	1:01
73	Robert Stannard	Bahrain Victorious	s.t.
74	Hamish McKenzie	Team Jayco-AlUla	s.t.
75	Luke Plapp	Team Jayco-AlUla	s.t.
76	Zak Erzen	Bahrain Victorious	s.t.
77	Andrea Bagioli	Lidl-Trek	s.t.
78	Francesco Busatto	Alpecin-Premier Tech	s.t.
79	Callum Scotson	Decathlon CMA CGM Team	1:03
80	Darren van Bekkum	XDS Astana Team	s.t.
81	Davide Toneatti	XDS Astana Team	s.t.
82	Ben Swift	INEOS Grenadiers	s.t.
83	Michal Kwiatkowski	INEOS Grenadiers	s.t.
84	Martin Urianstad Bugge	Uno-X Mobility	s.t.
85	Michael Gogl	Alpecin-Premier Tech	1:13
86	Matthew Greenwood	ARA Australian Cycling Team	1:16
87	Amanuel Ghebreigzabhier	Lidl-Trek	s.t.
88	Tim Marsman	Alpecin-Premier Tech	1:19
89	Baptiste Veistroffer	Lotto-Intermarché	1:19
90	Simon Clarke	NSN Cycling Team	1:22
91	Callum Thornley	Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe	1:25
92	Albert Torres	Movistar Team	1:28
93	Patrick Konrad	Lidl-Trek	s.t.
94	Jacopo Mosca	Lidl-Trek	s.t.
95	Luke Tuckwell	Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe	1:31
96	George Bennett	NSN Cycling Team	s.t.
97	Menno Huising	Team Visma | Lease a Bike	1:33
98	Pietro Mattio	Team Visma | Lease a Bike	s.t.
99	Per Strand Hagenes	Team Visma | Lease a Bike	s.t.
100	Jarrad Drizners	Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe	s.t.
101	Petr Kelemen	Tudor Pro Cycling Team	1:37
102	Filippo Fiorelli	Team Visma | Lease a Bike	1:38
103	Lewis Bower	Groupama-FDJ United	1:42
104	Alessandro Romele	XDS Astana Team	1:52
105	Reuben Thompson	Lotto-Intermarché	1:53
106	Titouan Fontaine	Groupama-FDJ United	1:59
107	Pepijn Reinderink	Soudal Quick-Step	2:12
108	Tim Rex	Team Visma | Lease a Bike	2:14
109	Luke Durbridge	Team Jayco-AlUla	2:16
110	Storm Ingebrigtsen	Uno-X Mobility	s.t.
111	Casper Pedersen	Soudal Quick-Step	2:19
112	Casper van Uden	Team Picnic PostNL	s.t.
113	Fran Miholjevic	Bahrain Victorious	s.t.
114	Oliver Stockwell	Bahrain Victorious	2:22
115	Joel Suter	Tudor Pro Cycling Team	2:37
116	Matthew Fox	Lotto-Intermarché	3:19
117	Max Walker	EF Education-EasyPost	s.t.
118	Niklas Märkl	Team Picnic PostNL	3:24
119	Henri-Francois Haquin	Team Picnic PostNL	3:45
120	Kelland O'Brien	Team Jayco-AlUla	4:21
121	Lucas Hamilton	INEOS Grenadiers	s.t.
122	Mikkel Bjerg	UAE Team Emirates-XRG	4:43
123	Sebastian Molano	UAE Team Emirates-XRG	4:51
124	Maurice Ballerstedt	Alpecin-Premier Tech	8:32
125	Sente Sentjens	Alpecin-Premier Tech	s.t.
126	Stian Fredheim	Uno-X Mobility	s.t.

DNF	Danny van Poppel	Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe
DNF	Vegard Stake Laengen	UAE Team Emirates-XRG
DNF	Jhonatan Narvaez	UAE Team Emirates-XRG
DNF	Liam Walsh	ARA Australian Cycling Team
DNF	Antoine L'Hote	Decathlon CMA CGM Team
DNF	Jardi Van Der Lee	EF Education-EasyPost
DNF	Remi Cavagna	Groupama-FDJ United
DNF	Kevin Geniets	Groupama-FDJ United
DNF	Jake Stewart	NSN Cycling Team
DNF	Corbin Strong	NSN Cycling Team

 

GC after stage 4

• GC leader: Jay Vine (UAE Team Emirates-XRG)
• Mountains classification leader: Martin Urianstad Bugge (Uno-X Mobility)
• Points classifiction leader: Tobias Lund Andresen (Decathlon CMA CGM)
• Best young rider: Andrea Raccagni Noviero (Soudal Quick-Step)
• Teams classification leader: UAE Team Emirates-XRG

543.9 kilometers raced so far at an average speed of 42.561 km/hr

1	Jay Vine	UAE Team Emirates-XRG	12hr 46min 46sec
2	Mauro Schmid	Team Jayco-AlUla	@ 1min 3sec
3	Harry Sweeny	EF Education-EasyPost	1:12
4	Marco Brenner	Tudor Pro Cycling Team	1:14
5	Andreas Kron	Uno-X Mobility	1:16
6	Andrea Raccagni Noviero	Soudal Quick-Step	1:19
7	Michael Leonard	EF Education-EasyPost	1:22
8	Anthon Charmig	Uno-X Mobility	1:23
9	Filippo Zana	Soudal Quick-Step	s.t.
10	Matteo Sobrero	Lidl-Trek	1:27
11	Ben O'Connor	Team Jayco-AlUla	1:28
12	Javier Romo	Movistar Team	s.t.
13	Natnael Tesfazion	Movistar Team	1:29
14	Jefferson Cepeda	Movistar Team	1:30
15	Anton Schiffer	Team Visma | Lease a Bike	1:31
16	Embret Svestad-Bårdseng	INEOS Grenadiers	1:33
17	Nicolas Prodhomme	Decathlon CMA CGM Team	s.t.
18	Chris Harper	ARA Australian Cycling Team	1:36
19	Chris Hamilton	Team Picnic PostNL	s.t.
20	Sam Oomen	Lidl-Trek	1:39
21	Adam Yates	UAE Team Emirates-XRG	1:48
22	Oliver Bleddyn	ARA Australian Cycling Team	1:54
23	Florian Stork	Tudor Pro Cycling Team	1:58
24	Edoardo Zambanini	Bahrain Victorious	2:01
25	Gal Glivar	Alpecin-Premier Tech	2:04
26	Santiago Buitrago	Bahrain Victorious	2:06
27	Georg Zimmermann	Lotto-Intermarché	2:14
28	Alexander Cepeda	EF Education-EasyPost	s.t.
29	Pascal Eenkhoorn	Soudal Quick-Step	2:15
30	Nick Schultz	NSN Cycling Team	2:18
31	Guillaume Martin-Guyonnet	Groupama-FDJ United	2:45
32	Rudy Porter	Team Jayco-AlUla	s.t.
33	Finn Fisher-Black	Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe	2:48
34	Luke Plapp	Team Jayco-AlUla	2:55
35	Florian Kajamini	XDS Astana Team	3:06
36	Pavel Novak	Movistar Team	3:08
37	Marco Schrettl	XDS Astana Team	3:10
38	Andrea Bagioli	Lidl-Trek	3:11
39	Simone Velasco	XDS Astana Team	s.t.
40	Enzo Paleni	Groupama-FDJ United	3:16
41	Matthew Dinham	Team Picnic PostNL	3:25
42	James Knox	Team Picnic PostNL	3:27
43	Oliver Peace	Team Picnic PostNL	s.t.
44	Matthew Greenwood	ARA Australian Cycling Team	3:30
45	Per Strand Hagenes	Team Visma | Lease a Bike	3:35
46	Darren van Bekkum	XDS Astana Team	3:44
47	Davide Toneatti	XDS Astana Team	3:57
48	Brady Gilmore	NSN Cycling Team	4:14
49	Sam Watson	INEOS Grenadiers	s.t.
50	Aaron Gate	XDS Astana Team	4:24
51	Gonzalo Serrano	Movistar Team	4:42
52	Erik Resell	Uno-X Mobility	4:46
53	Tom Donnenwirth	Groupama-FDJ United	4:54
54	Alastair Mackellar	EF Education-EasyPost	5:12
55	Damien Howson	ARA Australian Cycling Team	5:18
56	Anders Skaarseth	Uno-X Mobility	5:24
57	Michal Kwiatkowski	INEOS Grenadiers	5:28
58	Callum Scotson	Decathlon CMA CGM Team	5:31
59	Baptiste Veistroffer	Lotto-Intermarché	5:38
60	Jack Haig	INEOS Grenadiers	6:01
61	Amanuel Ghebreigzabhier	Lidl-Trek	6:06
62	Jacopo Mosca	Lidl-Trek	6:09
63	George Bennett	NSN Cycling Team	6:10
64	Haimar Etxeberria	Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe	6:18
65	Patrick Eddy	ARA Australian Cycling Team	6:53
66	Casper Pedersen	Soudal Quick-Step	6:59
67	Menno Huising	Team Visma | Lease a Bike	7:10
68	Luke Tuckwell	Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe	8:17
69	Luke Lamperti	EF Education-EasyPost	9:24
70	Jensen Plowright	Alpecin-Premier Tech	9:27
71	Manlio Moro	Movistar Team	9:34
72	Max Walker	EF Education-EasyPost	9:39
73	Oscar Chamberlain	Decathlon CMA CGM Team	10:52
74	Tobias Lund Andresen	Decathlon CMA CGM Team	11:19
75	Ethan Vernon	NSN Cycling Team	11:23
76	Laurence Pithie	Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe	11:31
77	Maikel Zijlaard	Tudor Pro Cycling Team	11:35
78	Matthew Brennan	Team Visma | Lease a Bike	11:36
79	Pierre Gautherat	Decathlon CMA CGM Team	11:37
80	Tord Gudmestad	Decathlon CMA CGM Team	11:49
81	Ivo Oliveira	UAE Team Emirates-XRG	12:06
82	Robert Stannard	Bahrain Victorious	12:44
83	Tim Torn Teutenberg	Lidl-Trek	12:48
84	Ben Swift	INEOS Grenadiers	12:49
85	Alberto Dainese	Soudal Quick-Step	13:12
86	Sam Welsford	INEOS Grenadiers	13:20
87	Filippo Fiorelli	Team Visma | Lease a Bike	13:26
88	Petr Kelemen	Tudor Pro Cycling Team	s.t.
89	Alessandro Romele	XDS Astana Team	13:37
90	Fabio Van den Bossche	Soudal Quick-Step	13:40
91	Callum Thornley	Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe	13:52
92	Zak Erzen	Bahrain Victorious	13:57
93	Francesco Busatto	Alpecin-Premier Tech	14:04
94	Hamish McKenzie	Team Jayco-AlUla	14:06
95	Fran Miholjevic	Bahrain Victorious	14:09
96	Patrick Konrad	Lidl-Trek	14:28
97	Pepijn Reinderink	Soudal Quick-Step	14:30
98	Lewis Bower	Groupama-FDJ United	14:42
99	Simon Clarke	NSN Cycling Team	14:55
100	Lucas Stevenson	ARA Australian Cycling Team	15:06
101	Reuben Thompson	Lotto-Intermarché	15:07
102	Luke Durbridge	Team Jayco-AlUla	15:12
103	Tim Marsman	Alpecin-Premier Tech	15:18
104	Casper van Uden	Team Picnic PostNL	15:19
105	Albert Torres	Movistar Team	15:22
106	Martin Urianstad Bugge	Uno-X Mobility	15:27
107	Matthew Fox	Lotto-Intermarché	16:17
108	Pietro Mattio	Team Visma | Lease a Bike	16:22
109	Henri-Francois Haquin	Team Picnic PostNL	16:48
110	Titouan Fontaine	Groupama-FDJ United	16:49
111	Storm Ingebrigtsen	Uno-X Mobility	17:01
112	Jarrad Drizners	Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe	17:12
113	Michael Gogl	Alpecin-Premier Tech	17:52
114	Joel Suter	Tudor Pro Cycling Team	18:16
115	Tim Rex	Team Visma | Lease a Bike	18:17
116	Kelland O'Brien	Team Jayco-AlUla	18:23
117	Luc Wirtgen	Tudor Pro Cycling Team	18:26
118	Sebastian Molano	UAE Team Emirates-XRG	18:45
119	Niklas Märkl	Team Picnic PostNL	19:12
120	Oliver Stockwell	Bahrain Victorious	19:55
121	Sente Sentjens	Alpecin-Premier Tech	20:16
122	Stian Fredheim	Uno-X Mobility	20:38
123	Lionel Taminiaux	Lotto-Intermarché	20:41
124	Lucas Hamilton	INEOS Grenadiers	23:00
125	Mikkel Bjerg	UAE Team Emirates-XRG	23:18
126	Maurice Ballerstedt	Alpecin-Premier Tech	24:15

 

Stage 4 map & profile:

Stage 4 map

Stage 4 profile

Stage 4 photos by Fotoreporter Sirotti:

Bahrain Victorious riders sign in wearing cooling packs on this terribly hot summer day.

