The 2017 UCI WorldTour finally gets underway in Adelaide with the Tour Down Under. Stage 1 takes the riders on a 145-kilometre trip, you can join The Roar for live coverage from 11:55am (AEDT).
The stage starts out from Unley, riding to the north-east for about 85 kilometres, before finishing on three laps of a 26.5-kilometre circuit that links Williamstown and Cockatoo Valley.
There is one categorised climb on the day, leading into Kersbrook and coming inside the first 40 kilometres – while it won’t have any significance in the outcome of the stage, it will decide who becomes the first leader in the king of the mountains classification – watch for the UniSA team to attack hard early.
The final circuit itself doesn’t have any categorised climbs, but there is certainly enough up and down to keep the riders interested and the sprinters nervous.
The first half of the circuit takes the riders more or less on an undulating uphill turn, before the final three kilometres of the circuit, which they will pass three times before the finish line, which is on a downhill false flat, ensuring a fast end.
Being on a circuit, this will certainly suit the smarter riders who are able to learn something each time around, and the bigger teams.
For that reason, Orica-Scott are in a good position here. Caleb Ewan, while still young, has plenty of skill and his team, looking after Simon Gerrans and Esteban Chavez, have more than a couple of reasons to stay out of trouble.
The problem for Ewan is going to be getting the support he needs, but on a downhill run to the line he can easily jump on closest competitor Peter Sagan’s Bora train.
Sagan will be led out to the line by his new team, with Sam Bennett and Jay McCarthy the men likely to lead the charge.
Mark Renshaw is another rider who can’t be counted out in the run to the finish. While he is normally the lead out man for Mark Cavendish, he is plan A here and despite never having outrageous success in Australia, Nathan Haas and Tyler Farrar means he has a strong support cast.
Others to watch out for include Tom Jelte-Slagter (Cannondale), Australian national champion Miles Scotson (BMC), Matti Breschel (Astana), Ben Swift (UAE) and the Uni-SA team who will try to cause an upset.
Prediction
The first stage of the year is always a difficult one to predict, but the course does suit Sagan right until the last couple of kilometres. A downhill sprint will play into his bike handling skills, but not so much the pace ones.
Caleb Ewan, who handles the bike with the best of them should take out the first stage of 2017 in a bunch sprint ahead of Sagan and Mark Renshaw.
Be sure to join The Roar for live coverage of the first stage of the Tour Down Under from 11:55am (AEDT) and don’t forget to drop your own comments in the section below.
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Scott Pryde
Expert
Thanks for joining me today for The Roar's live coverage of the Tour Down Under as Caleb Ewan claimed the first victory of the season. Hopefully you enjoyed the coverage. Be sure to join Connor Bennett tomorrow for Stage 2. Before then, I'll be live with Daria Gavrilova's opening round match at the Australian Open. Bye for now.
Scott Pryde
Expert
Top 10 1. Caleb Ewan (Orica-Scott) @ 3:24:18 2. Danny Van Poppel (Team Sky) 3. Sam Bennett (Bora-Hansgrohe) 4. Marko Kump (UAE Abu Dhabi) 5. Niccolo Bonifazio (Bahrain-Merida) 6. Nikias Arndt (Sunweb) 7. Baptiste Planckaert (Katusha-Alpecin) 8. Edward Theuns (Trek-Segafredo) 9. Miles Scotson (BMC) 10. Sean De Bie (Lotto Soudal)
Scott Pryde
Expert
Race Results Caleb Ewan has claimed the first leader's jersey at the 2017 Tour Down Under on a scorching day in Adelaide after taking out the opening stage in a tense final sprint ahead of Danny Van Poppel and Sam Bennett. The race, which was originally supposed to be 145 kilometres in length was shortened by to 117 due to the 40 degree temperatures in the west of Adelaide, meaning the final circuit around Lyndoch would only be raced twice. After Laurens De Vreese (Astana) sat in a solo breakaway for most of the day, but the scorching conditions were always going to catch up with him as he was eventually caught. He will take home the prize of most aggressive rider and leader of the King of the Mountains competition for his efforts though. On the final lap of the circuit, Jan Bakelants (Ag2r) and Adam Hansen (Lotto-Soudal) decided to make things interesting by attacking, but never actually formed as a two man break and Bakelants was caught with just 2 kilomtres to go. Caleb Ewan would then win the sprint after a messy lead out from his Orica-Scott team. Even though they didn't quite get it right, Peter Sagan provided the perfect lead out trying to set up Sam Bennett, with Ewan sneaking down the left hand side of the road for the win ahead of Van Poppell and Bennett.
Scott Pryde
Expert
Marko Kump, not Ben Swift for fourth. Full results to come shortly.
Scott Pryde
Expert
Fantastic sprint from Ewan but you can just sense the exhaustion in his voice as he is interviewed behind the finish line. Riders will be straight into ice baths to try and prepare for tomorrow, get core body temperatures down. Ewan will also be off to the podium for the ochre jersey.
Scott Pryde
Expert
Danny Van Poppel did a good job coming up the middle of the road there, but just didn't have the legs to get up to Ewan. Bennett came through for third, not quite capitalising on the lead out of Sagan. Looks like Swift came through for fourth. Great work from Ewan to get out on the left hand side of the road and put the hammer down for the first victory of the UCI 2017 World Tour.
Scott Pryde
Expert
Sagan went way to early there and ended up giving Caleb Ewan the perfect lead out! Caleb Ewan wins the first stage of the 2017 Tour Down Under! Looks like Sagan was trying to go for Bennett who was up there while Danny Van Poppel might have snuck over for second place.
Scott Pryde
Expert
Orica have just lost their organisation here and Ewan has fallen well down the pack. Dimension Data and Sunweb moving through while Sagan is going long range! Very long range.
Scott Pryde
Expert
1km to go!
Scott Pryde
Expert
The field spreading right across the road here and Sunweb have jut come to the front with a lead out while Dimension Data are also there. Orica have just started their leadout with Impey on the front.
Scott Pryde
Expert
Here is the catch and jeez that could have been ugly. Came up to him at a real flurry and just about ran him over. Think Bakelants thought he had a bit more time there. 2km to go!
Scott Pryde
Expert
The gap can't be much more than 15 seconds now and Durbridge still doing all the work. Reminder the winner will be the overall race leader.
Scott Pryde
Expert
Impey and Kluge sitting in the wings here with Ewan in the wheel. Durbidge on the front but that three man train is ready to fly.
Scott Pryde
Expert
Bakelants pace just looks to have slowed a little bit out the front. Shoulders starting to roll and that gap is moving down.
Scott Pryde
Expert
Remembering the final to the finish line is slightly downhill, that might play into Bakelants hands. Durbridge back on the front of the peloton and there is a real cooperation between a number of teams here to get this gap down and Bakelants back into the pack.
Scott Pryde
Expert
The gap must still be outside of half a minute here. Surely Bakelants can't hold on alone in this heat?
Scott Pryde
Expert
Waiting for an official time gap but Bakelants has 5km to go and still looks very solid.
Scott Pryde
Expert
It's Luke Durbridge to the front now and he is absolutely hammering away. Looks like BMC and UAE Abu Dhabi are up there as well. Dimension have a rider in the picture at the front and this train is driving hard now. 5km to go.
Scott Pryde
Expert
It's Orica back to the front and they are starting to really ramp up the pace in the final 10km here. Bakelants still at the front but Hansen about to be caught now.
Scott Pryde
Expert
Roarers, can Bakelants hang on here?