The current Australian champions, Ruby Roseman-Gannon (Liv-AlUla-Jayco) and Luke Plapp (Jayco-AlUla), have been confirmed as starters at the 2025 Santos Tour Down Under, with the riders among a growing contingent signed up to pin on a number in front of home crowds at the opening WorldTour and Women's WorldTour races of the season.
Joining them in January in South Australia will be three-time overall winner Amanda Spratt. The Lidl-Trek rider has not missed a single UCI classified edition of the event and also raced at the precursor to the 2.2 designated event that started in 2016 and then rose up the ranks to Women's WorldTour level in 2023.
Sam Welsford will also be on the start line again after delivering a spectacular debut with his new team of Red Bull-Bora Hansgrohe in 2024, quickly finding his feet among the new sprint train.
“I’m really looking forward to coming back to my home race to start off the season,” Welsford said in a Tour Down Under media release.
“It’s an event with a lot of good memories for us, particularly from this year, where we took three stages, so it will be great to be back at the Santos Tour Down Under again in 2025.”
For both of the current Australian champions the racing in South Australia has been pivotal in their early racing careers, with both making a mark during the years when the COVID-19 pandemic led to the cancellation of the international racing for two years but the event still pulled out all the stops to deliver a high calibre domestic race.
In 2021 a then unsigned Plapp drew the attention of WorldTour teams at the domestic event, first with a flying victory on stage 2 of the Santos Festival of Cycling and then a scorching run up Willunga. There he bridged to teammate Richie Porte on the climb and then crossed the line just behind the rider who had proven such a valuable mentor in the Garmin Australia team.
Then in 2022, Roseman-Gannon launched her professional road career in spectacular style by delivering the overall win during her very first race for her new squad. The rider then also went on to take fourth overall as the race returned to international racing with a Women's WorldTour designation in 2023.
Plapp's return to the WorldTour race was initially in a support role at Ineos Grenadiers in 2023 and then he joined the fray again in 2024 with hopes high as he rode for new squad Jayco-AlUla. He was fresh from winning both the time trial and road title at the Australian Road National Championships, though his South Australian race ended suddenly with "lots of skin lost".
“I’ll be hoping to defend my national road race title in Perth the week before, so that could be the perfect lead into the Santos Tour Down Under," said Plapp in a media statement from the race organisers. “Last Santos Tour Down Under didn’t quite go to plan, after I had to abandon due to a nasty crash. We’ve got a great team and I’m ready for a much better race this time around.”
Other confirmed Australian riders include Simon Clarke (Israel-Premier Tech) who will be racing a fourteenth edition and Alex Edmondson (dsm-firmenich Post NL). Geraint Thomas (Ineos-Grenadiers) was the first international rider confirmed for 2025.
The racing begins on Friday January 17 with the three-stage-long Women's Tour Down Under and then continues through to Sunday January 26 when the finale of the six stage men's WorldTour race plays out in central Adelaide.
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