It's time to race. That's Stuart O'Grady standing up in the lead car.

The race gets rolling

On the coast at Aldinga Beach.

Racing along Aldinga Beach.

Here they come...

Ethan Vernon wins stage four.

Visma | Lease a Bike riders after the stage finish.

Stage winner Ethan Vernon

Jay Vine remains the GC leader

---

Friday, January 23: Stage 3, Henley Beach - Nairne, 140.8 km

Stage 3 map & profile | Stage 3 photos

Sam Welsford wins stage three. Sirotti photo

Les Woodland's book Dirty Feet: How the Great Unwashed Created the Tour de France is available in print, Kindle eBook & audiobook versions. To get your copy, just click on the Amazon link on the right.

Weather at the finish city of Nairne at 11:15 AM, local time: 27C (80F), sunny, with the wind from the northeast at 23 km/hr (14 mph). No rain is forecast.

The stage: Our first ever start in Henley Beach will launch riders south of the city and then into the Adelaide Hills, testing speed and stamina ahead of a big finish in the new host township of Nairne.

We start the day in Henley: beloved by beachgoers and ready for its Santos Tour Down Under debut. This 140-kilometre third stage is set to head south to Flagstaff Hill and Coromandel Valley before visiting Adelaide Hills communities including Clarendon, Kangarilla, Meadows and Echunga.

Climbers will step it up on the steep slopes of Wickham Hill at McLaren Flat and Mount Barker’s Summit Road, with a sprint in Echunga before a 19-kilometre loop leading to a final showdown in Nairne.

It will be the first men’s stage finish in this picturesque town, and a chance for GC contenders to tighten the screws with more big climbs to come.

The race: Jonas Rutsch & Lennert Van Eetvelt (both Lotto-Intermarché) crashed in stage two and did not start.

Here's the race organizer's stage three summary:

It wasn’t a lucky seven Santos Tour Down Under stage wins for Australia’s sprint gun Sam Welsford but his 13th career win which was by far his most rewarding.

Welsford was visibly emotional when he was first to roll his wheels over the Nairne finish line in the Ziptrak Stage 3 which gave Henley Beach a debut for the stage race.

It was Welsford’s first win for his new team INEOS Grenadiers after two seasons at Red Bull BORA hangrohe where he won six stages of the Tour Down Under. “For me it's just one of my most special one (wins),” Welsford said. “I think coming off a really hard year last year with injuries and broken bones, I lost a lot of you know self-belief and also with the team last year, I think you know we didn't get a really nice bit of season with injuries and stuff as well.

“I lost a lot of opportunity as a sprinter and I'm a sprinter you need a you need that belief you need that momentum and kind of lost my way a little bit last year. For me to come here I'm win on a day that did probably didn't really suit me on paper spring by the heart of sprint day I'm really happy with that.”

The stage finish at Nairne, the former home of the original Chapman’s Smallgoods factory, was regarded as the last chance saloon for the big sprinters in the peloton before the race ends in Stirling on Sunday.

Australia’s Jay Vine still owns the Santos Ochre Leader’s Jersey after his UAE Team Emirates XRG surrounded their superstar, ensuring he would be well protected in a day marked for the fast guys in the peloton.

Vine is six seconds ahead of teammate Jhonatan Narvaez with Jayco AlUla’s Mauro Schmid still 1min 05 seconds behind Vine. “The last 50km was really stressful,” Vine said. “After we came through the sprint point everyone started attacking as we got into the circuit but yeah I have a good team around me they helped me and as we came with 4km to go it was yeah stay on with the group and avoid any crashes.”

Vine in fact did avoid a crash near the end of the race when Liam Walsh from the Australian national team hit the deck. Walsh’s crashed delayed naming Vine as the race leader for several minutes.

Before Welsford recorded his 13th UCI WorldTour win, there was an immediate attack from three European riders who weren’t regarded as being the most powerful sprinters at the Santos Tour Down Under. However they had high credentials for climbing and charging breakaways.

Frenchman Enzo Paleni (Groupama – FDJ United) and Baptiste Veistroffer (Lotto Intermarche) and efex King of the Mountain jersey holder, Denmark’s Martin Urianstad Bugge led the charge up the Southern Expressway.

The trio had a 1min 03 sec gap with 137km to go before the Nairne finish line. The field didn’t react to the breakaway with UAE Emirates XRG protecting race leader Vine and second placed Narvaez during the early stage of the race.

Urianstad Bugge earned maximum points at the KOM Wickham Hill climb 32.3km from the start, followed by Veistroffer and Paleni.

The trio had a 2min 06sec gap but the peloton after the KOM but the main peloton remained unfazed. Veistroffer earned the first maximum bonus Ziptrak sprint points followed by Paleni and Urianstad Bugge at Meadows before the Mount Barker KOM.

The sprints kings’ teams started to attack the breakaway just before the Ziptrak intermediate sprint at Echunga with 33km before Nairne.

The main peloton reduced the gap to 46 seconds before Veistroffer earned maximum bonus seconds, ahead of Paleni and Urianstad Brugge at Meadows. After Meadows was done, UAE Team Emirates XRG started to position their prized riders Vine and Narvaez before efex King of the Mountain points at the Mount Barker climb 116.5km from the start.

Urianstad Bugge added more points to his already secure jersey followed by Veistroffer and Paleni.

The peloton had to chase Veistroffer and Paleni hard to the Nairne finish after Urianstad Bugge ran out of gas after his Herculean effort in the saddle in the heat.

Complete results:

Stage 3 photos

140.8 kilometers raced at an average speed of 40.868 km/hr

1	Sam Welsford	INEOS Grenadiers	3hr 26min 43sec
2	Tobias Lund Andresen	Decathlon CMA CGM Team	s.t.
3	Lewis Bower	Groupama-FDJ United	s.t.
4	Jake Stewart	NSN Cycling Team	s.t.
5	Aaron Gate	XDS Astana Team	s.t.
6	Zak Erzen	Bahrain Victorious	s.t.
7	Finn Fisher-Black	Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe	s.t.
8	Matthew Fox	Lotto-Intermarché	s.t.
9	Anthon Charmig	Uno-X Mobility	s.t.
10	Jensen Plowright	Alpecin-Premier Tech	s.t.
11	Chris Hamilton	Team Picnic PostNL	s.t.
12	Matthew Brennan	Team Visma | Lease a Bike	s.t.
13	Luke Lamperti	EF Education-EasyPost	s.t.
14	Sente Sentjens	Alpecin-Premier Tech	s.t.
15	Patrick Eddy	ARA Australian Cycling Team	s.t.
16	Ben Swift	INEOS Grenadiers	s.t.
17	Gonzalo Serrano	Movistar Team	s.t.
18	Jacopo Mosca	Lidl-Trek	s.t.
19	Stian Fredheim	Uno-X Mobility	s.t.
20	Henri-Francois Haquin	Team Picnic PostNL	s.t.
21	Sam Watson	INEOS Grenadiers	s.t.
22	Jhonatan Narvaez	UAE Team Emirates-XRG	s.t.
23	Rudy Porter	Team Jayco-AlUla	s.t.
24	Ethan Vernon	NSN Cycling Team	s.t.
25	Tim Marsman	Alpecin-Premier Tech	s.t.
26	Embret Svestad-Bårdseng	INEOS Grenadiers	s.t.
27	Laurence Pithie	Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe	s.t.
28	Michal Kwiatkowski	INEOS Grenadiers	s.t.
29	Gal Glivar	Alpecin-Premier Tech	s.t.
30	Pierre Gautherat	Decathlon CMA CGM Team	s.t.
31	Harry Sweeny	EF Education-EasyPost	s.t.
32	Florian Kajamini	XDS Astana Team	s.t.
33	Manlio Moro	Movistar Team	s.t.
34	Mauro Schmid	Team Jayco-AlUla	s.t.
35	Natnael Tesfazion	Movistar Team	s.t.
36	Maikel Zijlaard	Tudor Pro Cycling Team	s.t.
37	Andrea Raccagni Noviero	Soudal Quick-Step	s.t.
38	Alberto Dainese	Soudal Quick-Step	s.t.
39	Guillaume Martin-Guyonnet	Groupama-FDJ United	s.t.
40	Matthew Dinham	Team Picnic PostNL	s.t.
41	Matteo Sobrero	Lidl-Trek	s.t.
42	Filippo Zana	Soudal Quick-Step	s.t.
43	Jay Vine	UAE Team Emirates-XRG	s.t.
44	Marco Brenner	Tudor Pro Cycling Team	s.t.
45	Georg Zimmermann	Lotto-Intermarché	s.t.
46	Darren van Bekkum	XDS Astana Team	s.t.
47	Simone Velasco	XDS Astana Team	s.t.
48	Florian Stork	Tudor Pro Cycling Team	s.t.
49	Remi Cavagna	Groupama-FDJ United	s.t.
50	Oliver Bleddyn	ARA Australian Cycling Team	s.t.
51	Francesco Busatto	Alpecin-Premier Tech	s.t.
52	Chris Harper	ARA Australian Cycling Team	s.t.
53	Nicolas Prodhomme	Decathlon CMA CGM Team	s.t.
54	Marco Schrettl	XDS Astana Team	s.t.
55	Nick Schultz	NSN Cycling Team	s.t.
56	Michael Leonard	EF Education-EasyPost	s.t.
57	Petr Kelemen	Tudor Pro Cycling Team	s.t.
58	Reuben Thompson	Lotto-Intermarché	s.t.
59	Andrea Bagioli	Lidl-Trek	s.t.
60	Pascal Eenkhoorn	Soudal Quick-Step	s.t.
61	Jefferson Cepeda	Movistar Team	s.t.
62	Tord Gudmestad	Decathlon CMA CGM Team	s.t.
63	Javier Romo	Movistar Team	s.t.
64	Anton Schiffer	Team Visma | Lease a Bike	s.t.
65	Santiago Buitrago	Bahrain Victorious	s.t.
66	Sam Oomen	Lidl-Trek	s.t.
67	Baptiste Veistroffer	Lotto-Intermarché	s.t.
68	Matthew Greenwood	ARA Australian Cycling Team	s.t.
69	Oliver Peace	Team Picnic PostNL	s.t.
70	Ben O'Connor	Team Jayco-AlUla	s.t.
71	Hamish McKenzie	Team Jayco-AlUla	s.t.
72	Damien Howson	ARA Australian Cycling Team	s.t.
73	Kevin Geniets	Groupama-FDJ United	s.t.
74	Robert Stannard	Bahrain Victorious	s.t.
75	Luke Plapp	Team Jayco-AlUla	s.t.
76	Callum Thornley	Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe	s.t.
77	Per Strand Hagenes	Team Visma | Lease a Bike	s.t.
78	Pavel Novak	Movistar Team	s.t.
79	Amanuel Ghebreigzabhier	Lidl-Trek	s.t.
80	Patrick Konrad	Lidl-Trek	s.t.
81	Davide Toneatti	XDS Astana Team	s.t.
82	Alessandro Romele	XDS Astana Team	s.t.
83	Filippo Fiorelli	Team Visma | Lease a Bike	s.t.
84	Edoardo Zambanini	Bahrain Victorious	s.t.
85	Alastair Mackellar	EF Education-EasyPost	s.t.
86	Tim Torn Teutenberg	Lidl-Trek	s.t.
87	Erik Resell	Uno-X Mobility	s.t.
88	Luke Durbridge	Team Jayco-AlUla	s.t.
89	Enzo Paleni	Groupama-FDJ United	s.t.
90	Fran Miholjevic	Bahrain Victorious	s.t.
91	Fabio Van den Bossche	Soudal Quick-Step	@ 1min 0sec
92	Andreas Kron	Uno-X Mobility	@ 0sec
93	Anders Skaarseth	Uno-X Mobility	@ 0sec
94	Kelland O'Brien	Team Jayco-AlUla	1:10
95	Adam Yates	UAE Team Emirates-XRG	@ 0sec
96	Ivo Oliveira	UAE Team Emirates-XRG	@ 0sec
97	Alexander Cepeda	EF Education-EasyPost	@ 0sec
98	Max Walker	EF Education-EasyPost	1:23
99	Lucas Stevenson	ARA Australian Cycling Team	s.t.
100	Casper van Uden	Team Picnic PostNL	@ 0sec
101	Brady Gilmore	NSN Cycling Team	1:34
102	James Knox	Team Picnic PostNL	@ 0sec
103	Pietro Mattio	Team Visma | Lease a Bike	1:45
104	Titouan Fontaine	Groupama-FDJ United	s.t.
105	Simon Clarke	NSN Cycling Team	s.t.
106	George Bennett	NSN Cycling Team	s.t.
107	Callum Scotson	Decathlon CMA CGM Team	s.t.
108	Antoine L'Hote	Decathlon CMA CGM Team	s.t.
109	Storm Ingebrigtsen	Uno-X Mobility	s.t.
110	Casper Pedersen	Soudal Quick-Step	2:01
111	Sebastian Molano	UAE Team Emirates-XRG	2:05
112	Albert Torres	Movistar Team	s.t.
113	Tom Donnenwirth	Groupama-FDJ United	2:09
114	Maurice Ballerstedt	Alpecin-Premier Tech	s.t.
115	Haimar Etxeberria	Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe	2:21
116	Luke Tuckwell	Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe	s.t.
117	Jarrad Drizners	Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe	2:43
118	Danny van Poppel	Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe	s.t.
119	Jack Haig	INEOS Grenadiers	s.t.
120	Niklas Märkl	Team Picnic PostNL	s.t.
121	Joel Suter	Tudor Pro Cycling Team	s.t.
122	Lionel Taminiaux	Lotto-Intermarché	s.t.
123	Menno Huising	Team Visma | Lease a Bike	s.t.
124	Pepijn Reinderink	Soudal Quick-Step	2:56
125	Tim Rex	Team Visma | Lease a Bike	2:56
126	Martin Urianstad Bugge	Uno-X Mobility	3:12
127	Liam Walsh	ARA Australian Cycling Team	@ 0sec
128	Oscar Chamberlain	Decathlon CMA CGM Team	3:36
129	Corbin Strong	NSN Cycling Team	s.t.
130	Michael Gogl	Alpecin-Premier Tech	s.t.
131	Lucas Hamilton	INEOS Grenadiers	5:35
132	Oliver Stockwell	Bahrain Victorious	s.t.
133	Mikkel Bjerg	UAE Team Emirates-XRG	s.t.
134	Luc Wirtgen	Tudor Pro Cycling Team	s.t.
135	Vegard Stake Laengen	UAE Team Emirates-XRG	s.t.
136	Jardi Van Der Lee	EF Education-EasyPost	s.t.

