According to word around town, every hotel, motel, bed & breakfast and backpackers’ inn is booked out in Adelaide, under normal circumstances the fifth-largest city in Australia with a population just over the million mark and apart from its award-winning vineyards, no real world-quality to speak of. But in the few hours we've seen so far and for the next two weeks, Adelaide will be anything but normal. Because Lance is here.
VeloNews.com will offer complete online coverage — including race highlight videos and video interviews — of Australia's Tour Down Under, Jan. 20-25. The ProTour event is the first major race of Lance Armstrong's comeback and features a star-filled roster of ProTour teams.
Seven-time Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong said Monday it would be unrealistic to expect him to win his first race in three years in next week's Tour Down Under. The American cycling great declared he was in the best shape of his life at the start of a season as he prepared to return to professional racing at the age of 37. Armstrong's appearance in the Adelaide tour has generated huge international interest, enough for organisers to take extra security measures to protect him during the event.
A police security team will shadow cycling superstar Lance Armstrong during his time at Australia's Tour Down Under next week, reports said Saturday. Given the extraordinary interest surrounding the seven-time Tour de France winner's comeback to elite cycling, organizers said they would be taking extra security measures to protect Armstrong. Armstrong is expected to arrive here over the weekend from Hawaii ahead of the January 18 start to the tour, according to the reports.
The first of the European teams have arrived in Australia for this month's Tour Down Under, but the travel details of cycling superstar Lance Armstrong were still under wraps as of Thursday. Race organizers, mindful of the extraordinary interest that the seven-time Tour de France champion's comeback has generated, have not released his arrival plans for fears of an unwieldy media scrum at Adelaide Airport. Armstrong's Astana team is scheduled to arrive early on Sunday, but reports said the American great is not expected until next week, just ahead of the January 18 start of the tour.
Two-time Tour Down Under winner Stuart O'Grady will lead Denmark's Team CSC Saxo Bank in Australia’s premiere stage race next month, organizers announced Monday. O'Grady, 35, who won the inaugural tour in 1999 and again in 2001, has ridden in the Tour de France since 1998 and won the gold medal in the Madison at the 2004 Athens Olympics. "Stuart has won here twice before and I know he will hit the race hard, looking to add a third title to his crown," race director Mike Turtur said in a statement.
Italian UCI ProTour teams Liquigas and Lampre-NGC have confirmed their entries for Australia's Tour Down Under next month, organizers said Monday. Liquigas finished fourth overall in the team classification in the 2008 Tour Down Under and race director Mike Turtur said he expected the team to be competitive again in next month's tour around Adelaide in South Australia. This year Francesco Chicchi of Liquigas won stage seven of the Tirreno-Adriatico and was first in a stage of the Settimana internazionale di Coppi e Bartali.
Besides Lance Armstrong, Astana's team roster for next month's Tour Down Under in Australia includes three riders from the 2008 Giro d'Italia, organizers said Friday. Also riding for Astana as Armstrong makes his return to professional cycling is Jose Luis Ruberia who rode in five of the Texan's Tour de France-winning teams. "We all know that Lance Armstrong is a champion, but the rest of his Astana teammates heading Down Under should not be underestimated," race director Mike Turtur said. Giro winner Alberto Contador will not be taking part in Tour Down Under.
The Versus cable network will broadcast 30-minute daily reports from the Tour Down Under, the Australian race that will mark Lance Armstrong's return to stage racing next month. Versus also will webcast the entire final stage of the January 20-24 event on www.VERSUS.com. The half-hour telecasts will air at 4 p.m. ET except for the January 24 telecast which will air at 3:30 p.m. ET.
Oscar Pereiro will join Lance Armstrong in competing in the Tour Down Under in Australia next month, officials said Tuesday. Organizers said it will be the first time that two Tour de France winners have competed in the 800km event in South Australia, slated for January 18-25. "The Tour Down Under is honored to have Pereiro and Armstrong competing at our event," race director Mike Turtur said. "Spectators in Adelaide will get to see some of the best cycling champions of our time. It's a great coup for the sport in this region."
