Santos Tour Down Under 2019: Race director Mike Turtur recalls his 21 moments from 21 tours
As South Australia gets ready for the 21st Tour Down Under, longtime race director Mike Turtur recalls his top 21 moments — and the one that could have “stuffed” the fledgling race.
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It was the moment that could have “stuffed” the fledgling Tour Down Under.
Adelaide’s temperature was rising steadily, European riders fresh from winter were wilting, and the heat was really on race director Mike Turtur.
“In 1999 we had Erik Zabel with Telekom the best sprinter in the world, we had Oscar Camenzind the world champion with Lampre, Laurent Jalabert with ONCE … we had the rainbow jersey in our race in my first year!” Turtur recalls as he reflects on 21 years running the race.
A brilliant start — but you can’t plan for the weather.
Turtur, the former Olympic gold medal winning cyclist, soon found himself facing a mini-insurrection.
Zabel, wanted out.
“Zabel was not easy to get on with and we had a heatwave for the first race and he was on the phone to his manager saying ‘get me out of here’,” he says.
“Ron Webb rang me and said ‘we’ve got a problem, Zabel wants to go home’ and I knew if that happened we’d be stuffed from a perception point of view,” he says.
“I went to meet him and Rolf Aldag, the team boss, that night and we took them to dinner.
We sat them down and I said, ‘listen, I know it’s hot’ — and it was hot — but I said ‘in a day it will come right down’, even though I didn’t know the forecast.
“Then I said, ‘you’ve got to realise in the heat your physiology and training you’ll get maximum benefit, and you’ll have a great start to the season’, and, to his credit, he (Zabel) said, ‘okay, we’ll stay’.
“He won the second stage into Strathalbyn and took the leader’s jersey and won another stage into Gawler and they presented him with a cricket bat … he was looking at it as if to say, ‘what the hell is this thing?’
And he came back the next year and went on to win the green jersey in the Tour de France both years he started here.”
The TDU has since gone from strength to strength as European-based cycling teams have seen the professionalism of it, and the benefits of the conditioning to their riders through the season.
The race had started to become a reality three years before that inaugural edition.
“The big realisation that this race was going to happen was in 1996,” Turtur says.
“I was the section manager for the cycling team at the Atlanta Olympics and Bill Spurr and Graham Ingerson, the Minister for Tourism, were in America at the time and at the Games, and asked me to meet.
“I arranged for them to get access to the athletes’ village and we had lunch together. They indicated to me that they thought we were going to have the government support for a race which I’d been on about it for years, so it had moved slowly.
“We were going to lose the Grand Prix in 1996 and in Ingerson’s mind he thought the project as presented had merit. We only had a million dollar budget and in my wildest dreams I never thought we’d get that for a bike race.
“But to their credit they could see the value in giving it a shot. And what the Liberals did was the best decision strategy wise that any government could have made. Instead of trying to replace the Grand Prix with a big event — which is impossible because the F1 Grand Prix was just too big — they made a decision to get several events to try to return the economic benefit that they were losing. It’s turned out that the horse trials, Adelaide 500, the Tour Down Under, the Fringe Festival, all of these things put together return more than any Grand Prix could ever return and for a fraction of the cost.”
After getting verbal approval from the government, Turtur returned to Adelaide and set about producing a feasibility study to prove that the race could work.
“In 1998 we did a feasibility study on teams because the two elements that made this race different were the time of year and the participation of professional teams — both had never been considered before in Australia.
“The Sun Tour (in Victoria) had always been at the end of the pro season so we had to be at the start of the year, and with that we had to get professional teams as if they were going to any race in Europe.
“Rather than me get half a dozen European riders and put them in one team together, we wanted them all to come. We engaged Ron Webb, the bloke who built the Adelaide velodrome and who was living in London, to go around and ask the teams about a race in Australia at the beginning of the season — would you be interested? And overwhelmingly the feedback was positive. So we developed the race.”
And stars like Erik Zabel came. And, fortunately, stayed.