 

GC after stage 3:

• GC leader: Jay Vine (UAE Team Emirates-XRG)
• Mountains classificaftion leader: Martin Urianstad Bugge (Uno-X Mobility)
• Points classification leader: Tobias Lund Andresen (Decathlon CMA CGM)
• Best young rider: Michael Leonard (EF Education-EasyPost)
• Teams classification leader: UAE Team Emirates-XRG

413.1 kilometers raced so far at an average speed of 41.991 km/hr

1	Jay Vine	UAE Team Emirates-XRG	9hr 50min 16sec
2	Jhonatan Narvaez	UAE Team Emirates-XRG	@ 6sec
3	Mauro Schmid	Team Jayco-AlUla	1:05
4	Harry Sweeny	EF Education-EasyPost	1:12
5	Marco Brenner	Tudor Pro Cycling Team	1:14
6	Andreas Kron	Uno-X Mobility	1:16
7	Michael Leonard	EF Education-EasyPost	1:22
8	Andrea Raccagni Noviero	Soudal Quick-Step	s.t.
9	Adam Yates	UAE Team Emirates-XRG	1:23
10	Anthon Charmig	Uno-X Mobility	s.t.
11	Filippo Zana	Soudal Quick-Step	s.t.
12	Matteo Sobrero	Lidl-Trek	1:27
13	Ben O'Connor	Team Jayco-AlUla	1:28
14	Javier Romo	Movistar Team	s.t.
15	Natnael Tesfazion	Movistar Team	1:29
16	Jefferson Cepeda	Movistar Team	1:30
17	Anton Schiffer	Team Visma | Lease a Bike	1:31
18	Embret Svestad-Bårdseng	INEOS Grenadiers	1:33
19	Nicolas Prodhomme	Decathlon CMA CGM Team	s.t.
20	Chris Harper	ARA Australian Cycling Team	1:36
21	Chris Hamilton	Team Picnic PostNL	s.t.
22	Sam Oomen	Lidl-Trek	1:39
23	Gal Glivar	Alpecin-Premier Tech	s.t.
24	Nick Schultz	NSN Cycling Team	1:42
25	Oliver Bleddyn	ARA Australian Cycling Team	1:54
26	Luke Plapp	Team Jayco-AlUla	1:57
27	Florian Stork	Tudor Pro Cycling Team	1:58
28	Edoardo Zambanini	Bahrain Victorious	2:01
29	Per Strand Hagenes	Team Visma | Lease a Bike	2:02
30	Pascal Eenkhoorn	Soudal Quick-Step	s.t.
31	Santiago Buitrago	Bahrain Victorious	2:06
32	Andrea Bagioli	Lidl-Trek	2:10
33	Georg Zimmermann	Lotto-Intermarché	2:14
34	Alexander Cepeda	EF Education-EasyPost	s.t.
35	Matthew Greenwood	ARA Australian Cycling Team	2:15
36	Finn Fisher-Black	Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe	2:30
37	Enzo Paleni	Groupama-FDJ United	2:40
38	Darren van Bekkum	XDS Astana Team	2:41
39	Kevin Geniets	Groupama-FDJ United	2:42
40	Pavel Novak	Movistar Team	2:43
41	Matthew Dinham	Team Picnic PostNL	2:44
42	Guillaume Martin-Guyonnet	Groupama-FDJ United	2:45
43	Marco Schrettl	XDS Astana Team	s.t.
44	Rudy Porter	Team Jayco-AlUla	s.t.
45	Simone Velasco	XDS Astana Team	2:46
46	James Knox	Team Picnic PostNL	2:51
47	Oliver Peace	Team Picnic PostNL	s.t.
48	Davide Toneatti	XDS Astana Team	2:54
49	Florian Kajamini	XDS Astana Team	3:06
50	Brady Gilmore	NSN Cycling Team	4:14
51	Sam Watson	INEOS Grenadiers	s.t.
52	Antoine L'Hote	Decathlon CMA CGM Team	4:17
53	Baptiste Veistroffer	Lotto-Intermarché	4:19
54	Erik Resell	Uno-X Mobility	4:21
55	Aaron Gate	XDS Astana Team	4:24
56	Michal Kwiatkowski	INEOS Grenadiers	4:25
57	Callum Scotson	Decathlon CMA CGM Team	4:28
58	Alastair Mackellar	EF Education-EasyPost	4:29
59	George Bennett	NSN Cycling Team	4:39
60	Casper Pedersen	Soudal Quick-Step	4:40
61	Anders Skaarseth	Uno-X Mobility	s.t.
62	Jacopo Mosca	Lidl-Trek	4:41
63	Gonzalo Serrano	Movistar Team	4:42
64	Damien Howson	ARA Australian Cycling Team	s.t.
65	Amanuel Ghebreigzabhier	Lidl-Trek	4:50
66	Tom Donnenwirth	Groupama-FDJ United	4:54
67	Haimar Etxeberria	Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe	5:17
68	Jack Haig	INEOS Grenadiers	5:25
69	Menno Huising	Team Visma | Lease a Bike	5:37
70	Max Walker	EF Education-EasyPost	6:20
71	Luke Tuckwell	Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe	6:46
72	Patrick Eddy	ARA Australian Cycling Team	6:53
73	Remi Cavagna	Groupama-FDJ United	7:02
74	Manlio Moro	Movistar Team	8:50
75	Luke Lamperti	EF Education-EasyPost	9:06
76	Jensen Plowright	Alpecin-Premier Tech	9:27
77	Oscar Chamberlain	Decathlon CMA CGM Team	10:27
78	Tobias Lund Andresen	Decathlon CMA CGM Team	11:25
79	Ethan Vernon	NSN Cycling Team	11:33
80	Maikel Zijlaard	Tudor Pro Cycling Team	11:35
81	Laurence Pithie	Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe	s.t.
82	Matthew Brennan	Team Visma | Lease a Bike	11:36
83	Pierre Gautherat	Decathlon CMA CGM Team	11:37
84	Ivo Oliveira	UAE Team Emirates-XRG	11:41
85	Robert Stannard	Bahrain Victorious	11:43
86	Sente Sentjens	Alpecin-Premier Tech	11:44
87	Alessandro Romele	XDS Astana Team	11:45
88	Ben Swift	INEOS Grenadiers	11:46
89	Filippo Fiorelli	Team Visma | Lease a Bike	11:48
90	Tord Gudmestad	Decathlon CMA CGM Team	11:49
91	Petr Kelemen	Tudor Pro Cycling Team	s.t.
92	Fran Miholjevic	Bahrain Victorious	11:50
93	Jake Stewart	NSN Cycling Team	11:54
94	Stian Fredheim	Uno-X Mobility	12:06
95	Pepijn Reinderink	Soudal Quick-Step	12:18
96	Callum Thornley	Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe	12:27
97	Sam Welsford	INEOS Grenadiers	12:39
98	Fabio Van den Bossche	Soudal Quick-Step	12:42
99	Tim Torn Teutenberg	Lidl-Trek	12:48
100	Liam Walsh	ARA Australian Cycling Team	12:54
101	Zak Erzen	Bahrain Victorious	12:56
102	Luke Durbridge	Team Jayco-AlUla	12:56
103	Matthew Fox	Lotto-Intermarché	12:58
104	Casper van Uden	Team Picnic PostNL	13:00
105	Lewis Bower	Groupama-FDJ United	s.t.
106	Patrick Konrad	Lidl-Trek	s.t.
107	Francesco Busatto	Alpecin-Premier Tech	13:03
108	Henri-Francois Haquin	Team Picnic PostNL	13:03
109	Hamish McKenzie	Team Jayco-AlUla	13:05
110	Alberto Dainese	Soudal Quick-Step	13:12
111	Reuben Thompson	Lotto-Intermarché	13:14
112	Simon Clarke	NSN Cycling Team	13:33
113	Albert Torres	Movistar Team	13:54
114	Sebastian Molano	UAE Team Emirates-XRG	s.t.
115	Tim Marsman	Alpecin-Premier Tech	13:59
116	Kelland O'Brien	Team Jayco-AlUla	14:02
117	Martin Urianstad Bugge	Uno-X Mobility	14:24
118	Lucas Stevenson	ARA Australian Cycling Team	14:25
119	Storm Ingebrigtsen	Uno-X Mobility	14:45
120	Pietro Mattio	Team Visma | Lease a Bike	14:49
121	Titouan Fontaine	Groupama-FDJ United	14:50
122	Jardi Van Der Lee	EF Education-EasyPost	14:51
123	Corbin Strong	NSN Cycling Team	15:29
124	Danny van Poppel	Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe	15:39
125	Joel Suter	Tudor Pro Cycling Team	s.t.
126	Jarrad Drizners	Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe	s.t.
127	Maurice Ballerstedt	Alpecin-Premier Tech	15:43
128	Niklas Märkl	Team Picnic PostNL	15:48
129	Tim Rex	Team Visma | Lease a Bike	16:03
130	Michael Gogl	Alpecin-Premier Tech	16:39
131	Luc Wirtgen	Tudor Pro Cycling Team	17:29
132	Oliver Stockwell	Bahrain Victorious	17:33
133	Mikkel Bjerg	UAE Team Emirates-XRG	18:35
134	Lucas Hamilton	INEOS Grenadiers	18:39
135	Vegard Stake Laengen	UAE Team Emirates-XRG	18:49
136	Lionel Taminiaux	Lotto-Intermarché	20:41

 

Stage 3 map & profile:

Stage 3 map

Stage 3 profile

Stage 3 photos by Fotoreporter Sirotti:

GC leader Jay Vine signs in before the stage start.

Danny Van Poppel

The peloton climbs a tree-lined road.

As the peloton zooms along both Visma and INEOS riders stay near the front.

Ben O'Connor

Sam Welsford

Sam Welsford wins stage three.

Lim Walsh walks his bike across the line.

King of the Mountains Martin Urianstad Bugge

Jay Vine will start stage four in the GC leader's ochre jersey.

---

Thursday, January 22: Stage 2, Norwood - Uraidla, 148.1 km

Stage 2 map & profile | Stage 2 photos

Jay Vine wins the stage and the GC lead ahead of teammate Jhonatan Narvaez. Sirotti photo

Plato's dialogue Phaedo is available in both audiobook & Kindle eBook versions. To get your copy, just click on the Amazon link on the right.

Weather at the finish city of Uraidla at 11:00 AM, local time: 17C (62F), sunny, with the wind from the east-southeast at 21 km/hr (13 mph). No rain is forecast.

The stage: The only way is up on an epic stage that starts in cosmopolitan Norwood before winding through the Adelaide Hills.

Incline? You bet. Health Partners Stage 2 promises 148.1 kilometres of all-out effort as cyclists race from inner-city Norwood to Uraidla in the Adelaide Hills.

Three huge climbs are on the agenda, with a grind up Norton Summit followed by a visit to Mt Lofty and the men’s first dual ascent of notorious Corkscrew Road.

Two sweeping loops through communities including Crafers, Piccadilly, Lobethal and Cudlee Creek will keep the world’s best busy – and anything is possible as they make a last push to the line. 

The Race: Here's the race organizer's stage two summary.

Australian Jay Vine staked his claim to again become the king of the Santos Tour Down Under after blowing the rival peloton to pieces during the Corkscrew Road climb on Thursday.

The 2023 Santos Tour Down Under champion claimed the Health Partners Stage 2 ahead of his UAE Emirates XRG teammate, Jhonatan Narvaez. Vine is now 1min 05secs ahead of the team’s nearest rival, Jayco AlUla’s Swiss road champion Mauro Schmid and six seconds ahead of Narvaez, who won the race last year.