European ProTour teams Silence-Lotto and BBox Bouygues Telecom have confirmed they will compete in next month's Tour Down Under in Australia. BBox Bouygues Telecom will send an all-French team and Belgium's Silence-Lotto will field an experienced European contingent. "I am pleased to see Mario Aerts back in Australia riding for Silence-Lotto, he is a Tour Down Under favourite," race director Mike Turtur said Friday. "Mario is a consummate professional in the peloton, having achieved some major cycling milestones in his career."
The French team which won this year's overall team classification at the Tour Down Under in Australia, Francaise des Jeux, will be returning in 2009 to defend its crown, organizers said Wednesday. "We will expect a competitive team performance in 2009 by Francaise des Jeux," race director Mike Turtur said. The team includes Jeremy Roy, who finished second overall in the 2008 Giro d'Italia Sprint Classification, and who Turtur said would be striving to secure sprint jersey points at the Tour Down Under.
French teams, Francaise des Jeux and Cofidis, have announced their rider rosters for the 2009 Tour Down Under. Tour Down Under Race Director, Mike Turtur, says he is pleased the 2008 TourDown Under overall Teams Classification winner Francaise des Jeux is returning to defend their crown. “We will expect a competitive team performance in 2009 by Francaise des Jeux,” said Turtur. ‘With Jeremy Roy finishing second overall in the 2008 Giro d’Italia Sprint Classification, he will be striving to secure SA Lotteries Sprint jersey points at the Tour Down Under.”
France’s Ag2r La Mondiale team will be back for next month's Tour Down Under in Australia, organizers said Monday. Ag2r La Mondiale has the best overall record in the Tour Down Under with four winners since the first race in 1999 -- Spaniard Mikel Astarloza (2003), Gilles Maignan of France (2000), Australian Simon Gerrans (2006) and Swiss Martin Elmiger (2007). "It is great news that such a quality team will be competing in Adelaide in January," race director Mike Turtur said.
Andre Greipel will be back to defend his title at the Tour Down Under Jan. 18-25 as Team Columbia confirmed its presence at the season kick-off in Australia. The big, burly German sprinter won four stages and the overall in the 2008 edition and later finished fifth overall in the UCI ProTour rankings. Supporting Greipel will be a strong Columbia lineup, including 2002 champ Michael Rogers and George Hincapie.
Never did the man who came to the 2008 Tour Down Under with aspirations of winning a sprint or two believe it was possible to win the race overall. But on a picture-perfect Sunday in Adelaide, that's exactly what happened to Andre Greipel.
It appears Andre Greipel is a man who can do no wrong. Before this week, the palmarès of the 25-year-old from Rostock amounted to five wins in much smaller stage races. But all of a sudden, he's stepped up to the ProTour level in a very, very big way. And after a third stage victory Saturday in Willunga, he finds himself the likely champion of the 2008 Tour Down Under with just one stage remaining.
The stage has been set for a showdown of epic proportions. In searing heat, a highly animated fourth stage of the Tour Down Under had the potential to impose time gaps, but the finale in Strathalbyn saw the fourth bunch gallop in as many days. High Road's Andre Greipel took a convincing win over race leader Mark Renshaw, who kept his ochre jersey, thus leaving the door to overall honors wide open for Saturday's stage in Willunga.
The finish may still be three days away, but there's every possibility the 10th edition of the Tour Down Under will come down to the wire. And get this: The winner may well be the sprinter who can climb best.
So far, it's a Tour Down Under like we've never seen before. In years past, after two stages there's been only a handful of riders left in contention. But this year is clearly different: After Andre Greipel's scintillating stage victory in Hahndorf, three riders have the same time overall - all of them sprinters.
It's been four years coming, but on a baking hot Tuesday in Angaston, Mark Renshaw finally delivered on what he'd long set out to do. Maybe it was the hours spent behind a motorbike over the Australian summer, paced by his father over the dead roads of Bathurst in country New South Wales. Maybe it was the added strength that comes with three full seasons as a professional, under the wise-old wings of team manager Roger Legeay.
It was an unpredictable precursor to the Tour Down Under as Germany's André Greipel, a relative unknown to most, upstaged his more fancied local talent to claim first blood among the sprinters in the Down Under Classic. The fourth-year pro, not quite as muscled as his Australian counterparts Robbie McEwen and Mark Renshaw - the two riders he convincingly beat to the line Sunday evening in Glenelg - patiently waited for Graeme Brown's Rabobank train to tire before his High Road crew placed him in the hot seat two-and-a-half laps from home.
