Now that the King Of Willunga Hill's reign is over, the Tour Down Under is leaving his kingdom as well.
Australia's biggest annual cycling event will undergo massive changes when it returns to international competition next January, with a new Queen stage and a prologue time trial for the first time in race history.
But the Old Willunga Hill climb will not feature on the Tour route for the first time since the event started in 1999.
Australian cycling great Richie Porte, who is retiring at the end of this season, became known as the King Of Willunga Hill after winning the stage there seven times.
Race director Stuart O'Grady, who took over in 2020, had promised big changes to the Tour course.
He was stymied for two years because of COVID-19, which forced the WorldTour event to continue as a domestic event only.
But O'Grady will mark its return to international competition from January 17-22 by starting the race with a short prologue time trial near the Adelaide CBD.
It will be held on a circuit around the Adelaide Riverbank precinct and this will be the first time the Tour has featured a time trial.
Instead of the Tour finishing on the top of Old Willunga Hill, it will end on top of Mt Lofty - the highest summit in the Adelaide Hills.
The Mt Lofty climb is another newcomer to the Tour course.
But some Tour traditions remain. The Tour schedule will start off with the one-off classic on Saturday, January 14 - mainly a chance for international riders to have a season-opening hitout.
After the 5.5km prologue on Tuesday evening, the road racing starts on Wednesday in the Barossa region.
Stage two features a new race start in suburban Brighton and heads to Victor Harbor, south of Adelaide.
The third stage will be decisive, with climbs at Norton Summit, Checkers Hill and Corkscrew Road in the Adelaide Hills.
Saturday will feature a stage in the Willunga-McLaren Vale region, but it will bypass the Tour's iconic Old Willunga Hill climb.
Sunday's Queen Stage will start in suburban Unley and feature four loops of a 25km circuit at Crafers before finishing at the top of Mt Lofty.
South African Daryl Impey was the winner of the most recent Tour Down Under in 2019, beating Porte despite the Australian winning the Willunga stage again.