“Adam (Yates teammate) did an amazing job in the lead out (up the Corkscrew Road climb),” Vine said. After such a committed day by the whole team, for it all go to plan at the end was really nice.”

It was Vine’s first stage win at the Tour Down Under after claiming four stages of the Vuelta a España and winning the King of the Mountain jersey at the coveted Spanish race.

Vine and Narvaez finished first and second at the Uraidla finish line.

The Australian 2026 individual time trial champion will wear the Santos Ochre Leader’s Jersey for Friday’s Ziptrak Stage 3 from Henley Beach to Nairne. Despite his commanding lead, Vine wouldn’t declare that the race was over.

“Anything can happen, but to have such a big lead compared to my last Tour (overall win in 2023), it’s a lot more secure,’’ Vine said. “We’ve also got Jhonny (Narvaez) in second now, we’re in a very strong position here.”

Pedalling off from Norwood, the stage lit up when Wednesday’s efex King of the Mountain jersey winner Martin Urianstad Bugge (UnoX Mobility), led a seven-man breakaway to claim more points at Ashton. Urianstad Bugge had earned 20 KOM points at that point in the race.

Australia’s Jensen Plowright (Alpecin – Premier Tech) then led the way, ahead of Croatia’s only rider at the race Fran Miholjevic (Bahrain Victorious), towards the Uraidla finish, as the unforgiving short but yet arduous Corkscrew Road approached and needed to be conquered twice in the 148.1km race.

At the 21km mark, the magnificent seven were 2min 02sec ahead of the main peloton before passing the Uraidla finish line.

Wednesday’s affable Vanguard Stage 1 winner, Tobias Lund Andresen (Decathlon CMA CGM Team) was at the front of the group, about one kilometre from the first Ziptrak intermediate sprint at Lobethal.

The main peloton was clocked at 93km/h on Gorge Road in a bid to get team strategies right at the base of the Corkscrew for the first time, despite being 2min 30sec behind the breakaway.

Narvaez had a mechanical just before the Corkscrew, which forced his UAE Team Emirates XRG teammates to pace the Ecuadorian back to the main peloton during the climb.

Soudal Quick-Step’s Pepijn Reinderink earned maximum efex King of the Mountain points at the top of the Corkscrew Road summit for the first time.

Plowright gained three valuable bonus Ziptrak intermediate sprint seconds ahead of Miholjevic and Urianstad Brugge at the end of the second lap at Uraidla before teams lined up their best hopes of winning the stage in the Adelaide Hills town.

UAE Emirates XRG tried to position its stage contenders, Vine and Narvaez, towards the front before the second climb up the Corkscrew.

The break was caught just before the start of the second climb before Vine, and Yates led the front of the race before efex King of the Mountain points at the top of the Corkscrew summit.

Vine attacked with incredible timing with then Narvaez on his tail after Yates did all the hard work before the KOM reward. The pair dropped all rivals to open a 15-second gap after Vine earned maximum KOM points ahead of Narvaez and Italy’s Filippo Zana (Soudal Quick-Step).

Complete results:

Stage two photos

148.1 kilometers raced at an average speed of 41.006 km/hr

1	Jay Vine	UAE Team Emirates-XRG	3hr 36min 42sec
2	Jhonatan Narvaez	UAE Team Emirates-XRG	s.t.
3	Mauro Schmid	Team Jayco-AlUla	@ 58sec
4	Andreas Kron	Uno-X Mobility	s.t.
5	Filippo Zana	Soudal Quick-Step	s.t.
6	Natnael Tesfazion	Movistar Team	s.t.
7	Adam Yates	UAE Team Emirates-XRG	s.t.
8	Matteo Sobrero	Lidl-Trek	s.t.
9	Harry Sweeny	EF Education-EasyPost	s.t.
10	Marco Brenner	Tudor Pro Cycling Team	s.t.
11	Nick Schultz	NSN Cycling Team	1:08
12	Andrea Raccagni Noviero	Soudal Quick-Step	s.t.
13	Nicolas Prodhomme	Decathlon CMA CGM Team	s.t.
14	Ben O'Connor	Team Jayco-AlUla	s.t.
15	Chris Hamilton	Team Picnic PostNL	s.t.
16	Gal Glivar	Alpecin-Premier Tech	s.t.
17	Javier Romo	Movistar Team	s.t.
18	Anthon Charmig	Uno-X Mobility	s.t.
19	Chris Harper	ARA Australian Cycling Team	s.t.
20	Anton Schiffer	Team Visma | Lease a Bike	s.t.
21	Sam Oomen	Lidl-Trek	s.t.
22	Michael Leonard	EF Education-EasyPost	s.t.
23	Embret Svestad-Bårdseng	INEOS Grenadiers	s.t.
24	Jefferson Cepeda	Movistar Team	s.t.
25	Per Strand Hagenes	Team Visma | Lease a Bike	1:43
26	Oliver Bleddyn	ARA Australian Cycling Team	s.t.
27	Georg Zimmermann	Lotto-Intermarché	s.t.
28	Pascal Eenkhoorn	Soudal Quick-Step	s.t.
29	Edoardo Zambanini	Bahrain Victorious	s.t.
30	Santiago Buitrago	Bahrain Victorious	s.t.
31	Andrea Bagioli	Lidl-Trek	s.t.
32	Matthew Greenwood	ARA Australian Cycling Team	s.t.
33	Florian Stork	Tudor Pro Cycling Team	s.t.
34	Alexander Cepeda	EF Education-EasyPost	s.t.
35	Luke Plapp	Team Jayco-AlUla	s.t.
36	Brady Gilmore	NSN Cycling Team	2:17
37	Tom Donnenwirth	Groupama-FDJ United	s.t.
38	Matthew Dinham	Team Picnic PostNL	s.t.
39	Simone Velasco	XDS Astana Team	s.t.
40	Menno Huising	Team Visma | Lease a Bike	s.t.
41	Oliver Peace	Team Picnic PostNL	s.t.
42	Rudy Porter	Team Jayco-AlUla	s.t.
43	Davide Toneatti	XDS Astana Team	s.t.
44	Antoine L'Hote	Decathlon CMA CGM Team	s.t.
45	Florian Kajamini	XDS Astana Team	s.t.
46	Kevin Geniets	Groupama-FDJ United	s.t.
47	Finn Fisher-Black	Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe	s.t.
48	Darren van Bekkum	XDS Astana Team	s.t.
49	George Bennett	NSN Cycling Team	s.t.
50	James Knox	Team Picnic PostNL	s.t.
51	Callum Scotson	Decathlon CMA CGM Team	s.t.
52	Guillaume Martin-Guyonnet	Groupama-FDJ United	s.t.
53	Pavel Novak	Movistar Team	s.t.
54	Lennert Van Eetvelt	Lotto-Intermarché	2:21
55	Casper Pedersen	Soudal Quick-Step	s.t.
56	Enzo Paleni	Groupama-FDJ United	s.t.
57	Jack Haig	INEOS Grenadiers	s.t.
58	Marco Schrettl	XDS Astana Team	s.t.
59	Haimar Etxeberria	Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe	2:30
60	Baptiste Veistroffer	Lotto-Intermarché	4:08
61	Jacopo Mosca	Lidl-Trek	s.t.
62	Gonzalo Serrano	Movistar Team	s.t.
63	Amanuel Ghebreigzabhier	Lidl-Trek	s.t.
64	Erik Resell	Uno-X Mobility	s.t.
65	Anders Skaarseth	Uno-X Mobility	s.t.
66	Sam Watson	INEOS Grenadiers	s.t.
67	Michal Kwiatkowski	INEOS Grenadiers	s.t.
68	Max Walker	EF Education-EasyPost	s.t.
69	Aaron Gate	XDS Astana Team	s.t.
70	Damien Howson	ARA Australian Cycling Team	s.t.
71	Alastair Mackellar	EF Education-EasyPost	s.t.
72	Luke Tuckwell	Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe	s.t.
73	Remi Cavagna	Groupama-FDJ United	6:35
74	Oscar Chamberlain	Decathlon CMA CGM Team	s.t.
75	Patrick Eddy	ARA Australian Cycling Team	s.t.
76	Manlio Moro	Movistar Team	8:27
77	Luke Lamperti	EF Education-EasyPost	8:51
78	Pepijn Reinderink	Soudal Quick-Step	s.t.
79	Jardi Van Der Lee	EF Education-EasyPost	s.t.
80	Jensen Plowright	Alpecin-Premier Tech	9:20
81	Martin Urianstad Bugge	Uno-X Mobility	10:46
82	Pierre Gautherat	Decathlon CMA CGM Team	11:26
83	Tobias Lund Andresen	Decathlon CMA CGM Team	s.t.
84	Oliver Stockwell	Bahrain Victorious	s.t.
85	Fran Miholjevic	Bahrain Victorious	s.t.
86	Robert Stannard	Bahrain Victorious	s.t.
87	Petr Kelemen	Tudor Pro Cycling Team	s.t.
88	Ethan Vernon	NSN Cycling Team	s.t.
89	Simon Clarke	NSN Cycling Team	s.t.
90	Laurence Pithie	Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe	s.t.
91	Stian Fredheim	Uno-X Mobility	s.t.
92	Tord Gudmestad	Decathlon CMA CGM Team	s.t.
93	Sente Sentjens	Alpecin-Premier Tech	s.t.
94	Luc Wirtgen	Tudor Pro Cycling Team	s.t.
95	Albert Torres	Movistar Team	s.t.
96	Fabio Van den Bossche	Soudal Quick-Step	s.t.
97	Corbin Strong	NSN Cycling Team	s.t.
98	Ben Swift	INEOS Grenadiers	s.t.
99	Jake Stewart	NSN Cycling Team	s.t.
100	Filippo Fiorelli	Team Visma | Lease a Bike	s.t.
101	Sebastian Molano	UAE Team Emirates-XRG	s.t.
102	Ivo Oliveira	UAE Team Emirates-XRG	s.t.
103	Maikel Zijlaard	Tudor Pro Cycling Team	s.t.
104	Alessandro Romele	XDS Astana Team	s.t.
105	Matthew Brennan	Team Visma | Lease a Bike	s.t.
106	Callum Thornley	Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe	s.t.
107	Hamish McKenzie	Team Jayco-AlUla	12:37
108	Jarrad Drizners	Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe	s.t.
109	Sam Welsford	INEOS Grenadiers	s.t.
110	Kelland O'Brien	Team Jayco-AlUla	s.t.
111	Lucas Stevenson	ARA Australian Cycling Team	s.t.
112	Lewis Bower	Groupama-FDJ United	s.t.
113	Lucas Hamilton	INEOS Grenadiers	s.t.
114	Luke Durbridge	Team Jayco-AlUla	s.t.
115	Henri-Francois Haquin	Team Picnic PostNL	s.t.
116	Reuben Thompson	Lotto-Intermarché	s.t.
117	Matthew Fox	Lotto-Intermarché	s.t.
118	Zak Erzen	Bahrain Victorious	s.t.
119	Titouan Fontaine	Groupama-FDJ United	s.t.
120	Pietro Mattio	Team Visma | Lease a Bike	s.t.
121	Liam Walsh	ARA Australian Cycling Team	s.t.
122	Niklas Märkl	Team Picnic PostNL	s.t.
123	Danny van Poppel	Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe	s.t.
124	Alberto Dainese	Soudal Quick-Step	s.t.
125	Mikkel Bjerg	UAE Team Emirates-XRG	s.t.
126	Tim Rex	Team Visma | Lease a Bike	s.t.
127	Michael Gogl	Alpecin-Premier Tech	s.t.
128	Tim Torn Teutenberg	Lidl-Trek	s.t.
129	Francesco Busatto	Alpecin-Premier Tech	s.t.
130	Patrick Konrad	Lidl-Trek	s.t.
131	Tim Marsman	Alpecin-Premier Tech	s.t.
132	Maurice Ballerstedt	Alpecin-Premier Tech	s.t.
133	Casper van Uden	Team Picnic PostNL	s.t.
134	Joel Suter	Tudor Pro Cycling Team	s.t.
135	Vegard Stake Laengen	UAE Team Emirates-XRG	s.t.
136	Storm Ingebrigtsen	Uno-X Mobility	s.t.
137	Lionel Taminiaux	Lotto-Intermarché	17:32
138	Jonas Rutsch	Lotto-Intermarché	19:37

 

GC after stage 2:

• GC leader: Jay Vine (UAE Team Emirates-XRG)
• Mountains classification leader: Martin Urianstad Bugge (Uno-X Mobility)
• Points classification leader: Tobias Lund Andresen (Decathlon CMA CGM)
• Best young rider: Michael Leonard (EF Education-EasyPost)
• Teams classification leader: UAE team Emirates-XRG