Defending champion Martin Elminger will be one of five past champions contesting the 10th edition of the Tour Down Under, which begins in the South Australian beachside town of Glenelg on Sunday, January 20. Stuart O'Grady (1999, 2001), Mikel Astarloza (2003), Luis León Sánchez (2005) and Simon Gerrans (2006) make up the rest of the past winners back for another crack at the title. However, they may well face their biggest challenge yet.
Australia’s Sports Anti-Doping Authority Monday announced anti-doping initiatives to be used at this month's Tour Down Under. The new rigorous program is being implemented in partnership with the UCI and Events South Australia, where the tour will be held, ASADA said in a statement. The 2008 Tour Down Under, from January 22-27, is the first stop on the UCI-sanctioned world professional cycling calendar and the first time that a UCI-sanctioned ProTour event has been held in Australia.
His confidence buoyed by a successful comeback at the recent Herald Sun Tour in Australia, Stuart O'Grady already finds himself contemplating victory in two early season races - something he never expected to be thinking about three months ago. It turns out Matthew Wilson, the overall winner of Australia's oldest stage race, wasn't the only one who shocked himself, the Unibet pro claiming his biggest career victory to date and doing no harm to his chances of finding another ProTour gig. In his first since that fateful day on July 15 at the Tour de France, where a wipeout on a
Former Swiss cycling champion Martin Elmiger relaunched his professional career by winning the Tour Down Under after some thrilling final-day drama on Sunday. Australian sprint king Robbie McEwen meanwhile claimed victory in the 81km, 18-lap final stage, extending his record victory tally in the race to 12. McEwen, a three-time winner of the Tour de France green jersey, held off fellow Australian Mark Renshaw, who gestured prior to the finish line about being squeezed into the barriers by the Predictor-Lotto sprinter. McEwen was unapologetic.
Adelaide, Australia - Up-and-coming Australian cyclist Simon Gerrans was celebrating his second stage race win inside three months Sunday after winning the Tour Down Under, the last stage of which was won by Allan Davis. Davis, who is set to be the Australian team leader for the Commonwealth Games road race in March, grabbed his second win of the five-stage race after pipping compatriot Robbie McEwen (Davitamon-Lotto) at the finish line of the 90km downtown Adelaide circuit.
Adelaide, Australia — Australian Simon Gerrans (AG2R) endured his toughest test yet as a cycling professional on Saturday but emerged smiling after the fourth and penultimate stage of the Tour Down Under, won by Russel Van Hout (UniSA-Australia). Gerrans had to dig deep to defend his seven-second lead in the general classification over last year's winner, Luis Leon Sanchez (Liberty Seguros-Wurth), in the race's hardest stage — featuring the feared Willunga climb, 20km from the finish of the 147km stage. Sanchez attacked on the 3km climb, whose gradient is 7 percent, but Gerrans was
Yankalilla, Australia - The Liberty Seguros team scored its second Tour Down Under stage win in as many days as Spaniard Carlos Barredo gambled and attacked in the final kilometers of Friday’s 154km third stage from Strathalbyn to Yankalilla on South Australia's Fleurieu Peninsula. Barredo’s win comes a day after teammate Allan Davis claimed a stage victory in Hahndorf. AG2R’s Simon Gerrans retains the overall lead, but admitted his bid for victory will hinge on how he handles the tough climb in the Tour’s fourth and penultimate stage on Saturday. Barredo took a gutsy stage win after
Hahndorf, Australia - Simon Gerrans enjoyed the protection of his French AG2R team to retain control of the Tour Down Under on Thursday as fellow Aussie professional Allan Davis finally bagged a stage. Davis, who along with Stuart O'Grady was one of two Australians to come close to winning the world championships road title in 2004, is one of two riders, the other being Estonian veteran Jaan Kirsipuu, to have competed in all eight editions here. It was something of an albatross. An established sprinter in the European peloton, the diminutive Liberty Seguros sprinter had never managed
