The Tour Down Under reveals its 2023 race route

Stuart O’Grady had big plans for the Tour Down Under’s route when he became race director but Covid got in the way. Now he finally gets to see his dreams come alive.

Stuart O’Grady finally gets his chance to see his ideas come to life.

After becoming the race director of the Tour Down Under in 2020, O’Grady had some big ideas for the biggest cycling race in Australia.

But the impacts of Covid-19 meant that these plans were put on the backburner, with the last two Tour Down Unders cancelled with a festival of cycling instead.

“I’ve certainly had time to tweak and re-tweak them based on the pandemic years that’s for sure,” O’Grady told The Advertiser.

So with Australia back open, and the biggest teams in world cycling keen to return to Adelaide O’Grady is pulling out all the big stops for his first ever Tour Down Under as race director.

The 2023 event will kick off with a 5.5km time trial prologue around a circuit based on the Adelaide Riverbank in the evening – beginning on the Riverbank bridge.

“It will be a first in Tour Down Under history actually,” O’Grady said.

“It will be a really exciting way to open up a tour and also provides a bit of an occasion for our local ex-world time trial champion Rohan Dennis to be recognised.

“Hopefully it will attract more of the time trial specialists to come down to Australia.”

TDU race director Stuart O'Grady and assistant race director Carlee Taylor. Picture: Keryn Stevens

The firsts don’t end there.

The first stage will be a 150km journey around the Barossa Valley.

For the first time stage 2 will start at Brighton and go through the Fleurieu Peninsula, finishing in Victor Harbor with a 156km route.

Riders then tackle three testing climbs – Norton Summit, Checkers Hill and Corskscrew Road – on a 118.5km stage from Norwood to Campbelltown and then ride 135.3km from Port Willunga to Willunga for the penultimate stage.

But the big one will be for the first time in Tour Down Under history, the event will finish atop Mount Lofty – a 114km stage from Unley that will consist of four passes of a 25km loop around Crafers before ascending the iconic climb.

“Mount Lofty has been on my hit list from the very start,” O’Grady said.

“We’ve found a way to get a finish up there and I think for a final day you couldn’t ask for a more exciting and iconic destination than Mount Lofty.

“It is our most iconic climb, it is a great road and it will be a great route.

“Although Willunga has been the centrepiece for the past few years I also wanted to bring in a bit of a different story.

“We kind of knew the outcome before the stage started with Willunga, obviously Richie (Porte) had conquered that mountain.

“Now it is time for something different and I think that final loop on the final day will be absolutely riveting.”

Tourism minister Zoe Bettison said the Tour Down Under would be a big boost for the sector after the challenges of the past two years.

“We know the best thing about the Tour Down Under is that it takes people all around South Australia,” she said.

“It takes people into the hills, the towns and the beaches.”

O’Grady is currently in France, having met with the UCI WorldTour teams in Copenhagen – where this year’s Tour de France began.

He said he was confident of the stars of cycling coming to Adelaide next year.

“They are genuinely pumped to come to Adelaide, they can’t wait,” he said.

“I’ve tried to make a course that can attract the very best riders.”

The Tour Down Under will run from January 13 to 22.

Originally published as The Tour Down Under reveals its 2023 race route