Mike Turtur’s favourite 21 TDU moments
1). STUART O’GRADY WINS THE FIRST TOUR DOWN UNDER
“The significance of the win, plus it was at the inaugural race and everything needed to be right. To have him win was very special, as a local rider in our first race on home soil, it was the perfect start.”
2). WORLD CHAMPION PETER SAGAN WINS IN ADELAIDE
“It was my dream to have the rainbow jersey win a stage at our event and Peter Sagan delivered in 2018. His win at Uraidla on Stage 4 was a ripper.”
3). CADEL EVANS IN THE RAINBOW JERSEY
“To have Cadel Evans participate in our race as an Australian in the rainbow jersey in 2010 was a big moment. It was phenomenal to have him in the world champion’s jersey and good on him because he realised the significance of it — and the responsibility of having it as an Australian — because he didn’t have to race here but he did, and I’ll never forget that gesture on his behalf.”
4). EDDY MERCKX IN 2012
“His visit, from a personal point of view, was phenomenal. When I was a boy he was my idol. I’d read books about him but never saw him move or heard him talk. I’d see photos occasionally in cycle magazines so to be sitting alongside him having dinner was terrific.”
5). CADEL EVANS WINS ON THE CORKSCREW IN 2014
“I had ridden the Corkscrew as a boy many, many times, but never in the big chain ring. And Cadel Evans that day was in the big ring. It was unbelievable, and the way he descended through Montacute with them hot on his tail, that was a big day. We thought he’d sealed victory there but lost the jersey on Willunga two days later.”
6). LANCE ARMSTRONG ARRIVES IN 2009
“It was a massive year for the race, it went from here to the stratosphere. We acted in good faith and I was a believer (in him winning the Tour de France clean). Call me an idiot but I believed in him and on that basis we proceeded knowing the benefit for the race, and he was allowed to race anywhere in the world. All the journos who say now ‘repay the money’ were the same journos who were falling over each other to get an interview with him.
“I remember going to the team presentation at the East End and there were thousands of people already and I knew then ‘this is going to be a big week’, but the other thing that confirmed our hope was registrations for the Challenge Tour were over 8500 — it doubled. The legend’s night dinner had 2100 people. We had French magazines here, The New York Times, LA Times. Our accreditation is normally 200 journalists and it doubled.”
7). SIMON GERRANS WINS IN 2006, 2012, 2014, 2016
“Simon’s history with the race, every one of his four victories is a highlight, because he’s such a gentleman on and off the bike. He represents the very best in an athlete that you would want — the way he managed himself and went about his business as a professional. To win our race four times we are absolutely delighted. The year he defended up the Corkscrew and fought like anything to defend the jersey.”
8). ROHAN DENNIS WINS IN 2015
“It was the first time we’d had a stage up Paracombe and I didn’t know how it would pan out, but it worked brilliantly. There was a big crowd and Rohan, knowing the territory like he did, just punched it home. That was enough to set him up to win the Tour overall and he defended the jersey all the way to the finish.”
9). THE FIRST UPHILL FINISH ON WILLUNGA HILL IN 2012
“That was a big, big moment for the race and we had to investigate the possibilities not only with council but the location — it’s tight — like any mountain top finish in Europe you don’t have room to do much. We wanted to do it for many years but there were environmental issues with native grasses and rightly so, they need to be protected from people trampling it, so we had to barrier it off so it would be protected.
“And council was a bit reluctant to move away from their traditional day and the way it was working in the township of Willunga. We met with council and they were not 100 per cent convinced that it was going to work. I said my opinion was it would work and was worth doing it once, and we haven’t looked back since.”
10). RICHIE PORTE CONQUERS WILLUNGA HILL IN 2014, ’15, ‘16, ‘17, ‘18
“What more can you say? He’s won on Willunga five times, and each time he’s made his move I’ve been on top of the hill and it’s like someone kicking the winning goal in the grand final, there is a huge roar from everyone watching on the big screen. He owns the hill and I think the biggest roar was in 2018 because everyone thought there would be a small group to the finish and he just put the hammer down.”