272.3 kilometers raced so far at an average speed of 42.597 km/hr

1	Jay Vine	UAE Team Emirates-XRG	6hr 23min 33sec
2	Jhonatan Narvaez	UAE Team Emirates-XRG	@ 6sec
3	Mauro Schmid	Team Jayco-AlUla	1:05
4	Harry Sweeny	EF Education-EasyPost	1:12
5	Marco Brenner	Tudor Pro Cycling Team	1:14
6	Andreas Kron	Uno-X Mobility	1:16
7	Michael Leonard	EF Education-EasyPost	1:22
8	Andrea Raccagni Noviero	Soudal Quick-Step	s.t.
9	Adam Yates	UAE Team Emirates-XRG	1:23
10	Anthon Charmig	Uno-X Mobility	s.t.
11	Filippo Zana	Soudal Quick-Step	s.t.
12	Matteo Sobrero	Lidl-Trek	1:27
13	Ben O'Connor	Team Jayco-AlUla	1:28
14	Javier Romo	Movistar Team	s.t.
15	Natnael Tesfazion	Movistar Team	1:29
16	Jefferson Cepeda	Movistar Team	1:30
17	Anton Schiffer	Team Visma | Lease a Bike	1:31
18	Embret Svestad-Bårdseng	INEOS Grenadiers	1:33
19	Nicolas Prodhomme	Decathlon CMA CGM Team	s.t.
20	Chris Harper	ARA Australian Cycling Team	1:36
21	Chris Hamilton	Team Picnic PostNL	s.t.
22	Sam Oomen	Lidl-Trek	1:39
23	Gal Glivar	Alpecin-Premier Tech	s.t.
24	Nick Schultz	NSN Cycling Team	1:42
25	Oliver Bleddyn	ARA Australian Cycling Team	1:54
26	Luke Plapp	Team Jayco-AlUla	1:57
27	Florian Stork	Tudor Pro Cycling Team	1:58
28	Edoardo Zambanini	Bahrain Victorious	2:01
29	Per Strand Hagenes	Team Visma | Lease a Bike	2:02
30	Pascal Eenkhoorn	Soudal Quick-Step	s.t.
31	Santiago Buitrago	Bahrain Victorious	2:06
32	Andrea Bagioli	Lidl-Trek	2:10
33	Georg Zimmermann	Lotto-Intermarché	2:14
34	Alexander Cepeda	EF Education-EasyPost	s.t.
35	Matthew Greenwood	ARA Australian Cycling Team	2:15
36	Finn Fisher-Black	Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe	2:30
37	Antoine L'Hote	Decathlon CMA CGM Team	2:32
38	Brady Gilmore	NSN Cycling Team	2:40
39	Darren van Bekkum	XDS Astana Team	2:41
40	Kevin Geniets	Groupama-FDJ United	2:42
41	Pavel Novak	Movistar Team	2:43
42	Casper Pedersen	Soudal Quick-Step	s.t.
43	Callum Scotson	Decathlon CMA CGM Team	s.t.
44	Matthew Dinham	Team Picnic PostNL	2:44
45	Guillaume Martin-Guyonnet	Groupama-FDJ United	2:45
46	Tom Donnenwirth	Groupama-FDJ United	s.t.
47	Rudy Porter	Team Jayco-AlUla	s.t.
48	Jack Haig	INEOS Grenadiers	2:46
49	Simone Velasco	XDS Astana Team	s.t.
50	Lennert Van Eetvelt	Lotto-Intermarché	2:48
51	Enzo Paleni	Groupama-FDJ United	s.t.
52	Marco Schrettl	XDS Astana Team	2:49
53	James Knox	Team Picnic PostNL	2:51
54	Oliver Peace	Team Picnic PostNL	s.t.
55	Davide Toneatti	XDS Astana Team	s.t.
56	Menno Huising	Team Visma | Lease a Bike	s.t.
57	George Bennett	NSN Cycling Team	s.t.
58	Haimar Etxeberria	Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe	2:56
59	Florian Kajamini	XDS Astana Team	3:06
60	Sam Watson	INEOS Grenadiers	4:14
61	Erik Resell	Uno-X Mobility	4:21
62	Aaron Gate	XDS Astana Team	4:24
63	Baptiste Veistroffer	Lotto-Intermarché	4:25
64	Luke Tuckwell	Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe	s.t.
65	Michal Kwiatkowski	INEOS Grenadiers	s.t.
66	Alastair Mackellar	EF Education-EasyPost	4:29
67	Anders Skaarseth	Uno-X Mobility	4:40
68	Jacopo Mosca	Lidl-Trek	4:41
69	Gonzalo Serrano	Movistar Team	4:42
70	Damien Howson	ARA Australian Cycling Team	s.t.
71	Amanuel Ghebreigzabhier	Lidl-Trek	4:50
72	Max Walker	EF Education-EasyPost	4:57
73	Oscar Chamberlain	Decathlon CMA CGM Team	6:51
74	Patrick Eddy	ARA Australian Cycling Team	6:53
75	Remi Cavagna	Groupama-FDJ United	7:02
76	Manlio Moro	Movistar Team	8:50
77	Luke Lamperti	EF Education-EasyPost	9:06
78	Jardi Van Der Lee	EF Education-EasyPost	9:16
79	Pepijn Reinderink	Soudal Quick-Step	9:22
80	Jensen Plowright	Alpecin-Premier Tech	9:27
81	Martin Urianstad Bugge	Uno-X Mobility	11:14
82	Tobias Lund Andresen	Decathlon CMA CGM Team	11:31
83	Ethan Vernon	NSN Cycling Team	11:33
84	Maikel Zijlaard	Tudor Pro Cycling Team	11:35
85	Laurence Pithie	Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe	s.t.
86	Matthew Brennan	Team Visma | Lease a Bike	11:36
87	Pierre Gautherat	Decathlon CMA CGM Team	11:37
88	Ivo Oliveira	UAE Team Emirates-XRG	11:41
89	Fabio Van den Bossche	Soudal Quick-Step	11:42
90	Robert Stannard	Bahrain Victorious	11:43
91	Sente Sentjens	Alpecin-Premier Tech	11:44
92	Alessandro Romele	XDS Astana Team	11:45
93	Ben Swift	INEOS Grenadiers	11:46
94	Filippo Fiorelli	Team Visma | Lease a Bike	11:48
95	Simon Clarke	NSN Cycling Team	s.t.
96	Tord Gudmestad	Decathlon CMA CGM Team	11:49
97	Petr Kelemen	Tudor Pro Cycling Team	s.t.
98	Albert Torres	Movistar Team	s.t.
99	Sebastian Molano	UAE Team Emirates-XRG	s.t.
100	Fran Miholjevic	Bahrain Victorious	11:50
101	Corbin Strong	NSN Cycling Team	11:53
102	Luc Wirtgen	Tudor Pro Cycling Team	11:54
103	Jake Stewart	NSN Cycling Team	s.t.
104	Oliver Stockwell	Bahrain Victorious	11:58
105	Stian Fredheim	Uno-X Mobility	12:06
106	Callum Thornley	Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe	12:27
107	Tim Torn Teutenberg	Lidl-Trek	12:48
108	Sam Welsford	INEOS Grenadiers	12:49
109	Kelland O'Brien	Team Jayco-AlUla	12:52
110	Liam Walsh	ARA Australian Cycling Team	12:54
111	Danny van Poppel	Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe	12:56
112	Zak Erzen	Bahrain Victorious	s.t.
113	Joel Suter	Tudor Pro Cycling Team	s.t.
114	Jarrad Drizners	Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe	s.t.
115	Luke Durbridge	Team Jayco-AlUla	s.t.
116	Matthew Fox	Lotto-Intermarché	12:58
117	Casper van Uden	Team Picnic PostNL	13:00
118	Storm Ingebrigtsen	Uno-X Mobility	s.t.
119	Patrick Konrad	Lidl-Trek	s.t.
120	Mikkel Bjerg	UAE Team Emirates-XRG	s.t.
121	Lucas Stevenson	ARA Australian Cycling Team	13:02
122	Francesco Busatto	Alpecin-Premier Tech	13:03
123	Michael Gogl	Alpecin-Premier Tech	s.t.
124	Henri-Francois Haquin	Team Picnic PostNL	s.t.
125	Lucas Hamilton	INEOS Grenadiers	13:04
126	Lewis Bower	Groupama-FDJ United	s.t.
127	Pietro Mattio	Team Visma | Lease a Bike	s.t.
128	Hamish McKenzie	Team Jayco-AlUla	13:05
129	Titouan Fontaine	Groupama-FDJ United	s.t.
130	Niklas Märkl	Team Picnic PostNL	s.t.
131	Tim Rex	Team Visma | Lease a Bike	13:07
132	Alberto Dainese	Soudal Quick-Step	13:12
133	Vegard Stake Laengen	UAE Team Emirates-XRG	13:14
134	Reuben Thompson	Lotto-Intermarché	s.t.
135	Maurice Ballerstedt	Alpecin-Premier Tech	13:34
136	Tim Marsman	Alpecin-Premier Tech	13:59
137	Lionel Taminiaux	Lotto-Intermarché	17:58
138	Jonas Rutsch	Lotto-Intermarché	20:13

 

Stage 2 map & profile:

Stage 2 map

Stage 2 profile

Stage 2 photos by Fotoreporter Sirotti:

The day's break before it was caught just before the second time up Corkscrew Road.

The pack heads up a climb.

The peloton on one of the day's climbs

Overnight GC leader Tobias Lund Andresen on a climb with several Decathlon teammates with him.

Martin Urianstad Bugge leads a group.

Winner Jay Vine wins the stage ahead of teammate Jhonatan Narvaez

Natnael Tesfazion, Filippo Zana, & Mauro Schmid finish 6th, 5th, & 3rd.

Jay Vine just after winning the stage.

XDS Astana riders just after the stage.

Points classification leader Tobias Lund Andresen

Current Best Young Rider Michael Leonard

Jay Vine will start stage three in the GC leader's ochre jersey.

---

Wednesday, January 21: Stage 1, Tanunda - Tanunda, 120.6 km

Stage 1 map & profile | Stage 1 photos

A happy Tobias Lund Andresen wins stage one. Sirotti photo

Plato's dialogue Apology is available in both Kindle eBook & audiobook versions. To get your copy, just click on the Amazon link on the right.

Weather at the start/finish city of Tanunda at 12:00 Noon, local time: 23C (74F), sunny, with the wind from the south at 24 km/hr (15 mph). No rain is forecast.

The stage: The beautiful Barossa welcomes back race action on this first regional stage of the new year – and it’s sprinters who will be poised to fight for the line.  
We’ll see riders tackle 120.6 kilometres through world-famous wine country, starting and finishing along Murray Street in Tanunda.

Stage 1 will pass landmarks including the new Barossa Park sporting precinct, ascend Menglers Hill and wind between vineyards before sprinters’ leadout trains begin to take shape. Clockwise loops through Tanunda mean plenty of vantage points for fans, while the nearby town of Lyndoch will also greet the peloton.

The race: Here's the race organizer's stage one summary.

Tobias Lund Andresen has moved into the Santos Ochre Leader’s Jersey after winning the opening Vanguard Stage 1 in Tanunda on Wednesday. The 23-year-old Dane upstaged Britain’s Matthew Brennan and hot favourite Australia’s Sam Welsford at the finish line after 120.6km.

“When I crossed the finish line I could see wheels coming up on both sides, but with a lead-out like this, it really sets you up for a win,” he said. “There were cross-winds the last 5km so we wanted to be in a good position, and I think we did really well to stay together. I just had to commit and trust my teammates and it ended up like this.”

Tuesday night’s South Australia Prologue winner, Samuel Watson, was forced to give up his Santos Ochre Leader’s jersey to the Dane, but his time trial victory proved how vital it could be to his title chances by Sunday afternoon.

Watson (INEOS Grenadiers) is just one second behind Andresen.

Andresen’s team flew beneath the radar before attacking to perfection after defending TDU champion Jhonatan Narvaez immediately signalled his intent during the stage race.

Narvaez picked up a maximum of three bonus seconds in the first Ziptrak sprint of the day with 107.6km to go. Narvaez ended the day just seven seconds down while his teammate, Australia’s Jay Vine, is two seconds ahead of the Ecuadorian.

Tudor ProCycling’s Maikel Zijlaard and Juan Sebastiano Molano (UAE Team Emirates XRG) also earned time bonuses alongside Narvaez before the race was controlled by the peloton until the dying stages of the final Tanunda lap.

It was a relatively easy day for the UCI WorldTour cyclists, by the high standards set by the professionals. However, there was drama despite the leisurely early pace.

Max Van Der Meulen, 22, crashed heavily into a barrier not long after the first Ziptrak intermediate sprint on the way to Angaston and was assessed for concussion. His team, Bahrain Victorious, issued a statement declaring the Dutchman’s health was a concern after he was taken to the hospital by ambulance.

The team confirmed that Van Der Muelen was “conscious and communicating” on his way to the hospital.

ProTour team Tudor Cycling, which has been invited to every WorldTour this year as a wildcard, also lost a rider. Germany’s Marius Mayrhofer, 23, was forced to abandon the race after Guillaume Martin and Groupama - FDJ United teammate Enzo Palani and Martin Urianstad Bugge (UnoX Mobility) did plenty of work early in the race.