Angaston, Australia - Up-and-coming Australian Simon Gerrans took a big step toward winning the five-stage Tour Down Under on Wednesday with a gutsy victory that saw the list of overall contenders slashed by a decisive break. Gerrans, in his second season with the French AG2R team, made the race-winning move move with less than 5km to race in the 148km stage between Adelaide and Angaston in the hilly Barossa wine valley. The 25-year-old played his cards perfectly, first by joining an early break and then by linking up with defending TDU champion Luis Leon Sanchez (Liberty Seguros),
Adelaide, Australia - Australian sprint ace Robbie McEwen began his season in his usual style by snagging a win at the Tour Down Under Classic Criterium here on Tuesday. McEwen, a two-time winner of the Tour de France green points jersey, comfortably held off Italian Daniele Colli (Liquigas-Bianchi)in a bunch sprint at the end of the 25-lap, 50 kilometer inner-city course. The criterium is considered a “prelude” to the Tour Down Under and has no bearing on the race standings. The Tour Down Under, a five-stage event, is held around Adelaide and the surrounding area and begins with a 148
Adelaide, Australia - Tour de France star Robbie McEwen is set to get his rivalry with Norwegian sprinter Thor Hushovd off to an early start this season when the eighth Tour Down Under gets underway in Adelaide Tuesday. Liberty Seguros all rounder Luis Leon Sanchez of Spain, 22, will be defending the general classification title in the five stage race around the southern Australian city and the neighboring wine-growing region. But before then most people are anticipating and hoping that Hushovd and McEwen will provide some of the sparks that have accompanied their now habitual rivalry at
Robbie McEwen likened the roar of the crowd in the home straight to that of a football grand final after charging home to win the final stage of the Jacob's Creek Tour Down Under on Sunday. Like he has done so many times in a star-studded career, McEwen, 32, timed his run perfectly down the 500-meter finishing straight to get over the top of Italian Paride Grillo (Ceramiche Panaria-Navigare) and Queenslander Allan Davis (Liberty Seguros).
Spain's Luis Sanchez, touted as the next Miguel Indurain, is the new leader in the Jacob's Creek Tour Down Under after an enthralling third stage between Glenelg and Victor Harbor on Thursday. Sanchez, 21, from the Murcia region and riding for Liberty Seguros, outsprinted Belgian Johan Van Summeren to win the stage after both riders attacked a 26-man breakaway 20km from the finish. The win catapulted Sanchez into the leader's yellow jersey after he trailed Queensland's Robbie McEwen by 12 seconds overnight. McEwen, 32, winner of the opening two stages was the day’s biggest loser, missing
Robbie McEwen continued his brilliant early season form with a thrilling victory in the opening stage of the Jacob's Creek Tour Down Under in Adelaide's East End Tuesday evening. In an All Australian trifecta, McEwen beat Queenslander Allan Davis with South Australian hero Stuart O'Grady third after 25 frenetic laps of a 2.5km circuit before a crowd estimated at close to 65,000. It was McEwen's ninth stage victory in seven years and followed closely on his win in the Australian Open road championship in Echunga on Saturday.
It’s not quite the Champs-Élysées, but for the tens of thousands who turned out for the final stage of the Jacob's Creek Tour Down Under on Sunday it was a race finale to rival anything on the world stage. Not only did top sprinters Baden Cooke and Robbie McEwen take the top-two finish spots for the day, one of Adelaide's favorite sons, Patrick Jonker, duly bowed out a winner after a distinguished 14-year career in the pro ranks. Jonker, 34, earmarked this year's event as his last as a professional cyclist, and in a fairytale ending he achieved a dream result.
Ag2R's Mikel Astarloza relied on the sprinting prowess of his teammate Jaan Kirsipuu to hold off a final stage challenge from Stuart O'Grady, and a host of other Australians, hoping to keep the Spaniard from claiming the overall title at the Jacob’s Creek Tour Down Under. Meanwhile, Ceramiche-Panaria powerhouse Graeme Brown should have had little reason to complain after surviving a week of frustration to finally win a stage in this year’s race.
Australian champion Robbie McEwen was the first to raise his hands in triumph at the Jacob's Creek Tour Down Under with an emphatic win in Tuesday night's first stage. McEwen (Lotto) won the 47km criterium at the Adelaide, Australia, beachside suburb of Glenelg from Corey Sweet (Uni of South Australia) and Dutch champion Jans Koerts (Domo). The trio formed the winning breakaway after only nine of 25 laps on the 1.88km circuit and held off a chase group of 10 riders after lapping the main bunch with four laps to go.