Santos Tour Down Under aims to bring Tour de France winner Geraint Thomas back to Adelaide next year
SANTOS Tour Down Under race director Mike Turtur will reach out to Geraint Thomas in a bid to bring him back to Adelaide next year as the first time the reigning Tour de France champion has started the race.
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TOUR Down Under race director Mike Turtur will reach out to Geraint Thomas in a bid to bring him back to Adelaide next year as the first time the reigning Tour de France champion has started the race.
Thomas - who rode the TDU every year from 2011 to 2017 - capped a lifelong dream on the weekend when he became the first Welsh winner of the biggest race in the world.
ROUTE REVEALED: 2019 TDU - MAPS OF EVERY STAGE
The TDU hosted Cadel Evans in 2014 but that was three years after he won the Tour de France. If Thomas lines up in Adelaide on January 13 he would be the first current yellow jersey to do so.
The Team Sky superstar - affectionately known in cycling as ‘G’ - won the TDU’s inaugural stage up Corkscrew Road in 2013 and the popular climb is back on next year’s route for the fourth time.
“It would be fantastic but we’ll have to wait and see, there is a lot of dust to settle after the Tour (de France),” Turtur said of having Thomas on the start line.
“At the moment his head would be spinning a million miles an hour but I don’t think we’d be doing our job if we didn’t look at it.
“Any Tour winner is a big drawcard and his relationship with us and the race is pretty good, and he’s a good guy, everyone admires what he’s done - it’s phenomenal.”
Turtur on Wednesday unveiled the route for the 21st edition of the race with the major change being the queen stage on Willunga Hill shifting to the final day Stage 6 on the Sunday.
Thomas has been a regular in Adelaide in January for the past few years, often flying out early and spending two weeks training in the heat before the TDU.
In 2013 as well as winning the Corkscrew stage he finished third overall and his most recent appearance at the race was in 2017. This year he opted to open his season at the Volta ao Algarve in Portugal.
Turtur hasn’t given up hope that fan favourite Richie Porte may return next year having won the queen stage on Willunga Hill for the past five years.
Earlier this season Porte reportedly said he would not be in Adelaide next January but that was before his season was turned upside down by another crash in the Tour de France. There is also speculation he will change teams and leave BMC for next year.
South African Daryl Impey is a chance to return to defend his title and sprinters Caleb Ewan and Andre Greipel could go head to head with the pair also set to change teams in the off-season.
It’s not known whether three-time reigning world champion Peter Sagan - who won a thrilling stage into Uraidla this year - will come back for the third year in a row.
Turtur said bringing the Corkscrew climb back for a fourth time would make for exciting racing.
“It’s exactly the same finish as previous years, they get to the top 6km from the finish,” Turtur said.
“We’ve seen Geraint Thomas win it the first time, Cadel Evans the second time and Simon Gerrans beat Rohan Dennis by a tyre width in that small group the third time.
“This is the fourth time we’ll use the Corkscrew and I think that’s going to be a really interesting stage because of the final. I just looked at some vision the last time we were up the Corkscrew and there were a lot of people - it’s really popular.”
Turtur also believes with changes to next year’s course he’s still got the balance right between catering for sprinters and climbers.
“If you look at it in real terms it’s three and three - three for the sprinters and three for all-rounders and then the classic being moved back to the original circuit,” he said.
The 21st edition could also be Turtur’s last as race director with his contract due to expire next year and an announcement could be made before January but Turtur has not revealed his plans.
“All in all I’m really happy with it (2019 course), I think it’s come up well, when you design this thing from year to year there are some that you’ve got to go over it and it doesn’t work,” he said.
“But this one flowed, we drove it, scoped it, and it didn’t take long to get it all together.”
reece.homfray@news.com.au
Originally published as Santos Tour Down Under aims to bring Tour de France winner Geraint Thomas back to Adelaide next year