The trio had a 2min 30sec gap, 70km before the Murray Street, Tanunda finish line over the peloton. They shared efex King of the Mountain points after climbing Menglers Hill for the first time. Martin Urianstad claimed the jersey for Thursday's Health Partners Stage 2, Norwood to Uraidla.

Complete results:

Stage 1 photos

120.6 kilometers raced at an average speed of 44.479 km/hr

1	Tobias Lund Andresen	Decathlon CMA CGM Team	2hr 42min 41sec
2	Matthew Brennan	Team Visma | Lease a Bike	s.t.
3	Sam Welsford	INEOS Grenadiers	s.t.
4	Danny van Poppel	Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe	s.t.
5	Ethan Vernon	NSN Cycling Team	s.t.
6	Liam Walsh	ARA Australian Cycling Team	s.t.
7	Lionel Taminiaux	Lotto-Intermarché	s.t.
8	Casper van Uden	Team Picnic PostNL	s.t.
9	Tim Torn Teutenberg	Lidl-Trek	s.t.
10	Luke Lamperti	EF Education-EasyPost	s.t.
11	Sebastian Molano	UAE Team Emirates-XRG	s.t.
12	Zak Erzen	Bahrain Victorious	s.t.
13	Tord Gudmestad	Decathlon CMA CGM Team	s.t.
14	Finn Fisher-Black	Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe	s.t.
15	Maikel Zijlaard	Tudor Pro Cycling Team	s.t.
16	Aaron Gate	XDS Astana Team	s.t.
18	Stian Fredheim	Uno-X Mobility	s.t.
19	Haimar Etxeberria	Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe	s.t.
20	Tom Donnenwirth	Groupama-FDJ United	s.t.
21	Gonzalo Serrano	Movistar Team	s.t.
22	Darren van Bekkum	XDS Astana Team	s.t.
23	Jensen Plowright	Alpecin-Premier Tech	s.t.
24	Alberto Dainese	Soudal Quick-Step	s.t.
25	Robert Stannard	Bahrain Victorious	s.t.
26	Jhonatan Narvaez	UAE Team Emirates-XRG	s.t.
27	Mikkel Bjerg	UAE Team Emirates-XRG	s.t.
28	Natnael Tesfazion	Movistar Team	s.t.
29	Jay Vine	UAE Team Emirates-XRG	s.t.
30	Remi Cavagna	Groupama-FDJ United	s.t.
31	Rudy Porter	Team Jayco-AlUla	s.t.
32	Oliver Bleddyn	ARA Australian Cycling Team	s.t.
33	Ben Swift	INEOS Grenadiers	s.t.
34	Matteo Sobrero	Lidl-Trek	s.t.
35	Alexander Cepeda	EF Education-EasyPost	s.t.
36	Matthew Dinham	Team Picnic PostNL	s.t.
37	Albert Torres	Movistar Team	s.t.
38	Marco Schrettl	XDS Astana Team	s.t.
39	Gal Glivar	Alpecin-Premier Tech	s.t.
40	Florian Stork	Tudor Pro Cycling Team	s.t.
41	Anthon Charmig	Uno-X Mobility	s.t.
42	Sam Watson	INEOS Grenadiers	s.t.
43	Embret Svestad-Bårdseng	INEOS Grenadiers	s.t.
44	Mauro Schmid	Team Jayco-AlUla	s.t.
45	Andrea Bagioli	Lidl-Trek	s.t.
46	Kelland O'Brien	Team Jayco-AlUla	s.t.
47	George Bennett	NSN Cycling Team	s.t.
48	Fabio Van den Bossche	Soudal Quick-Step	s.t.
49	Filippo Zana	Soudal Quick-Step	s.t.
50	Titouan Fontaine	Groupama-FDJ United	s.t.
51	Georg Zimmermann	Lotto-Intermarché	s.t.
52	Andreas Kron	Uno-X Mobility	s.t.
53	Laurence Pithie	Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe	s.t.
54	Jake Stewart	NSN Cycling Team	s.t.
55	Matthew Fox	Lotto-Intermarché	s.t.
56	Edoardo Zambanini	Bahrain Victorious	s.t.
57	Sam Oomen	Lidl-Trek	s.t.
58	Santiago Buitrago	Bahrain Victorious	s.t.
59	Fran Miholjevic	Bahrain Victorious	s.t.
60	Corbin Strong	NSN Cycling Team	s.t.
61	Oliver Peace	Team Picnic PostNL	s.t.
62	Marco Brenner	Tudor Pro Cycling Team	s.t.
63	Luke Plapp	Team Jayco-AlUla	s.t.
64	Ivo Oliveira	UAE Team Emirates-XRG	s.t.
65	Hamish McKenzie	Team Jayco-AlUla	s.t.
66	Ben O'Connor	Team Jayco-AlUla	s.t.
67	Simone Velasco	XDS Astana Team	s.t.
68	Damien Howson	ARA Australian Cycling Team	s.t.
69	Francesco Busatto	Alpecin-Premier Tech	s.t.
70	Adam Yates	UAE Team Emirates-XRG	s.t.
71	Anton Schiffer	Team Visma | Lease a Bike	s.t.
72	Brady Gilmore	NSN Cycling Team	s.t.
73	Niklas Märkl	Team Picnic PostNL	s.t.
74	Erik Resell	Uno-X Mobility	s.t.
75	Davide Toneatti	XDS Astana Team	s.t.
76	Casper Pedersen	Soudal Quick-Step	s.t.
77	Jonas Rutsch	Lotto-Intermarché	s.t.
78	Luke Tuckwell	Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe	s.t.
79	Kevin Geniets	Groupama-FDJ United	s.t.
80	Alastair Mackellar	EF Education-EasyPost	s.t.
81	Jacopo Mosca	Lidl-Trek	s.t.
82	Nicolas Prodhomme	Decathlon CMA CGM Team	s.t.
83	James Knox	Team Picnic PostNL	s.t.
84	Chris Harper	ARA Australian Cycling Team	s.t.
85	Guillaume Martin-Guyonnet	Groupama-FDJ United	s.t.
86	Patrick Eddy	ARA Australian Cycling Team	s.t.
87	Jardi Van Der Lee	EF Education-EasyPost	s.t.
88	Florian Kajamini	XDS Astana Team	s.t.
89	Chris Hamilton	Team Picnic PostNL	s.t.
90	Nick Schultz	NSN Cycling Team	s.t.
91	Jarrad Drizners	Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe	s.t.
92	Jefferson Cepeda	Movistar Team	s.t.
93	Filippo Fiorelli	Team Visma | Lease a Bike	s.t.
94	Oscar Chamberlain	Decathlon CMA CGM Team	s.t.
95	Michael Leonard	EF Education-EasyPost	s.t.
96	Lewis Bower	Groupama-FDJ United	s.t.
97	Javier Romo	Movistar Team	s.t.
98	Callum Scotson	Decathlon CMA CGM Team	s.t.
99	Alessandro Romele	XDS Astana Team	s.t.
100	Michal Kwiatkowski	INEOS Grenadiers	s.t.
101	Henri-Francois Haquin	Team Picnic PostNL	s.t.
102	Vegard Stake Laengen	UAE Team Emirates-XRG	s.t.
103	Harry Sweeny	EF Education-EasyPost	s.t.
104	Pierre Gautherat	Decathlon CMA CGM Team	s.t.
105	Enzo Paleni	Groupama-FDJ United	s.t.
106	Baptiste Veistroffer	Lotto-Intermarché	s.t.
107	Lennert Van Eetvelt	Lotto-Intermarché	s.t.
108	Manlio Moro	Movistar Team	s.t.
109	Antoine L'Hote	Decathlon CMA CGM Team	s.t.
110	Pavel Novak	Movistar Team	s.t.
111	Storm Ingebrigtsen	Uno-X Mobility	s.t.
112	Lucas Stevenson	ARA Australian Cycling Team	s.t.
113	Andrea Raccagni Noviero	Soudal Quick-Step	s.t.
114	Oliver Stockwell	Bahrain Victorious	s.t.
115	Reuben Thompson	Lotto-Intermarché	s.t.
116	Matthew Greenwood	ARA Australian Cycling Team	s.t.
117	Patrick Konrad	Lidl-Trek	s.t.
118	Pascal Eenkhoorn	Soudal Quick-Step	s.t.
119	Simon Clarke	NSN Cycling Team	s.t.
120	Amanuel Ghebreigzabhier	Lidl-Trek	s.t.
121	Sente Sentjens	Alpecin-Premier Tech	s.t.
122	Pietro Mattio	Team Visma | Lease a Bike	s.t.
123	Menno Huising	Team Visma | Lease a Bike	s.t.
124	Michael Gogl	Alpecin-Premier Tech	s.t.
125	Luke Durbridge	Team Jayco-AlUla	s.t.
126	Anders Skaarseth	Uno-X Mobility	s.t.
127	Per Strand Hagenes	Team Visma | Lease a Bike	s.t.
128	Petr Kelemen	Tudor Pro Cycling Team	s.t.
129	Luc Wirtgen	Tudor Pro Cycling Team	s.t.
130	Pepijn Reinderink	Soudal Quick-Step	s.t.
131	Martin Urianstad Bugge	Uno-X Mobility	s.t.
132	Lucas Hamilton	INEOS Grenadiers	s.t.
133	Tim Rex	Team Visma | Lease a Bike	s.t.
134	Joel Suter	Tudor Pro Cycling Team	s.t.
135	Max Walker	EF Education-EasyPost	@ 32sec
136	Maurice Ballerstedt	Alpecin-Premier Tech	0:37
137	Callum Thornley	Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe	0:44
138	Tim Marsman	Alpecin-Premier Tech	0:56

 

GC after stage 1:

• GC leader: Tobias Lund Andresen (Decathlon CMA CGM)
• Mountains classification leader: Martin Urianstad Bugge (Uno-X Mobility)
• Points classification leader: Tobias Lund Andresen (Decathlon CMA CGM)
• Best young rider: Matthew Brennan (Visma | Lease a Bike)
• Teams classification leader: Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe

