Male Team 16 - 21 Jan
Tour Down Under
782 Kilometers 6 Stages
The Tour Down Under will be celebrating its 20th anniversary edition in 2018, holding a strong place as the main reference for both fans and riders at the start of every season. The warm temperatures and rolling hills of South Australia -the race is held around the city of Adelaide- will be again the venue of a race covered between wineyards and orange landscapes, over short routes with plenty of explosive finishes. A perfect scenario for the best riders in the UCI WorldTour to start shining early in the year.
As well as the classic finish atop the Old Willunga Hill (stage five, Saturday 20th), with 3.5km at 7% average gradient which usually decide the GC outcome, the Australian event will be back in Stirling (Wednesday 17th, stage two), with its gentle finishing ramp closing a lumpy, final four-lap circuit. The most important change, though, in a race with no less than three stages suited for pure sprinters, will come on stage four (Friday 19th), as the riders climb towards Norton Summit (5km at 5%) before covering a frantic, final 7km towards the finish in Uraidla.