Sam Welsford (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) claimed the first international win of the 2025 season in the Tour Down Under Classic on Saturday.
Henri Uhlig (Alpecin-Deceuninck) finished second, while Matthew Brennan (Visma-Lease a Bike) rolled in for third.
A high-speed crash in the final corner took down at least a dozen riders, detracting from the celebration of the Australian criterium champion.
Unlike last year, when a late breakaway stole the show, Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe worked the entire hour to ensure that it would come down to a sprint, with Danny van Poppel dropping off Welsford perfectly before the final corner.
"We always knew it was going to be hard and the final to bring it back if it got out too far, like last year," Welsford said.
"Around that last corner, I was pretty close to the barriers there, and I kind of checked underneath and I saw that it was pretty strung out. I had a little bit, maybe, like a metre [gap]. So I was like, you know, I'm just gonna send it. I just went as hard as I could. I knew with the downhill, and a little bit of a tailwind it would be hard to overtake, and the rest was history."
The first appearance of the WorldTour teams in competition in 2025 got underway with a flurry of attacks opening the men's Classic criterium.
Albert Withen Philipsen (Lidl-Trek) kicked off the fireworks and his teammate Patrick Konrad claimed the first sprint with a surge, but it was Jay Vine (UAE Team Emirates) who sparked the day's breakaway along with Oscar Onley (Picnic-PostNl) and Jordan Labrosse (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale).
With 10 of 30 laps to go, the peloton began to pick up the pace under the power of the Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe team, who were keen to deliver Sam Welsford to his first victory of the season.
As the shadows lengthened under the clear blue skies above Adelaide, the mustachioed Vine put his time trial legs to work to try to hold off the chasing bunch. With seven laps to go, the 20-second gap was down to 17 and the trio began to believe in victory.
Six laps to go, their lead was still 16 seconds and the battle for position became fierce in the bunch behind, but still Red Bull kept control of the chase, whittling the gap down lap by lap.
Bahrain Victorious finally came forward to give a hand with four laps remaining, looking to set up Phil Bauhaus, while Lidl-Trek and Ineos Grenadiers also put some power into the pursuit. A brief attack from Israel-Premier Tech went nowhere but served to slash into the gap, bringing it down to 12 seconds with three to go.
Despite the three riders continuing to cooperate, Intermarché-Wanty came to the forefront to shut down the move and halved their lead before a furious jump from Movistar's Natnael Tesfazion finally nullified the breakaway at the bell.
A big crash in the final corner took down a dozen riders but Welsford was already starting his sprint, successfully delivering for his team in the criterium champion's colours. Third-placed Brennan, however, was behind it.
“It kind of happened right in front of me and I was like here we go type of thing … fortunately we managed to nip around it and get in for third," Brennan said. "These things happen, it’s a shame though, I hope everyone is all right.”
The riders involved all appeared to be able to shake off the effects of the wreck, and go through the finish line, though Moro Manlio (Movistar) was a DNF but the team said on social it was a "crash without major consequences".
However, a spectator was also embroiled with the Tour Down Under releasing a statement on Sunday morning.
"Sadly, as a result of the collision, a female spectator suffered injuries and was taken to hospital where she is currently being treated. We are unable to go into the extent of her injuries at this stage," said race organisers.
"We are in contact with the spectator’s family and have offered our support. Our thoughts are with the spectator and their family, as well as the riders impacted by the incident."