124.2 kilometers raced so far at an average speed of 44.641 km/hr

1	Tobias Lund Andresen	Decathlon CMA CGM Team	2hr 46min 56sec
2	Sam Watson	INEOS Grenadiers	@ 1sec
3	Ethan Vernon	NSN Cycling Team	0:02
4	Maikel Zijlaard	Tudor Pro Cycling Team	0:04
5	Laurence Pithie	Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe	s.t.
6	Matthew Brennan	Team Visma | Lease a Bike	0:05
7	Jay Vine	UAE Team Emirates-XRG	s.t.
8	Pierre Gautherat	Decathlon CMA CGM Team	0:06
9	Mauro Schmid	Team Jayco-AlUla	s.t.
10	Tim Torn Teutenberg	Lidl-Trek	s.t.
11	Oliver Bleddyn	ARA Australian Cycling Team	s.t.
12	Sam Welsford	INEOS Grenadiers	0:07
13	Jhonatan Narvaez	UAE Team Emirates-XRG	s.t.
15	Erik Resell	Uno-X Mobility	0:08
16	Jensen Plowright	Alpecin-Premier Tech	s.t.
16	Finn Fisher-Black	Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe	s.t.
17	Michael Leonard	EF Education-EasyPost	0:09
18	Harry Sweeny	EF Education-EasyPost	s.t.
19	Luke Plapp	Team Jayco-AlUla	s.t.
20	Andrea Raccagni Noviero	Soudal Quick-Step	s.t.
21	Ivo Oliveira	UAE Team Emirates-XRG	0:10
22	Florian Stork	Tudor Pro Cycling Team	s.t.
23	Luke Lamperti	EF Education-EasyPost	s.t.
24	Antoine L'Hote	Decathlon CMA CGM Team	s.t.
25	Anthon Charmig	Uno-X Mobility	s.t.
26	Kelland O'Brien	Team Jayco-AlUla	s.t.
27	Aaron Gate	XDS Astana Team	0:11
28	Oscar Chamberlain	Decathlon CMA CGM Team	s.t.
29	Fabio Van den Bossche	Soudal Quick-Step	s.t.
30	Marco Brenner	Tudor Pro Cycling Team	s.t.
31	Liam Walsh	ARA Australian Cycling Team	0:12
32	Baptiste Veistroffer	Lotto-Intermarché	s.t.
33	Luke Tuckwell	Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe	s.t.
34	Michal Kwiatkowski	INEOS Grenadiers	s.t.
35	Robert Stannard	Bahrain Victorious	s.t.
36	Sente Sentjens	Alpecin-Premier Tech	0:13
37	Edoardo Zambanini	Bahrain Victorious	s.t.
38	Patrick Eddy	ARA Australian Cycling Team	s.t.
39	Andreas Kron	Uno-X Mobility	s.t.
40	Danny van Poppel	Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe	0:14
41	Per Strand Hagenes	Team Visma | Lease a Bike	s.t.
42	Zak Erzen	Bahrain Victorious	s.t.
43	Joel Suter	Tudor Pro Cycling Team	s.t.
44	Jarrad Drizners	Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe	s.t.
45	Alessandro Romele	XDS Astana Team	s.t.
46	Pascal Eenkhoorn	Soudal Quick-Step	s.t.
47	Luke Durbridge	Team Jayco-AlUla	s.t.
48	Ben Swift	INEOS Grenadiers	0:15
49	Ben O'Connor	Team Jayco-AlUla	s.t.
50	Javier Romo	Movistar Team	s.t.
51	Alastair Mackellar	EF Education-EasyPost	0:16
52	Matthew Fox	Lotto-Intermarché	s.t.
53	Filippo Fiorelli	Team Visma | Lease a Bike	0:17
54	Simon Clarke	NSN Cycling Team	s.t.
55	Casper Pedersen	Soudal Quick-Step	s.t.
56	Jefferson Cepeda	Movistar Team	s.t.
57	Tord Gudmestad	Decathlon CMA CGM Team	0:18
58	Casper van Uden	Team Picnic PostNL	s.t.
59	Anton Schiffer	Team Visma | Lease a Bike	s.t.
60	Storm Ingebrigtsen	Uno-X Mobility	s.t.
61	Patrick Konrad	Lidl-Trek	s.t.
62	Manlio Moro	Movistar Team	s.t.
63	Mikkel Bjerg	UAE Team Emirates-XRG	s.t.
64	Santiago Buitrago	Bahrain Victorious	s.t.
65	Petr Kelemen	Tudor Pro Cycling Team	s.t.
66	Albert Torres	Movistar Team	s.t.
67	Brady Gilmore	NSN Cycling Team	s.t.
68	Sebastian Molano	UAE Team Emirates-XRG	s.t.
69	Darren van Bekkum	XDS Astana Team	0:19
70	Embret Svestad-Bårdseng	INEOS Grenadiers	0:20
71	Jardi Van Der Lee	EF Education-EasyPost	s.t.
72	Lucas Stevenson	ARA Australian Cycling Team	s.t.
73	Jack Haig	INEOS Grenadiers	s.t.
74	Adam Yates	UAE Team Emirates-XRG	s.t.
75	Kevin Geniets	Groupama-FDJ United	s.t.
76	Nicolas Prodhomme	Decathlon CMA CGM Team	s.t.
77	Filippo Zana	Soudal Quick-Step	s.t.
78	Francesco Busatto	Alpecin-Premier Tech	0:21
79	Lionel Taminiaux	Lotto-Intermarché	s.t.
80	Haimar Etxeberria	Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe	s.t.
81	Pavel Novak	Movistar Team	s.t.
82	Michael Gogl	Alpecin-Premier Tech	s.t.
83	Henri-Francois Haquin	Team Picnic PostNL	s.t.
84	Fran Miholjevic	Bahrain Victorious	s.t.
85	Callum Scotson	Decathlon CMA CGM Team	s.t.
86	Lucas Hamilton	INEOS Grenadiers	0:22
87	Matthew Dinham	Team Picnic PostNL	s.t.
88	Lewis Bower	Groupama-FDJ United	s.t.
89	Andrea Bagioli	Lidl-Trek	s.t.
90	Corbin Strong	NSN Cycling Team	s.t.
91	Pietro Mattio	Team Visma | Lease a Bike	s.t.
92	Lennert Van Eetvelt	Lotto-Intermarché	s.t.
93	Enzo Paleni	Groupama-FDJ United	s.t.
94	Remi Cavagna	Groupama-FDJ United	s.t.
95	Chris Harper	ARA Australian Cycling Team	0:23
96	Hamish McKenzie	Team Jayco-AlUla	s.t.
97	Chris Hamilton	Team Picnic PostNL	s.t.
98	Luc Wirtgen	Tudor Pro Cycling Team	s.t.
99	Guillaume Martin-Guyonnet	Groupama-FDJ United	s.t.
100	Marco Schrettl	XDS Astana Team	s.t.
101	Titouan Fontaine	Groupama-FDJ United	s.t.
102	Tom Donnenwirth	Groupama-FDJ United	s.t.
103	Jake Stewart	NSN Cycling Team	s.t.
104	Niklas Märkl	Team Picnic PostNL	s.t.
105	Rudy Porter	Team Jayco-AlUla	s.t.
106	Matteo Sobrero	Lidl-Trek	0:24
107	Simone Velasco	XDS Astana Team	s.t.
108	Tim Rex	Team Visma | Lease a Bike	0:25
109	Martin Urianstad Bugge	Uno-X Mobility	s.t.
110	Georg Zimmermann	Lotto-Intermarché	0:26
111	Alexander Cepeda	EF Education-EasyPost	s.t.
112	Sam Oomen	Lidl-Trek	s.t.
113	Gal Glivar	Alpecin-Premier Tech	s.t.
114	Natnael Tesfazion	Movistar Team	s.t.
115	Matthew Greenwood	ARA Australian Cycling Team	0:27
116	Anders Skaarseth	Uno-X Mobility	s.t.
117	Oliver Stockwell	Bahrain Victorious	s.t.
118	Pepijn Reinderink	Soudal Quick-Step	0:28
119	Jacopo Mosca	Lidl-Trek	s.t.
120	Gonzalo Serrano	Movistar Team	0:29
121	Nick Schultz	NSN Cycling Team	s.t.
122	Damien Howson	ARA Australian Cycling Team	s.t.
123	James Knox	Team Picnic PostNL	s.t.
124	Oliver Peace	Team Picnic PostNL	s.t.
125	Alberto Dainese	Soudal Quick-Step	0:30
126	Jonas Rutsch	Lotto-Intermarché	0:31
127	Vegard Stake Laengen	UAE Team Emirates-XRG	0:32
128	Reuben Thompson	Lotto-Intermarché	s.t.
129	Davide Toneatti	XDS Astana Team	s.t.
130	Menno Huising	Team Visma | Lease a Bike	s.t.
131	George Bennett	NSN Cycling Team	s.t.
132	Stian Fredheim	Uno-X Mobility	0:35
133	Amanuel Ghebreigzabhier	Lidl-Trek	0:37
134	Max Walker	EF Education-EasyPost	0:44
135	Florian Kajamini	XDS Astana Team	s.t.
136	Maurice Ballerstedt	Alpecin-Premier Tech	0:52
137	Callum Thornley	Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe	0:56
138	Tim Marsman	Alpecin-Premier Tech	1:17

 

Stage 1 map & profile:

Men's stage one map

Men's stage one profile

Stage 1 photos by Fotoreporter Sirotti:

Sam Watson signs in

Jay Vine before the race start.

Visma | Lease a Bike riders wait for the start.

INEOS Grenadiers shepherding GC leader Sam Welsford.

A panorama shot of the peloton racing in South Australia.

Roadside tifosi

A break with Guillaume Martin, Enzo Paleni, & Martin Urianstad Bugge

The compact peloton in town with spectators and traffic directors.

Tobias Lund Andresen wins stage one.

Tobias Lund Andresen will start stage 2 in the GC leader's ochre jersey.

---

Tuesday, January 20: Adelaide South Australia 3.6 km Prologue Time Trial

Prologue map & profile | Prologue photos

Sam Watson (INEOS Grenadiers) on his way to winning the prologue. Note he is using a regular road bike instead of a time trial bike. Tour Down Under rules mandate this to reduce the teams' costs of traveling to Australia.

Weather at the race city of Adelaide at 3:20 PM, local time: 32C (89F), sunny, with the wind from the south at 26 km/hr (16 mph). No rain is forecast.

The stage: The first rider started at 6:00 PM.

Our 3.6-kilometre prologue will begin just beyond the City of Adelaide Tour Village in Victoria Square/Tarntanyangga and continue east to finish after a lap of the Victoria Park criterium circuit. Riders are set to stay close to home, warming up in their team booths before descending from the start ramp and pushing hard for the line. Shorter, dynamic cyclists are expected to dominate here, with the leader to take their place in our hot seat while the action plays out. A special exemption means cyclists will contest the prologue on road rather than time-trial bikes, as was the case when this curtain-raiser made its 2023 debut.  

All in is the only option across this city prologue circuit. Each rider is expected to spend close to five minutes on the course, which begins outside the City of Adelaide Tour Village and will travel down Wakefield Street, on to East Terrace and then enter Victoria Park’s criterium circuit via Halifax Street before finishing in front of the heritage grandstand.

The race: Here's the organizer's prologue summary.

Great Britain’s Samuel Watson barnstormed atop the 2026 UCI WorldTour podium to adorn the Santos Tour Down Under’s Ochre Leader's Jersey.

Watson claimed the South Australia Prologue while Canada’s Michael Leonard snared the MyWhoosh young rider jersey in 13th place on the Adelaide city streets on Tuesday night.

Watson set the pace early and had to watch 129 riders try and beat his record before he was crowned Prologue champion. “It was a big, big sigh of relief for myself, yeah I'm so happy to start season with a win,’’ Watson said.   

Watson’s win put the rival peloton on notice before the Vanguard Stage 1 Tanunda to Tanunda pedals off on Wednesday. Watson’s teammate Sam Welsford looms as the leading contender for a third stage win in Barossa on debut for his new team, forcing rivals to rethink their tactics as every bonus second in the race for the ochre jersey counts.

Watson says the team is aiming to be one of the lead-out men to get Welsford over the Tanunda finish line first.

Stage winner Sam Watson with 2006 & 2011 Tour Down Under winner and now race director Stuart O'Grady. Sirotti photo

“Yeah, we’re going 100 per cent for him (Welsford),’’ Watson said. “He’s won (stages) here six times in the last two years now. Whatever Sam prefers, yeah, I’ll be up there towards the end.”

Watson, 24, (INEOS Grenadiers) was the man to beat after setting the pace inside the first 10 minutes of the Prologue. The reigning British national champion averaged 50.7km/h to register a time of 4min 16.9 sec.

Watson was the 11th rider off the starting ramp. Only two other riders averaged more than 50 km/h – Great Britain’s Ethan Vernon (NSN Cycling Team) at 50.6km/h and New Zealand’s Laurence Pithie (Red Bull BORA Hansgrohe) at 50.2km/h.

Santos Tour Down Under 2023 champion Jay Vine (UAE Team Emirates XRG) was the final contender off the starting ramp. Vine was the highest-ranked Australian in fourth place after a brilliant ride to cap off an exciting Prologue.

The reigning Australian time trial champion rode valiantly but fell four seconds short of Watson, averaging 49.7km/h.   

Vine’s teammate, Ecuadorian Jhonatan Narvaez (UAE Team Emirates XRG) started his Santos Tour Down Under defence as the 100th rider off the ramp.

The Tour Down Under’s No. 1 ended his time trial 8.89 seconds behind Watson, averaging 49km/h.        

Austria’s Michael Gogl (Alpecin Premier Tech) was first of the 140 Santos Tour Down Under Prologue starters on Wakefield Street.

Riders were staggered two hours and 19 minutes apart with Vine, the late show headlining act.

Gogl averaged 47.2km/h in blustery conditions and stopped the clock at 4min 36.3 sec on the 3.6km circuit, which ended at Victoria Park.

The Santos Tour Down Under UCI WorldTour's Prologue returned for the second time after rain marred the first one in 2023 along the banks of the city’s River Torrens near Adelaide Oval.

The prologue made its debut as a 5.5-kilometre, rain-affected race won by Italian cyclist Alberto Bettiol. A prologue is an individual time trial with riders using their usual UCI WorldTour-endorsed road bikes rather than time-trial specialised bikes.

It's not regarded as a stage, but the rider's times still count towards general classification (GC).

