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ADELAIDE, Australia (Velo) — Meet the brand new WorldTour, identical because the outdated WorldTour.
No, we gained’t be fooled once more.
The 2024 WorldTour calendar clicked into gear in flying vogue throughout the Adelaide Hills with ladies’s and males’s editions of the Santos Tour Down Under, arguably among the best organized and user-friendly races on the calendar.
The gang-pleasing leads to Aussie summer time confirmed what we already knew coming into this season: the “tremendous groups” are going to be exhausting to beat.
Visma-Lease a Bike, Ineos Grenadiers, and UAE Group Emirates dominated the GC even with its B-listers racing within the males’s race, whereas Australians dominated on residence roads within the ladies’s version.
There have been a number of good surprises alongside the best way to interrupt the narrative, with the breakout rides by Sarah Gigante and Sam Welsford, respectively.
There’s so much to chew on after the primary week of racing, so let’s dive in.
Isaac del Toro: A star is born
![Isaac del Toro](https://velo-cdn.outsideonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/GettyImages-1929457168.jpg?width=730)
Does a rookie sizzling off profitable the Tour de l’Avenir hitting out of their WorldTour debut sound acquainted?
Many had been making the comparability between Tadej Pogačar’s TDU debut in 2019 and meteoric rise, and Del Toro’s spectacular march that included a stage win, third place total, and the white jersey.
That was even higher than Pogačar’s under-the-radar debut in 2019 with thirteenth.
Additionally learn: How far can Isaac del Toro go?
The hype machine has already left the station, with everybody calling him a “famous person in ready,” and there’s no query the 20-year-old is poised to make historical past.
Del Toro’s wide-eyed demeanor is in sharp distinction to his fearless attacking type.
“It’s like a dream for me in my first expertise. I don’t really feel strain as a result of my teammates are good with me. I solely have the duties to do my job,” he mentioned. “Like Pogačar? I don’t know. For the second, I attempt to benefit from the second and keep completely happy.”
Feels like Pogačar is already whispering in his ear.
Sarah Gigante makes big comeback
![Sarah Gigante](https://velo-cdn.outsideonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/GettyImages-1931450714-1200x799.jpg?width=730)
The pocket-rocket climber stole the present within the second version of girls’s Santos Tour Down Underneath on the WorldTour degree.
An explosive assault on the long-lasting Willunga Hill delivered her victory. After two years wracked by harm, the 23-year-old was over the moon.
“I can’t imagine it. I’m so grateful for everybody who believed in me,” Gigante mentioned. “The crew was so superb. I’ve had a number of exhausting seasons with accidents and now I’m again to myself once more. I hope to maintain this getting into Europe.”
Gigante later set a brand new Strava document in a face-off with Willunga king and now-retired Richie Porte in an exhibition trip, so the sky’s the restrict.
She exited her contract with Movistar to hitch upstart AG Insurance coverage-Soudal, a crew managed by former Paris-Roubaix winner Servais Knaven (see beneath).
The sky’s the restrict, and he or she’s return to Europe to tackle SD Worx and Demi Vollering within the excessive mountains.
Jayco-AlUla grounded on residence roads
Australia’s lone WorldTour stormed into the TDU with excessive hopes, with not too long ago topped nationwide champion Luke Plapp even suggesting the crew may win all six levels and the general.
As a substitute, the “GreenEdge” crew got here away with a number of knocks and bruises fairly than podium flowers.
Returning dash hero Caleb Ewan may solely muster fourth in three flat dash efforts, GC man Simon Yates didn’t fairly have the punch the comply with the early season strikes, and Plapp even crashed out with horrible abrasions and didn’t begin stage 4.
Welsford wins in Tanunda!! @sam_welsford @BORAhansgrohe #TourDownUnder @SantosLtd pic.twitter.com/aQ61YAHaQB
— Santos Tour Down Underneath ♀️ (@tourdownunder) January 16, 2024
To not fear, says crew proprietor Gerry Ryan, “There’s an excellent spirit on the crew and that is solely the primary of an extended season.”
The European crew rapidly delivered a number of wins to salve any sting, with Dylan Groenewegen and Michael Matthews every profitable their first races in 2024.
