Tour organisers forced to shorten opening stages because of extreme heat and wind

The opening two stages of the 2019 Tour Down Under have been shortened with warnings extreme heat and strong winds are expected to punish the riders tomorrow and Wednesday.

Kazakhstan’s Yevgeniy Gidich from the Astana Pro Team cools down at the 2019 Tour Down Under Classic last night. Picture: Tim de Waele/Getty

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THE first two stages of the Tour Down Under have now both been shortened due to the extreme heat and strong winds expected to hit Adelaide from Tuesday.

A decision to shorten Stage 2 by 26.9km had already been made on Sunday but organisers on Monday also announced Stage 1 would be cut by 3.4km because of forecast strong winds.

The planned loop around Port Adelaide to the finish has been removed and riders will instead pedal straight to the line.

“The reason for this decision is the collective opinion of all representatives taking into consideration that the extreme weather conditions may result in a major peloton break-up which would be problematic on the finishing circuit,” race director Mike Turtur said.

“We consulted with rider representative Adam Hansen (Lotto Soudal), Team Director representative Matthew White (Mitchelton-Scott) and with our Chief Commissaire, and all parties have agreed this is the sensible approach.”

Ziptrak Stage 1 will now be 129 km, with the riders expected to finish in Port Adelaide at 2.24 pm.

Caleb Ewan won the Tour Down Under’s opening night Classic in Adelaide’s East End for a perfect stat to life with his new team (Lotto-Soudal) by winning the Down Under Classic in a bunch sprint that was reduced in size due to a series of late crashes but not lacking any quality with three-time world champion Peter Sagan second and former Australian champion Alex Edmondson third.

It was the third time Ewan has won the criterium following victories in 2016 and 2017 - and that year he went on to win all four sprint stages of the TDU proper and the sprint classification.

The 24-year-old lost some of his teammates in crashes on the last two laps which took down Italian rival Elia Viviani, but he still had Roger Kluge deliver him to the line perfectly and he was able to finish it off.

“It feels good, this was our first time riding together as a team so we really couldn’t have asked for a better start,” Ewan said.

“There was a lot of pressure because you just don’t know how it’s going to start with a new team, especially with something like a lead-out that needs to evolve over time.

“It was pretty spot on, I had Roger (Kluge) there as my last man at the end and I got to sprint when I wanted to start.

“I’m honoured that he (Kluge) would come with me (to Lotto Soudal), it’s good to have someone who is familiar with the way I sprint and he knows what I like so it makes that transition into a new team a bit easier.

“On a course like this it’s really hard to have a whole lead-out stay together because you have guys coming underneath in the corners and you’re constantly moving up, but I said to the guys just to get Roger and I into good position when we needed to be and they did that so it was a perfect start.”

Ewan leads Peter Sagan and Alex Edmondson over the line. Picture: Sarah Reed.

With the diminished field at the finish Ewan said it was hard to gauge his form against all of his rivals but he was hopeful of a strong showing in the TDU which starts with Stage 1 from North Adelaide to Port Adelaide on Tuesday.

“It was a bit unfortunate there was a crash in the end because you want all the sprinters to be there, it’s hard to tell the indication against the other sprinters because some of them went down but my feelings were good and the team rode great,” Ewan said.

“It’s such a strong sprint field here, probably the best they’ve had in a long time so it definitely won’t be easy to win sprints when the Tour starts.”

The criterium started two hours earlier than normal and was changed from a set distance to ‘one hour plus one lap’ due to live TV coverage which also meant the peloton got a taste of the heat expected to greet them on the first two stages of this week’s race.

The temperature is forecast to hit 41C on Tuesday but Stage 1 (132km) will be held as normal. Stage 2 however has been reduced by 26.9km to 122km with 40C predicted for the trip to Angaston in the Barossa.

A five-man breakaway was established on the second lap and included Australians Lachlan Morton and Ben O’Connor but it was reeled in for a bunch finish as expected.

Mitchelton-Scott star and newly crowned national time trial champion Luke Durbridge did not start the classic as he recovers from a bout of gastro, but his team director Matt White said he would be right to start Stage 1 of the Tour.

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Originally published as Tour organisers forced to shorten opening stages because of extreme heat and wind