11). ANDRE GREIPEL BREAKS THE STAGE RECORD
“He’s won 18 stages and from the very first participation with Highroad in 2008, for a sprinter in the same team as Mark Cavendish to get his opportunity, he really stamped his authority on the race. He’s like Sagan in the way he presents himself, the respect he has for the race, his performance. He is a total professional and has never let us down ever.”
12). THE GROWTH OF THE WOMEN’S TOUR DOWN UNDER
“It has been a gradual progression since a women’s tour was introduced in 2012 and has gone from strength to strength. It’s a high quality race and means the Tour Down Under is for everyone — men, women, spectators, fans, kids. We’ve had some big name international teams and riders race here and win including our own Australian team Mitchelton-Scott and Amanda Spratt who is a two-time champion.”
13). ALBERTO CONTADOR WINS OVER WILLUNGA IN 2005
“I didn’t even know who he was but when he won the stage I asked Neil Stephens and he said Alberto had just had an issue with his brain, he’d had a major operation, and it was his first ride back. And what’s happened subsequent to his win in Willunga that day has gone down in history — Grand Tour victories including the Tour de France.”
14). ALEJANDRO VALVERDE’S RETURN IN 2012
“His comeback race (after a doping ban) when he beat Gerrans on the top of Willunga. He came over the finish and his staff embraced him and he was crying his eyes out, the significance of what he’d been through and coming back, it meant a lot to him. I won’t forget that because of how emotional he was and that makes an organiser feel good. Even Greipel and Sagan, when they win a stage of your race and they are genuinely happy about it.”
15). PATRICK JONKER WINS TDU IN HIS FINAL RACE
“To win that race and retire afterwards, what a fairytale finish. He targeted the race, trained his arse off and won the thing — and he won it on that first stage to Kapunda.
“He had it in his mind, he knew exactly what he was doing, he got in the first break, rode his guts out and thought if he could have one or two minutes at the finish he could win the whole thing.”
16). ALLAN DAVIS’S VICTORY IN 2009
“That was in his purple patch — he was winning world championship medals, a Commonwealth Games victory, he was firing on all cylinders and to win our race with a new team like QuickStep was a big moment for him and the race.”
17). MICHAEL ROGERS WINS IN 2002
“The issues he had on Mengler’s Hill when he got hit by a motorbike were unbelievable. He took a bike from a spectator who just happened to be standing there with a C40 Colnago on the side of the road and rode it to the finish. He then went on to win the whole Tour. Amazing.”
18). THE RACE EARNS PROTOUR STATUS IN 2008
“The process to get it was us doing the right thing as organisers. Starting the race, making sure everything was in place, respecting the regulations and managing the race correctly. And the UCI was looking at a modified calendar and they asked us if we’d be prepared to be involved. It’s been huge for the race.”
19). CALEB EWAN’S EARLY MARK ON THE RACE
“He debuted with UniSA in
2014 and won his first stage here with GreenEDGE in 2016. In 2017 he won four stages and a classic.
“He’s a tough little nut and he’s certainly got the credentials to do well. He went on to get second in Milan-San Remo last year and that says everything. He won’t say die and
he won’t back out and that’s what I like about him.”
20). ROBBIE MCEWEN’S EARLY STAGE WINS
“He had some good years on the race and from an Australian point of view it was important that he be here and the way he won his stages it was great from a fan’s point of view. There was a day when someone had a camera over the barrier and he copped it in the forearm and kept on going, and he also won in Hahndorf, which was one of his better wins here.”
21). CAMERON MEYER SOLOS TO VICTORY
“It was 2011 and Cameron Meyer was emerging from a world-class track athlete into a full-time road professional
and he won the Tour Down Under with a gutsy attack into Strathalbyn. He was away with Thomas De Gendt and beat him to the line to set up the win, then had to hang on for the rest of the week. It was a very memorable performance and terrific for both Cameron and the race.”
WHAT WAS YOUR FAVOURITE MOMENT? TELL US IN THE COMMENTS.
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