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2017 Tour Down Under: Stage 1 preview

Caleb Ewan is among the favourites to take out Stage 1 of the TDU. (AAP Image/Dan Peled)
Roar Guru
16th January, 2017
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Stage 1 of the Tour Down Under sees the sprinters get their first chance to shine, with the parcours favouring a bunch finsih. However, with some lumps in the final half, some of the pure sprinters may struggle.

The riders roll out from Unley and travel through the vineyards to finish up with three circuits around the finishing town of Lyndoch.

The 145 kilometres includes a difficult first quarter, with the riders completing the first King of the Mountain point of the tour by scaling the Category 2 climb of Humbug Scrub after 37 kilometres.

The climb is fairly simple, at 4.5 kilometres and 4.2 per cent, however the final two kilometres average more than six per cent until the top.

It also comes after a difficult start to the stage, with a punchy 2.8-kilometre climb of Black Top Hill, which averages six per cent, around 20 kilometres in.

The final sees three 26-kilometre loops around Lyndoch, which will allow the sprinters teams a good look at the finale. Before they get to the finish though, there will be two intermediate sprints, in the town of Cockatoo Valley, at 74 kilometres, and 101 kilometres completed.

A break should be away by this part of the stage, however if it isn’t, watch for Simon Gerrans and his Orica-Scott teammates to take control of the bunch to look for any bonus seconds on offer.

The loops around Lyndoch are by no means difficult, however there is a kilometre-long climb with around 15 kilometres to go in the loop, which averages six per cent and could where the opportunists attack.

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The run into the line is a dream for the sprinters, the final ten kilometres on a fairly straight section of road, with the only real difficulty being the potential for crosswinds.

Caleb Ewan won on this very finish last year and will be tough to beat once again, coming off the back of a superb second season in the pro ranks.

It has been another great start to the season for the pocket rocket, taking out a stage of the Bay Crits, winning the Australian Criterium title, and easing to victory in the People’s Choice Classic on Sunday.

Orica-Scott were superb in the final lap on Sunday, perfectly leading out Ewan to victory over the Bora-Hansgrohe pair of Sam Bennett and Peter Sagan.

It will be interesting to see who Bora uses as their main sprinter, as Bennett looked far faster than Sagan on Sunday, taking second ahead of his world champion teammate.

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Other riders to look out for include Edward Theuns (Trek-Segafredo), Danny Van Poppel (Sky), Niccolo Bonafazio (Bahrain Merida Pro Cycling), Mark Renshaw (Dimension-Data), Sean De Bie (Lotto-Soudal), Baptiste Planckaert (Katusha-Alpecin), Patrick Bevin (Cannondale Drapac), Nikias Arndt (Team Sunweb), Ben Swift (UAE Abu Dhabi) and Tom van Asbroeck (Cannondale Drapac).

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