Less than two years ago the races Sam Welsford was taking on were measured in thousands of metres, not thousands of kilometres. But now the Olympic track medallist is already facing up to his first Tour de France sprint stage firmly embedded among the list of contenders for the victory.
It’s been the quickest of transitions for the Australian rider, who entered the WorldTour in 2022. Yet he is already taking on the Tour de France as DSM-Firmenich's supported sprinter after a spate of impressive results in the first half of the year made it hard to pass him over for the biggest race on the calendar, even though he had yet to face the test of a Grand Tour.
”I didn't think I would be racing the Tour de France in my second year as a professional, that was a nice surprise," Welsford told Cyclingnews in an interview during the final lead-in. "But I probably didn't think I'd be winning as many races in my second year as well, or having numerous podiums.”
Welsford’s transition to the road couldn’t have been smoother right from the beginning, with the Western-Australian born rider taking to the final step of the podium at Scheldeprijs, known as the unofficial World Championships for sprinters, just months into his first season. Then in the first half of 2023 he added dual stage victories at Vuelta a San Juan, a win at Grand Prix Criquielion and a solid list of podiums, that included a second place this time at Scheldeprijs.
The skills the 27-year-old learnt on the boards have clearly been put to good use on the road.
“I think I always knew I had the speed from the track. I was fast, but then it's about how you incorporate that with the road side and endurance and there are so many more aspects to the road sprinting than the track,” said Welsford.
“It was a big learning year last year,” he added, continuing on with a discussion of the bunch size, movement within it and increased intensity among the top tier peloton. “I think I really soaked that up and learnt really fast, so maybe that helped a lot with my selection this year and yes, it'll be super tough but to do this in my second year … I'm over the moon.”
Dual aims
Any Grand Tour is tough, and the extra intensity of the Tour de France spotlight makes it even more so, but Welsford has also debuted at an unrelenting edition of the race.
“A lot of it is just about trying to survive the hard days, especially when I go off into the mountains, finding your group and trying to make time cut," said Welsford. "Do that and then you are good for the sprint.”
There is no working up to those mountain stages either this year. With the race begining in the hilly Basque Country, the first two days have already delivered what is considered the hardest start in two decades.
As such the focus for DSM-Firmenich initially turned to Romain Bardet, the experienced overall and climbing stage card for the team with second and third place overall plus three stage victories across his ten Tour de France starts. Given the parcours, it was the French rider that was winding it up in the dash for the line on stage 2, to take seventh overall, while Welsford finished 18 minutes back in 140th place.
However, the tables are about to turn as the relatively flat stage 3 from Amorebieta-Etxano to Bayonne has arrived, offering the sprinters their first chance of the three-week tour.
“The form is good and I think we've done a lot of work to build up to this and, and obviously, doing my first Grand Tour, you have to learn a lot about your body and how it responds,” said Welsford. “It’s just about doing whatever you can to get through and make sure that when you get through to the sprint days, you can actually have a gallop.”
Team DSM's dual aims means the squad is split between climbing support for Bardet and the sprint leadout group for Welsford, which includes Alex Edmondson, John Degenkolb and Nils Eekhoff. Welsford, however is quick to point out that the two groups also work well together to support each other. Bardet is among those prepared to jump into the lead-out when needed while the sprint group is adept at positioning the climbing team on the run into key ascents.
The split priorities, which can also be seen in many other squads, also perhaps provide a strategy that reduces the pressure somewhat on Welsford, because not so much of the responsibility for the team’s results rests on him.
Still, two Olympic Games have prepared the Australian well for handling the spotlight and Welsford said that “I think the team are just trying to see how it goes, day by day. I think a lot of pressure comes from myself. Obviously, for me, I'm super competitive and I want to win basically whatever I can race in."
“But I'm very realistic and sometimes it doesn't go to plan or sometimes things happen in Grand Tours. It's not easy … the team obviously want to go for results and do the best we can, but we just want to make sure we attack the race from the start and make sure we are on the front foot and really involved in the race early so that we can continue that rolling on to Paris.”
In fact for a sprinter – particularly one who has so recently shifted from the track and is taking on his first three week stage race – no matter what the results are, just making it through 3,405 kilometres across five mountain ranges within the time cuts is no small ask.
“Winning a stage would be the dream, that's the best scenario I think," said Welsford before the start of the Tour de France. "But also I think for me, getting to Paris would be such an awesome achievement."
"I think your body would come out of that Tour so well and also doing 21 days racing through the mountains really sets you up for a good development for next year as well."
