It’s the 2026 Santos Tour Down Under kicking of the WT-season :)

Stages

  • 20/01 Tuesday Prologue | Adelaide - Adelaide 3.6
  • 21/01 Wednesday Stage 1 | Tanunda - Tanunda 120.6
  • 22/01 Thursday Stage 2 | Norwood - Uraidla 148.1
  • 23/01 Friday Stage 3 | Henley Beach - Nairne 140.8
  • 24/01 Saturday Stage 4 | Brighton - Willunga Hill 176
  • 25/01 Sunday Stage 5 | Stirling - Stirling 169.8

Top Competitors according to PCS

  • VINE Jay
  • BRENNAN Matthew
  • NARVÁEZ Jhonatan
  • STRONG Corbin
  • ANDRESEN Tobias Lund
  • YATES Adam
  • PRODHOMME Nicolas
  • VELASCO Simone
  • BUITRAGO Santiago
  • SCHMID Mauro

Enjoy!

  • Deschanel2027@sh.itjust.worksM
    1·
    2 months ago

    Stage 5:

    With 95 km to go in the Tour Down Under, Jay Vine is brought to the ground by a bleeding kangaroo!

    He could restart and join the peloton again. The peloton slew down so that the crashed and delayed riders could come back easily. As a result, the gap of our traditional 3-men km-0 breakaway (which are actually 4 today, as an extra rider managed to join the first 3 when the breakaway formed) rose close to 4 minutes.

    However there are now only 3 UAE riders left on the race…

    • Deschanel2027@sh.itjust.worksM
      1·
      2 months ago

      32 km to go: Plapp, then Novak (Movistar), drop from the breakaway; while one Astana attacks from the peloton.

      25 km: as those 3 are caught up, one Australian attacks from the peloton.

      21 km: Buitrago attacks from the peloton, joined by 2 Movistar, it ends up building a group of 5, reduced to 4 as the last breakaway survivor drops.

      6 km: their gap had reached 30 seconds but started to go down as they lost 1 Movistar.

      4 km: Yates and Vine pull the peloton (why?).

      0 km: another sprint, the 4th in 5 stages… NB: Andresen (Decathlon) was on the podium of each of those sprints, he really deserves his Points jersey!

    • Deschanel2027@sh.itjust.worksM
      0·
      2 months ago

      Narvaez had to withdraw, after crashing (I didn’t see it).

      There are other crashes as the wind is on the verge of causing echelons and makes everyone nervous.

      • Deschanel2017@lemmings.worldM
        1·
        2 months ago

        FDJ’s adventures in the South: Cavagna🇫🇷 was in the traditional 3-men breakaway yesterday, he was dropped by the two Autralians (Plapp🇦🇺 and the Conti rider Greenwood🇦🇺) about 50 km from the goal (on a 130 km long stage…), and didn’t finish the stage. Geniets🇱🇺 who was second best in GC (among the team, of course) also withdrew…

        The level of the team sent to Australia is horrific. Only Bower🇦🇺 scored a 3rd place in one the 3 sprints which took place so far (but was nowhere to be seen yesterday).

        • Deschanel2017@lemmings.worldM
          1·
          2 months ago

          Talking about French teams with a wonderful start of the season: on the level below, Cofidis didn’t go to Australia but on the small Spanish 1.1 races.

          Points are given to the first 30 riders. After two races, Cofidis brings -15 points (minus fifteen points).

          • In the first race, their first rider came 31st; Simon Carr didn’t finish.
          • In the second race, their first rider came 49th; Coquard crashed in the final; Carr finished 7 minutes behind the winners and got a 15 UCI points penalty for littering!
          • Deschanel2027@sh.itjust.worksM
            1·
            2 months ago

            After two races, Cofidis brings -15 points (minus fifteen points).

            Which means that Cofidis is currently ranked 94th in the UCI classification, unique last team, behind all existing WT, PT and Conti teams 😜