Who will be crowned king in 20th Tour Down Under? Our Stage 1 and overall race predictions

THE 20th edition of Australia’s biggest bike race starts on Tuesday with the 145km Stage 1 from Port Adelaide to Lyndoch expected to quell the nerves of the 132-man peloton. Val Migliaccio offers his predictions for the stage and overall race honours.

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THE 20th edition of Australia’s biggest bike race starts today with the 145km from Port Adelaide to Lyndoch Stage 1 expected to quell the nerves of the 132-man peloton.

The realisation that a new UCI WorldTour season starts today is very real as WorldTour teams come to terms with many new teammates, state-of-the-art new bikes and huge expectations.

Wildcard team UniSA is today again destined to hog the spotlight during the early part of the race.

The stage will light up once the peloton hits One Tree Hill Road.

From there on it will be a tactical team shootout until the Lyndoch finish line.

JERSEY PREDICTIONS

Reigning Tour Down Under champion Richie Porte leads the way from McLaren Vale to Willunga during last year’s event. Picture: Sarah Reed

OCHRE OVERALL

Richie Porte from BMC Racing is the obvious Australian favourite to retain his 2017 crown but he won’t be the only one having an eye on the first major title for 2018.

Porte earlier this week described the pressure will be more on him winning stage 5 and conquering the Old Willunga Hills for a fifth consecutive time rather than claiming the GC.

His rivals will make sure he doesn’t have it his own way but if Porte does manage to crack he also has teammates four-time winner Simon Gerrans and SA’s 2015 winner Rohan Dennis as back ups.

KOM

For a big week ahead there are so many names that have the potential to adorn this coveted journey.

Reigning Tour Down Under champion Richie Porte will be aiming to start 2018 with a bang after a wretched July at last year’s Tour de France which saw him crash with nasty injuries.

The BMC Racing Tasmanian is from all reports super fit after having an extremely long preseason recovery.

Porte, however, has good company for the KOM.

Domenico Pozzovivo, 35, from Bahrain Merida has many Italian cycling fans that want to see him make an impact at this race. Portuguese guns Tiago Machado, 32, (Katusha-Alpecin) who finished third overall in 2012 and Rui Costa, 31, (UAE-Team Emirates) will also give it a nudge. Don’t write off Belgian Thomas de Gendt (Lotto-Soudal) to retain his 2017 KOM crown.

SPRINT

UCI road world champion Peter Sagan winning Sunday’s People’s Choice Classic is not only a warning for the peloton, the Slovakian’s victory also has a touch or irony to it.

The top four sprint guns at sunday’s finish line for the warm up event also happen to be most exciting field of sprinters this race has ever had.

This jersey could go to Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe) or two-time GC winner, German Andre Greipel (Lotto-Soudal) or Australia’s Caleb Ewan (Mitchelton-Scott) or even Italy’s Elia Viviani (Quick-Step Floors) same time. They’re the favourites. Ewan owned the jersey last year.

YOUNG RIDER

Tour Down Under jerseys for 2018 race

This prize can really shape the future of the riders that have the class and courage to adorn it as the hot weather forecast later this week is really going to stretch the ability of good teams pushing for ideal recovery sessions.

Danish national road champion Mads Pedersen, 22, (Trek-Segafredo), Australians Chris Hamilton, 22, (Team Sunweb) and Ben O’Connor, 22 (Dimension Data) will be all pushing for this glory at the first WorldTour race of the year.

MOST COMPETITIVE RIDER

This jersey looks certain to be adorned by the changing wheels of the UniSA team as the semi-pros try hard to impress the professional teams, scouts and agents at the Tour Down Under. A prime example of being brave at the race is Richie Porte. The Tasmanian was a wildcard rider for UniSA in 2008. Although his 2008 form didn’t open the floodgates for his career at the time, his persistence in believing in his own ability saw him reap professional rewards with Team Saxobank, which at the time housed Australians Stuart O’Grady and Brad McGee.

LATE MAIL STAGE 1

Aussie Caleb Ewan is congratulated by teammate Damien Howson after winning last year’s Stage One. Picture: Tom Huntley

PORT Adelaide has, according to report, s had a huge makeover to be as pretty as possible for the first stage of the historic 20th Tour Down Under. Saint Vincent Street, Port Adelaide has not hosted a stage start since in 1999 when no one dared to predict if this event would go beyond that year let alone 20 years down the track. With preseason officially over from about 11.04am the peloton will suffer at the 38.6km mark at Humbug Scrub before winding up at Lyndoch where stars were born.

KOM

This climb is due to have the peloton kissing the tarmac about midday. The Kersbrook Road, Humbug Scrub KOM is a very popular one. It’s not too hard on the early season legs but it has just enough gradient — 4 per cent — to sting the legs and potentially burn the lungs.

SPRINT

Williamstown Road at Cockatoo Valley near the general store is a very good hot spot to earn valuable WorldTour points as the rolling roads will make see the first sprint of the day become a gentle build up to the fireworks later in the day. This all happens at the 74.3km mark before the second sprint again at the same spot but about 65 minutes later is certain to test the energy levels at the 100.8km mark.

FINISH

Fans based, Barossa Valley Way in Lyndoch will get to the see the WorldTour riders three times as the peloton loops around the wine region.

Team captains and directors will bark instructions to the workers in order to get to the best position for the lead out men in a bid to protect their key sprinters. Those teams with a game plan are expected to reap the most rewards as the peloton is destined to ensure no-one gets away too early to spoil stage 1.

BEST VIEWING

Lyndoch is the obvious best vantage point for a great finish and party but Port Adelaide’s historic start for the first time since the race was born in 1999 is sure to bring much nostalgia to the race. For it was here where the Port Adelaide cycling club became one of the most significant sporting clubs for the early settlers of SA. The club is just two years younger than Norwood, the oldest cycling club in the southern hemisphere which was born in 1883.

Originally published as Who will be crowned king in 20th Tour Down Under? Our Stage 1 and overall race predictions