Tiffany Cromwell to race ’50/50′ highway and gravel
![](https://velo-cdn.outsideonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/FNLD_GRVL_2023_RACEDAY_FINISHLINE_59-1200x800.jpg?width=730)
Tiffany Cromwell made a giant splash throughout the week in each highway and gravel, racing in each the Santos Tour Down Underneath in addition to the inaugural RADL GRVL occasion on her residence gravel roads.
That completely displays the Canyon-Sram rider’s agenda for 2024.
“My program is 50/50 highway and gravel,” Cromwell mentioned. “To deliver gravel to my hometown of Adelaide. We wish to continue to grow the self-discipline and there may be an urge for food for it.
“Hopefully we will create extra alternatives with the World Championships in 2026 in Western Australia.”
Additionally learn: RADL GRVL a hit Down Under
Companion Vitalli Botteri was additionally making the rounds within the final of his downtime earlier than heading again for his full-time gig on the Method 1.
“I actually love gravel racing and that is one thing we wished to deliver right here as a result of Tiffany grew up using in these hills,” Bottas advised Velo. “I’m going to be busy racing [cars] however I hope to get to the Steamboat occasion this summer time as now we have a number of weeks’ break.”
Bottas helped deliver a FNLD GRVL occasion to Finland, and Bottas mentioned he hopes to see the collection broaden much more.
‘Tremendous groups’ doing the tremendous crew factor
![Ineos Grenadiers](https://velo-cdn.outsideonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/GettyImages-1946373038-1200x800.jpg?width=730)
Look no additional than the leaderboard of the boys’s race, and it’s a repeat of the identical “tremendous crew” narrative that’s driving the boys’s WorldTour.
Israel Premier Tech elbowed in on the celebration with an excellent win from unsung Welsh climber Stephen Williams, and the crew introduced a number of A-list hitters with George Bennett and Simon Clarke to assist.
But in what was no shock, it was UAE Group Emirates, Ineos Grenadiers, and Visma-Lease a Bike dominating the block celebration.
And that’s with these groups bringing relative B-listers to the festivities.
“What Bart has proven this week as a newcomer has been nice.” – Addy Engels
Learn extra in our report! ✍️ ⤵️
— Group Visma | Lease a Bike (@vismaleaseabike) January 21, 2024
Jhonatan Narváez hit the rostrum for Ineos Grenadiers, with Del Toro busting out, revealing but once more that the tremendous groups are so deep in expertise that even their second-tier and back-bench younger riders can swing for the fences.
Bart Lemmen, who raced for Human Powered Well being final yr and served part-time within the Dutch navy, almost bulldozed his option to the rostrum with fifth total in his WorldTour debut.
“It’s an actual downside for groups with out the identical budgets, as a result of now these larger groups can deliver squads to win nearly any race they begin,” one WorldTour supervisor advised Velo. “It’s not that they win all of the grand excursions, they win nearly the whole lot else as nicely. It makes it very exhausting for the remainder of us.”
Israel Premier Tech punching above weight
![Stephen Williams](https://velo-cdn.outsideonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/GettyImages-1938441178.jpg?width=730)
Regardless of threats pro-Palestinian activists to disrupt the TDU in protest towards the crew’s presence within the race (prompting extra safety through the race), IPT delivered a morale-boosting victory for the second-tier crew.
After relegation in 2022, the crew is specializing in returning to the WorldTour within the subsequent spherical of licenses in 2025, and the TDU reveals how the crew plans to race this season.
“Returning to the WorldTour is absolutely the precedence for us,” sport director Sam Bewley advised Velo. “We’re assured have a crew blended of rising riders and skilled winners who will get us the factors we want.”
Additionally learn: Williams delivers big
Sprinter Corbin Sturdy scooped up some factors within the sprints with a pair of top-10s, and Stephen “Stevie Marvel” Williams took it to the elite WorldTour groups to grab victory.
The 27-year-old Welsh puncheur is now wholesome, and motivated to hold momentum again to Europe.
“I wish to go to the largest races of the world and be capable of do that,” mentioned Williams, a winner final yr on the Arctic Race of Norway and the CRO Tour. “It is a step in the best course. It’s a weeklong WorldTour race, and I wish to kick on from right here and take advantage of it.”
