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The Australian cycling season has been underway for two weeks before we see the European riders join them for the first World Tour race of the year, the Santos Tour Down Under.
The first hit out for the riders though does not count towards the overall results of the tour, with the People’s Choice Classic on Sunday allowing the fans a firsthand look at the teams, and their all important jerseys.
It also offers the riders the first chance to race in the bunch for the first time for the year, making the racing both nervous and chaotic.
Alongside the men, the women will get their chance to shine on the streets of Adelaide, as they tackle Stage 2 of the Santos Womens Tour on the same course before the men. The women will take 14 laps (32.2 kilometres) around the inner city circuit, before most likely finishing in a bunch kick as per last year.
The length of the race is 12 kilometres (four laps) longer than last year, so there is the potential for the race to break up and make the finish much more unpredictable. Also throw into the mix over 100 riders taking part in the race this year compared to 72 last year, with the added quality of the race being rated as a 2.2 race by the UCI.
Australian stars Annette Edmondson (Wiggle High5), Chloe Hosking (Ale Cippollini), Kimberley Wells (Rush Cycling), Katrin Garfoot (Orica) and Tiffany Cromwell (Canyon SRAM) will go up against some of the best riders in the world including the likes of Kirsten Wild (Cylance), and Annemiek van Vleuten in what should be some close, tough racing.
The men will tackle the same route as the women; however, will cover an extra eight laps to ride a little over 50 kilometres in around an hour of high paced racing.
Again, Australian riders will be in the favourites list of many punters, with young gun and winner of this event last year Caleb Ewan coming off a solid start to the season at Bay Crits and nationals, where he took out the Criterium title. He will get to wear the national colours for the first and only time this year and will be determined to win on the streets of Adelaide again.
He will be once again supported by his Orica-Scott teammates, with the key inclusion of new recruit Roger Kluge to the leadout train making it a very difficult task for the other teams to compete.
However, with the world champion Peter Sagan amongst a bunch of other solid sprinters, Ewan may not have it all his own week over the next week in the sprints.
Other riders to watch out for today include Nikias Ardnt (Team Sunweb), Danny Van Poppel (Sky), Mark Renshaw (Dimension Data), Tom van Asbroeck (Cannondale-Drapac), Niccolo Bonifazio (Bahrain Merida Pro Cycling Team), Carlos Barbero (Movistar), Ben Swift (UAE Abu Dhabi), and Edward Theuns (Trek Segafredo).
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