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After witnessing one of the craziest races at the Australian National Championship a week and a half ago, the Australian Summer of Cycling continues with the first stage of the Tour Down Under.
The Tour Down Under signals the start of the World Tour season, with all the big teams here to score early points in the World Tour rankings before the European season gets into full swing in early March.
The race starts with Stage 1 from Prospect to Lyndoch, a 134-kilometre journey which should see the first mass sprint finish of the World Tour season.
A simple stage to start the year, which will be a blessing to the riders as some of the stages to come over the next couple of days will definitely put the European riders under some difficulty.
There are no major obstacles on the course’s route. With the exception of the only King of the Mountain’s point, North East Road some 12.8 kilometres into the race, the riders will see themselves compete over fairly flat terrain.
A simple stage, but one that could become more complicated if there is no breakaway by the time the riders hit the finishing circuits around Lyndoch.
There are two intermediate sprints, both in the town of Cockatoo Valley, where bonus seconds will be up for grabs. The race overall has been won by a matter of seconds in the past, and if there is a chance for general classification riders to take any time before the tougher stages just around the corner, they most certainly will.
However, the first sprint comes after 55 kilometres, so the likelihood is that the break of the day will be well and truly developed. The second and final intermediate sprint is after 86 kilometres. The finale is uncomplicated from what l can tell, a fairly straight run into the finish.
Leadout trains will need to judge the final five kilometres to perfection to lead out their main sprinter well.
Caleb Ewan looks to be the man to beat this week in the sprints, after a comfortable win on Sunday night in the People’s Choice Classic. He received an outstanding leadout from his Orica-GreenEDGE team, especially from experienced South African Daryl Impey who was patient enough to sit on the IAM Cycling train and launch at the right moment.
Speaking about IAM Cycling, they have a fairly solid train to leadout their sprinter Matteo Peluchi, with the experience of Roger Kluge, and young Australian Leigh Howard (formerly of Orica Orica-GreenEDGE), looking for redemption after a poor year last season. The Italian Peluchi took two wins at the Tour of Poland last year, but was hampered with injury after crashing out of La Vuelta very early, bringing his season to an early end.
He will be looking for a solid start to the season, as will be another talented Italian, Giacomo Nizzolo. No big stage wins last year, but the man from Trek is a consistent sprinter who ended with the points jersey at the Giro d’Italia.
A talented rider who just lacks that top end speed to challenge the Gripels and Cavendishs of the sprint game, but a rider who will most certainly challenge for top spot on a few stages this week.
Other riders to look out for include Koen De Kort (Giant), Ben Swift (Sky), Greg Henderson (Lotto-Soudal), Wouter Wippert (Cannondale Garmin), Adam Blythe (Tinkoff), Juan Jose Lobato (Movistar), Mark Renshaw (Dimension Data), Brenton Jones (Drapac) and Steele Van Hoff (Uni SA).
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