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2014 Tour Down Under: Stage 1 live blog

Roar Rookie
20th January, 2014
2014 Tour Down Under - Stage 1

Start: 11:00am AEDT
Distance: 135km
TV Start: 1.00pm AEDT (Live Stream)
Australian Road Championships should stay in Ballarat. (Image: Sean Lee)
Roar Rookie
20th January, 2014
41
1397 Reads

Stage 1 of the 2014 Tour Down Under kicks off today in Adelaide. The 135km stage from Nurioopta to Angaston is sure to be a decisive stage as the battle for the ochre jersey begins.

Hot and windy conditions have the potential to wreak havoc in the peloton. The predominantly flat terrain of Adelaide provides an ideal stomping ground for strong teams with men such as Ian Stannard and Jens Voight to split the bunch into pieces during the gruelling sections of crosswinds.

Expect riders from team UniSA to be aggressive and present towards the front of the peloton, joining and initiating breakaways in order to justify their selection.

A very strong team has been created this year with many riders selected upon their promising results in the 2013 edition of the NRS and the recent Mars Australian Road Championships in Bunninyong.

After Caleb Ewan’s incredible result in the People’s Choice Classic on Sunday, he will no doubt have full support from his team.

A decisive hill only 14km from the stage finish will have strong climbers scrambling to break away from the main peloton.

The climb itself is only 3km long with an average gradient of 7%, but with such a short space between here and the finish line it is entirely possible the selection for overall honours of this year’s edition of the Tour Down Under to be made here.

This probably isn’t a stage that the Tour Down Under that can be won on, however if the General Classification contenders don’t remain attentive towards the front of the peloton, it is a stage the tour can be lost.

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Expect riders from Orica-GreenEDGE to utilise the final climb to their advantage in the hunt for the stage win and Ochre jersey.

Michael Matthews is a hot contender for todays stage win. Not only does he possess one of the fastest kicks in the professional peloton, he’s likely to climb with the GC contenders as well.

This, along with his skills in a peloton will make him hard defeat. Don’t count out the young gun, Caleb Ewan, who has a very similar riding style to Michael, but his inexperience in a World Tour field may not work in his favour.

Sprinters such as Rojas and Greipel have proven they can struggle over short climbs successfully with the leaders.

If this is the case, they will surely be hot favourites for today’s stage. A breakaway will be formed early on during the stage.

Aggressive riders such as Jens Voigt from team Trek and Will Clarke from team Drapac are likely to be spotted in these breakaways, providing possibilities to capitalise on today’s race.

An exciting stage has been created to open this year’s Tour Down Under, it will be interesting to see how it unfolds.

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