Author: cyclingmole

Unley > Mount Lofty 112.3km It’s the final stage and everything is still to play for. Jay Vine is in the ochre jersey, and he leads Pello Bilbao and Simon Yates by 15 seconds, in terms of the GC they are the only realistic challengers. The race ends with a lap circuit featuring Mount Lofty...

València > La Nucía 191km It’s the season opener in Europe and this race has been upped to 1.1 level, which has tempted some bigger teams into competing. Most of the pro teams are already in this part of the world on training camps, so it makes a lot of sense to get some competitive...

Estadio Aldo Cantoni > Estadio Aldo Cantoni 141.9km The opening stage of San Juan won’t win a beauty competition! It’s out of town on a straight road into a barren wasteland, then a U-turn, before heading back into town. They basically spend 120km on the same stretch of road, I’ve not seen that for a...

After a two-year COVID break the pro peloton head back to Argentina. The race is the usual mix of sprint stages and a mountaintop finish, nothing too exciting for us watching fans. The pros love this race, it provides them with important kilometres in the legs under the sunshine. Remco’s back, something the organisers will...

Port Willunga > Willunga Township 133.1km A flat stage which should be one for the sprinters, but everyone will be carefully checking the wind speed. Weather Sunny and warmer than in previous days, but still not sweltering. The wind is coming from the south-east and will reach around 30km/h, which is strong enough for echelons....

Norwood > Campbelltown 116.7km The final two stages look interesting, but this is the day that will go a long way to settling the GC. We return to Corkscrew Road, a devilishly tough climb, especially at this point in the year. It’s time to see who’s got the punch required to win the ochre jersey....

Brighton > Victor Harbor 154.6km Stage 2 and we head to Victor Harbor, a finish that’s well known to the race. Over the years the organisers have tinkered with the approach to the finish, this time they’ve decided to make it as difficult as possible by introducing the Nettle Hill climb. I don’t remember this...

Tanunda > Tanunda 150.2km The first proper stage of the race is a lap circuit around Tanunda, home of the beautiful Barossa Valley wines. Last year it was Sam Bennett who won here, but this stage is harder than that one. The finishing line is in the same position, but they approach it from the...

Adelaide 5.5km ITT The race kicks off with a 5.5km prologue around the streets of Adelaide. This is going to be 7 minutes of utter pain, time to find out who’s been training well over the last couple of months. As we’re all the way down in Australia, the riders will be on their road...

The organisers have decided to give us something totally different, they’ve got to be applauded for that. Out goes Willunga Hill, in comes a prologue and a lot of punchy stages, but they’ve crucially also brought the Corkscrew Road climb back into the race. This is an event which has been dominated by those who...