Complete results & GC:

• GC leader: Sam Watson (INEOS Grenadiers)
• Best young rider: Michael Leonard (EF Education-EasyPost)
• Teams classification leader: Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe

3.6 kilometers raced at an average speed of 50.625 km/hr

1	Sam Watson	INEOS Grenadiers	4min 16sec
2	Ethan Vernon	NSN Cycling Team	@ 1sec
3	Laurence Pithie	Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe	0:03
4	Jay Vine	UAE Team Emirates-XRG	0:04
5	Pierre Gautherat	Decathlon CMA CGM	0:05
6	Mauro Schmid	Team Jayco-AlUla	s.t.
7	Maikel Zijlaard	Tudor Pro Cycling Team	s.t.
8	Tim Torn Teutenberg	Lidl-Trek	s.t.
9	Oliver Bleddyn	ARA Australian Cycling Team	s.t.
10	Jensen Plowright	Alpecin-Premier Tech	0:07
11	Erik Resell	Uno-X Mobility	s.t.
12	Finn Fisher-Black	Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe	s.t.
13	Michael Leonard	EF Education-EasyPost	0:08
14	Harry Sweeny	EF Education-EasyPost	s.t.
15	Luke Plapp	Team Jayco-AlUla	s.t.
16	Andrea Raccagni Noviero	Soudal Quick-Step	s.t.
17	Ivo Oliveira	UAE Team Emirates-XRG	0:09
18	Florian Stork	Tudor Pro Cycling Team	s.t.
19	Luke Lamperti	EF Education-EasyPost	s.t.
20	Antoine L'Hote	Decathlon CMA CGM	s.t.
21	Anthon Charmig	Uno-X Mobility	s.t.
22	Tobias Lund Andresen	Decathlon CMA CGM	s.t.
23	Jhonatan Narvaez	UAE Team Emirates-XRG	s.t.
24	Kelland O'Brien	Team Jayco-AlUla	s.t.
25	Aaron Gate	XDS Astana Team	0:10
26	Oscar Chamberlain	Decathlon CMA CGM	s.t.
27	Fabio Van den Bossche	Soudal Quick-Step	s.t.
28	Marco Brenner	Tudor Pro Cycling Team	s.t.
29	Matthew Brennan	Team Visma | Lease a Bike	s.t.
30	Sam Welsford	INEOS Grenadiers	s.t.
31	Marius Mayrhofer	Tudor Pro Cycling Team	0:11
32	Liam Walsh	ARA Australian Cycling Team	s.t.
33	Baptiste Veistroffer	Lotto-Intermarché	s.t.
34	Luke Tuckwell	Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe	s.t.
35	Max Walker	EF Education-EasyPost	s.t.
36	Michal Kwiatkowski	INEOS Grenadiers	s.t.
37	Robert Stannard	Bahrain Victorious	s.t.
38	Callum Thornley	Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe	s.t.
39	Sente Sentjens	Alpecin-Premier Tech	0:12
40	Patrick Eddy	ARA Australian Cycling Team	s.t.
41	Edoardo Zambanini	Bahrain Victorious	s.t.
42	Andreas Kron	Uno-X Mobility	s.t.
43	Danny van Poppel	Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe	0:13
44	Per Strand Hagenes	Team Visma | Lease a Bike	s.t.
45	Zak Erzen	Bahrain Victorious	s.t.
46	Joel Suter	Tudor Pro Cycling Team	s.t.
47	Jarrad Drizners	Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe	s.t.
48	Pascal Eenkhoorn	Soudal Quick-Step	s.t.
49	Alessandro Romele	XDS Astana Team	s.t.
50	Luke Durbridge	Team Jayco-AlUla	s.t.
51	Ben Swift	INEOS Grenadiers	0:14
52	Ben O'Connor	Team Jayco-AlUla	s.t.
53	Maurice Ballerstedt	Alpecin-Premier Tech	s.t.
54	Javier Romo	Movistar Team	s.t.
55	Alastair Mackellar	EF Education-EasyPost	0:15
56	Matthew Fox	Lotto-Intermarché	s.t.
57	Filippo Fiorelli	Team Visma | Lease a Bike	0:16
58	Simon Clarke	NSN Cycling Team	s.t.
59	Casper Pedersen	Soudal Quick-Step	s.t.
60	Jefferson Cepeda	Movistar Team	s.t.
61	Tord Gudmestad	Decathlon CMA CGM	0:17
62	Casper van Uden	Team Picnic PostNL	s.t.
63	Anton Schiffer	Team Visma | Lease a Bike	s.t.
64	Storm Ingebrigtsen	Uno-X Mobility	s.t.
65	Patrick Konrad	Lidl-Trek	s.t.
66	Manlio Moro	Movistar Team	s.t.
67	Mikkel Bjerg	UAE Team Emirates-XRG	s.t.
68	Santiago Buitrago	Bahrain Victorious	s.t.
69	Petr Kelemen	Tudor Pro Cycling Team	s.t.
70	Albert Torres	Movistar Team	s.t.
71	Brady Gilmore	NSN Cycling Team	s.t.
72	Darren van Bekkum	XDS Astana Team	0:18
73	Sebastian Molano	UAE Team Emirates-XRG	s.t.
74	Embret Svestad-Bårdseng	INEOS Grenadiers	0:19
75	Jardi Van Der Lee	EF Education-EasyPost	s.t.
76	Lucas Stevenson	ARA Australian Cycling Team	s.t.
77	Jack Haig	INEOS Grenadiers	s.t.
78	Adam Yates	UAE Team Emirates-XRG	s.t.
79	Kevin Geniets	Groupama-FDJ United	s.t.
80	Nicolas Prodhomme	Decathlon CMA CGM	s.t.
81	Filippo Zana	Soudal Quick-Step	s.t.
82	Francesco Busatto	Alpecin-Premier Tech	0:20
83	Lionel Taminiaux	Lotto-Intermarché	s.t.
84	Haimar Etxeberria	Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe	s.t.
85	Pavel Novak	Movistar Team	s.t.
86	Tim Marsman	Alpecin-Premier Tech	s.t.
87	Michael Gogl	Alpecin-Premier Tech	s.t.
88	Henri-Francois Haquin	Team Picnic PostNL	s.t.
89	Fran Miholjevic	Bahrain Victorious	s.t.
90	Max van der Meulen	Bahrain Victorious	s.t.
91	Callum Scotson	Decathlon CMA CGM	s.t.
92	Lucas Hamilton	INEOS Grenadiers	0:21
93	Matthew Dinham	Team Picnic PostNL	s.t.
94	Lewis Bower	Groupama-FDJ United	s.t.
95	Andrea Bagioli	Lidl-Trek	s.t.
96	Corbin Strong	NSN Cycling Team	s.t.
97	Pietro Mattio	Team Visma | Lease a Bike	s.t.
98	Lennert Van Eetvelt	Lotto-Intermarché	s.t.
99	Remi Cavagna	Groupama-FDJ United	s.t.
100	Chris Harper	ARA Australian Cycling Team	0:22
101	Hamish McKenzie	Team Jayco-AlUla	s.t.
102	Chris Hamilton	Team Picnic PostNL	s.t.
103	Luc Wirtgen	Tudor Pro Cycling Team	s.t.
104	Marco Schrettl	XDS Astana Team	s.t.
105	Titouan Fontaine	Groupama-FDJ United	s.t.
106	Tom Donnenwirth	Groupama-FDJ United	s.t.
107	Jake Stewart	NSN Cycling Team	s.t.
108	Niklas Märkl	Team Picnic PostNL	s.t.
109	Rudy Porter	Team Jayco-AlUla	s.t.
110	Matteo Sobrero	Lidl-Trek	0:23
111	Simone Velasco	XDS Astana Team	s.t.
112	Tim Rex	Team Visma | Lease a Bike	0:24
113	Enzo Paleni	Groupama-FDJ United	s.t.
114	Georg Zimmermann	Lotto-Intermarché	0:25
115	Alexander Cepeda	EF Education-EasyPost	s.t.
116	Sam Oomen	Lidl-Trek	s.t.
117	Gal Glivar	Alpecin-Premier Tech	s.t.
118	Natnael Tesfazion	Movistar Team	s.t.
119	Matthew Greenwood	ARA Australian Cycling Team	0:26
120	Anders Skaarseth	Uno-X Mobility	s.t.
121	Oliver Stockwell	Bahrain Victorious	s.t.
122	Pepijn Reinderink	Soudal Quick-Step	0:27
123	Jacopo Mosca	Lidl-Trek	s.t.
124	Urianstad Bugge Martin	Uno-X Mobility	s.t.
125	Gonzalo Serrano	Movistar Team	0:28
126	Nick Schultz	NSN Cycling Team	s.t.
127	Guillaume Martin-Guyonnet	Groupama-FDJ United	s.t.
128	Damien Howson	ARA Australian Cycling Team	s.t.
129	James Knox	Team Picnic PostNL	s.t.
130	Oliver Peace	Team Picnic PostNL	s.t.
131	Alberto Dainese	Soudal Quick-Step	0:29
132	Jonas Rutsch	Lotto-Intermarché	0:30
133	Vegard Stake Laengen	UAE Team Emirates-XRG	0:31
134	Reuben Thompson	Lotto-Intermarché	s.t.
135	Davide Toneatti	XDS Astana Team	s.t.
136	Menno Huising	Team Visma | Lease a Bike	s.t.
137	George Bennett	NSN Cycling Team	s.t.
138	Stian Fredheim	Uno-X Mobility	0:34
139	Amanuel Ghebreigzabhier	Lidl-Trek	0:36
140	Florian Kajamini	XDS Astana Team	0:43

 

Prologue map & profile:

Prologue time trial map.

Prologue profile

Prologue photos by Fotoreporter Sirotti:

Stage winner Sam Watson

Ethan Vernon (NSN Cycling Team) racing to second place.

Third-place Laurence Pithie

Jay Vine was fourth.

Fifth-place Pierre Gautherat

Sixth-place Mauro Schmid

Tim Torn Teutenberg was eighth.

Tenth-place Jensen Plowright

Thirteenth place Michael Leonard

Harry Sweeny riding to fourteenth place.

Luke Plapp was fifteenth.

Sixteenth place Andrea Raccagni

Ivo Oliveira was seventeenth.

---

Start list with back numbers. January 15, 2026

	UAE Team Emirates-XRG
1	Jhonatan Narvaez
2	Mikkel Bjerg
3	Vegard Stake Laengen
4	Sebastian Molano
5	Ivo Oliveira
6	Jay Vine
7	Adam Yates
	Alpecin-Premier Tech
11	Jensen Plowright
12	Maurice Ballerstedt
13	Gal Glivar
14	Sente Sentjens
15	Tim Marsman
16	Francesco Busatto
17	Michael Gogl
	Bahrain Victorious
21	Santiago Buitrago
22	Zak Erzen
23	Fran Miholjevic
24	Robert Stannard
25	Oliver Stockwell
26	Max van der Meulen
27	Edoardo Zambanini
	Decathlon CMA CGM Team
31	Tobias Lund Andresen
32	Oscar Chamberlain
33	Pierre Gautherat
34	Tord Gudmestad
35	Antoine L'Hote
36	Nicolas Prodhomme
37	Callum Scotson
	EF Education-EasyPost
41	Alexander Cepeda
42	Jardi Van Der Lee
43	Harry Sweeny
44	Max Walker
45	Alastair Mackellar
46	Luke Lamperti
47	Michael Leonard
	Groupama-FDJ United
51	Lewis Bower
52	Remi Cavagna
53	Tom Donnenwirth
54	Titouan Fontaine
55	Kevin Geniets
56	Guillaume Martin-Guyonnet
57	Enzo Paleni
	INEOS Grenadiers
61	Jack Haig
62	Lucas Hamilton
63	Michal Kwiatkowski
64	Embret Svestad-Bårdseng
65	Ben Swift
66	Sam Watson
67	Sam Welsford
	Lidl-Trek
71	Andrea Bagioli
72	Amanuel Ghebreigzabhier
73	Patrick Konrad
74	Jacopo Mosca
75	Sam Oomen
76	Matteo Sobrero
77	Tim Torn Teutenberg
	Lotto-Intermarché
81	Matthew Fox
82	Jonas Rutsch
83	Lionel Taminiaux
84	Reuben Thompson
85	Taco van der Hoorn
86	Lennert Van Eetvelt
87	Georg Zimmermann
	Movistar Team
91	Jefferson Cepeda
92	Manlio Moro
93	Pavel Novak
94	Javier Romo
95	Gonzalo Serrano
96	Natnael Tesfazion
97	Albert Torres
	NSN Cycling Team
101	George Bennett
102	Simon Clarke
103	Brady Gilmore
104	Nick Schultz
105	Jake Stewart
106	Corbin Strong
107	Ethan Vernon
	Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe
111	Jarrad Drizners
112	Haimar Etxeberria
113	Finn Fisher-Black
114	Laurence Pithie
115	Callum Thornley
116	Luke Tuckwell
117	Danny van Poppel
	Soudal Quick-Step
121	Alberto Dainese
122	Pascal Eenkhoorn
123	Andrea Raccagni Noviero
124	Pepijn Reinderink
125	Casper Pedersen
126	Fabio Van den Bossche
127	Filippo Zana
	Team Jayco AlUla
131	Ben O'Connor
132	Luke Durbridge
133	Rudy Porter
134	Hamish McKenzie
135	Kelland O'Brien
136	Luke Plapp
137	Mauro Schmid
	Team Picnic PostNL
141	Matthew Dinham
142	Chris Hamilton
143	James Knox
144	Niklas Märkl
145	Oliver Peace
146	Henri-Francois Haquin
147	Casper van Uden
	Team Visma | Lease a Bike
151	Matthew Brennan
152	Filippo Fiorelli
153	Per Strand Hagenes
154	Anton Schiffer
155	Menno Huising
156	Pietro Mattio
157	Tim Rex
	Uno-X Mobility
161	Andreas Kron
162	Anthon Charmig
163	Anders Skaarseth
164	Stian Fredheim
165	Erik Resell
166	Storm Ingebrigtsen
167	Martin Bugge Urianstad
	XDS Astana Team
171	Florian Kajamini
172	Alessandro Romele
173	Marco Schrettl
174	Darren van Bekkum
175	Simone Velasco
176	Davide Toneatti
177	Aaron Gate
	Tudor Pro Cycling Team
181	Marco Brenner
182	Marius Mayrhofer
183	Joel Suter
184	Florian Stork
185	Petr Kelemen
186	Luc Wirtgen
187	Maikel Zijlaard
	ARA Australian Cycling Team
191	Damien Howson
192	Chris Harper
193	Patrick Eddy
194	Liam Walsh
195	Oliver Bleddyn
196	Matthew Greenwood
197	Lucas Stevenson