The WorldTour buzz ramps up for the Tour Down Under, the first race of the 2024 series and the first chance for success for the 140 riders on the start list. Some will be out for stage wins, some out for the general classification, while others will just be happy to get some race days in their legs.
The Tour Down Under gala starts with the Down Under Classic, an hour-long criterium in Adelaide and invariably one for the sprinters. The stage race proper gets underway on Tuesday with the first of six tricky stages, culminating in two uphill finishes first on Willunga Hill and then the finale on Mount Lofty.
All 18 of the WorldTour teams will have riders on the line, as is required by the UCI, with the Israel-Premier Tech ProTeam and the Australian National Team filling out the start list.
Some of the riders' form is known after the Australian Road Championships, while others have been busy training.
One thing is certain: there will be a new champion at the Tour Down Under, as 2023 winner Jay Vine won't be at the start, and all of the previous winners have retired.
Cyclingnews dug into the start list and came up with nine riders to watch - some obvious, some not so much - at the Tour Down Under from January 16 through 21.
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Luke Plapp & Simon Yates
Luke Plapp and Simon Yates come as a package deal as the Jayco AlUla co-leaders of the home team for the Tour Down Under. Plapp has been on fire since joining from Ineos Grenadiers, sweeping both the Australian road race and time trial national titles. He won the road race last year before not overly featuring at the stage race, but his performances last week looked a different beast.
Behind him, he’ll also have a very strong team if he is the main GC option, but Yates was second last season and won the final stage to Mount Lofty, which he’ll be happy to see again on stage 6. Yates maintains a strong level throughout the season, so expect an in-form version of the Brit licking his lips at the prospect of a double ascent up Willingu Hill (3.4km at 7.4%) on stage 5.
The pair could work well in tandem with Plapp launching early and utilising his time trial abilities to stay up the road while Yates marks the moves out behind, but they will also have Chris Harper at their disposal, who is a more than capable climbing domestique. Harper and Plapp attacked together 100km from the finish at the national road race championships to take a 1-2 for Jayco.
Different guises of Jayco AlUla have been the team to watch in many Tours Down Under gone by, and 2024 should be no different with a team built around three of their big stars.
Filippo Ganna
Normally the Tour Down Under wouldn't be a race for a former time trial world champion like Filippo Ganna - there isn't a time trial, the sprint stages are mostly geared toward pure sprinters and the climbers' stages are selective.
However, Ganna transformed from a time trialist and super-domestique into a vicious stage-hunter and one-day racer who can sprint against the pure sprinters and out-climb many of the pure climbers when he wishes.
From the Alto Colorado in the Vuelta a San Juan, where he was second to Miguel Angel Lopez, to the Vuelta a España, where we saw him going up against points classification winner Kaden Groves (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Ganna showed in 2023 that he could do it all.
With the Olympic Games this year and a focus on both the track and road, it's uncertain how Ganna will be going in January. If he's firing, few riders can beat him, in particular on the more selective sprint stages like the opening stage in Tanuda with Mengiers Hill 13.5km before the line, stage 2 to Lobethal with a short kicker in the closing 5km.
Caleb Ewan
Caleb Ewan found made a successful start in his return to home team Jayco AlUla, taking the win in the elite men’s Australian criterium championships. He’ll be looking to continue that form into the Tour Down Under and reignite his career after his least successful full season since turning professional that saw him manage only one pro win.
There were no stage wins for Ewan at the TDU in 2023 but he will be spurred on by the nine previous victories he’s achieved there. Ewan was racing with a group of very talented young riders for the Australian national team last year, but they were no WorldTour-level leadout which left him sprinting from deep in the pack.
He’ll be delivered in the sprints by a strong lineup including Kelland O’Brien, Michael Hepburn and Campbell Stewart. The GC side of Jayco AlUla’s team will feature Simon Yates, Chris Harper and newly crowned Australian ITT champion Luke Plapp, who could also help in the run into a sprint. Ewan should be on top form with top support in front of the home crowds.
Julian Alaphilippe
A decade ago, Julian Alaphilippe started his first WorldTour season with Soudal QuickStep at the Tour Down Under. Now he returns to the race for the first time since then with a highly decorated palmarès that has seen him twice become World Champion, take a Monument victory and light up the Tour de France.
Alaphilippe is the headline name on the starlist but has struggled with form in the past few seasons due to nasty crashes. He showed signs of his panache-personified best with a win at the Dauphiné, but is hoping to return to his brilliant best ahead of the Spring Classics.
He won’t race the Tour de France this year as they Belgian squad goes all in for Remco Evenepoel, but the Frenchman will instead make his Giro d’Italia debut to chase stages. He’s had great success in Italy before having won Milan-San Remo and Strade Bianche. With these focuses, it’s unknown how close to his best he’ll be in Australia but expect exciting racing nonetheless.
Corbin Strong
New Zealander Corbin Strong is beginning to come into his own in the WorldTour after two seasons with Israel-Premier Tech. The 23-year-old won the opening stage of the Tour of Luxembourg and was second at the GP Québec and Circuit Franco-Belge - all races that featured an uphill sprint finish.
The former points race world champion's skills will shine on the hilly first stages.
Strong has the benefit of spending the winter in the vicinity and not having to make the long-haul flight like his European peers and also not having a huge target on his back. He's ready for a breakthrough season, and Tour Down Under might just be the start.
Phil Bauhaus
Phil Bauhaus held off a charging Ewan and claimed stage 1 in last year’s race with a powerful sprint to the line into Tanunda, which he’ll be happy to see again features on the route as the start and finish point of the opening stage.
The German fast man is brilliant in chaotic finishes, so without the full-strength lead-out trains that you may see at Grand Tours, his ability to pick the correct lines and wheels is better highlighted. His win in Australia was his only victory for the season, but he is one of the most consistent sprinters in the peloton and took top fives at the Tour de France, UAE Tour and Tirreno Adiratico.
Bahrain Victorious said in their press release that he’s in even better form than last season, so expect to see his explosive power. The last man for Bauhaus will be one of their two Australians riding at home, Cameron Scott.
Diego Ulissi
UAE Team Emirates' Diego Ulissi has a long history with the Tour Down Under, having raced in six editions starting in 2014. He's landed on the overall podium twice - coming second in 2020 and third overall in his debut.
The Italian has a blend of skill sets - less pure power than the pure sprinters, more punch uphill than most, and is a tactically astute racer.
Ulissi has but one stage win in the Tour Down Under for all of his attempts, on the stage to Stirling in 2014, and look for him to be at the head of affairs on any stage, especially the final one that passes through Stirling en route to Mount Lofty.
Sam Welsford
Another rider from Down Under ready for a breakout season is Bora-Hansgrohe newcomer Sam Welsford, who spent the past two years at DSM.
Welsford won a stage of the Renewi Tour, beating Jumbo-Visma's dominant sprinter Olav Kooij as well as two stages of the Vuelta a San Juan and the GP Criquielion and a second place to Jasper Philipsen at the Scheldeprijs last season.
Welsford was third in the Australian criterium championships so he's got speed in his legs and a team with experienced riders including fellow sprinter Danny van Poppel. Stage 4 to Port Elliot is undoubtedly circled in his roadbook.