No first-class but for the ladies
![Sarah Gigante](https://velo-cdn.outsideonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/GettyImages-1931306119.jpg?width=730)
There have been some grumbles that the ladies riders who traveled all the way down to Australia flew coach, whereas their males counterparts within the WorldTour race all made the 20-hour flight in enterprise class.
Organizers bristled at strategies they had been one way or the other treating the ladies otherwise.
Santos Tour Down Underneath race director Annette Edmondson pushed again and identified how the race was the primary WorldTour occasion to create equal pay for ladies in addition to the primary race to eradicate the generally controversial podium women from the post-race winner’s protocol.
“We requested the ladies what was extra vital to them, they usually all agreed that having dwell TV broadcast was key,” she mentioned. “We’re engaged on constructing the race from the bottom up, and yearly we make enhancements. As we get extra sponsors on board, we will present extra facilities for everybody.”
Melissa Hoskins on everybody’s thoughts
![Melissa Hoskins of Australia celebrates winning the Women's Scratch Race during the UCI Track Cycling World Cup - LOCOG Test Event for London 2012 at the Olympic Velodrome on February 17, 2012 in London, England.](https://velo-cdn.outsideonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/GettyImages-139193503-1200x800.jpg?width=730)
The latest tragic loss of life of ex-Olympian Melissa Hoskins weighed closely throughout the race group and the peloton.
Hoskins died in late December in an incident involving her husband and ex-pro Rohan Dennis in a case that it nonetheless below investigation. Dennis was charged by authorities on a number of counts and launched. He faces a court docket date in March as police proceed an investigation.
Additionally learn: Ex-pro Dennis arrested in death of Hoskins
Hoskins, a mom of two, grew up Perth, however skilled and raced continuously within the Adelaide space, the place the couple owned a house.
“I used to be teammates with Mel, it’s been tragic,” mentioned three-time TDU winner Amanda Spratt (Lidl-Trek), who teared up when requested about by the media. “I’m glad we get the minute to honor her.”
The race paid tribute to Hoskins with a minute of silence earlier than the primary stage, and a funeral was held in Perth in her hometown in western Australia on the ultimate day of the boys’s race.
AG Insurance coverage-Soudal units early marker
![Ally Wollaston](https://velo-cdn.outsideonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Ally-Wollaston-Close-Up-Post-Win-1200x800.jpg?width=730)
AG Insurance coverage-Soudal was the large winner within the ladies’s race, profitable the primary and third levels, and claiming the general with Sarah Gigante.
Group supervisor Servais Knaven was behind the wheel. The Paris-Roubaix winner left the boys’s peloton and his submit as a DS at Ineos Grenadiers to commit full-time to ladies’s biking.
Additionally learn: Ruth Edwards aiming high in WorldTour return
With 4 racing daughters, Knaven is placing his coronary heart the place his racing expertise is.
“We created this crew to assist ladies’s racing and to assist our daughters.” Knaven advised Velo. “There are completely different challenges in comparison with the boys’s facet. An increasing number of sponsors have an interest, and the game is rising quick.
“It’s thrilling for me to be right here. We are actually WorldTour and we wish to assist the game to continue to grow,” he mentioned. Does he miss the boys’s circuit? “Not a lot. I nonetheless see individuals from the races.”
Brake-grip deal with guidelines utilized
![UCI brake lever tool](https://velo-cdn.outsideonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Insta-Day-01-IMG_0568-1200x675.jpg?width=730)
One other massive story from Down Underneath was the fast enforcement of the UCI’s new handlebar brake-angle guidelines.
UCI commissaires confirmed up with a 3D-printed hand-held gadget that slipped over handlebars to ensure the brake grips had been inside the UCI-approved 10-degree flare.
A flurry of riders had been beginning to press the intense final season with flared out brake grips that, in concept, supplied an aerodynamic benefit.
Additionally learn: UCI enforcing its brake-lever rules
The UCI balked, and dealing carefully with stake holders, agreed to reel in essentially the most excessive angles. There have been points not solely with tools security — the connectors and hydraulic cables had been vulnerable to failure — but additionally the unnatural attain required to use the brakes.
As all the time, the enforcement didn’t please everybody, however many of the execs shrugged it off and carried on racing.
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