Hot on the heels of the women’s race, the men’s Tour Down Under gets underway on Tuesday, opening with a 3.6km prologue around Adelaide, and culminating with a punch day around Stirling next Sunday.
Kicking off the WorldTour calendar for 2026, the South Australian race features the full complement of 18 WorldTour teams, plus one ProTeam in Tudor Pro Cycling, and an Australian national team selection.
Among the riders taking on the 759km across six stages are two former overall winners, including the reigning champion Jhonatan Narváez (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) and four former stage winners who boast 10 stage victories between them, though sprinter Sam Welsford (Ineos Grenadiers) is responsible for six of those.
Jay Vine and Jhonatan Narvaez (UAE Team Emirates-XRG)
UAE Team Emirates-XRG come to the Tour Down Under with undoubtedly the strongest squad, fielding both the 2025 winner in Narváez and 2023 victor Jay Vine.
A punchy all-rounder, Ecuador’s Narváez is a rider whose abilities are made for the Tour Down Under, and his choice to return means he’s almost certainly going to try to defend his title and the route – which isn’t drastically different to the one he won on last year – will suit him well.
The only difference is the opening TT, but being so short, that shouldn’t be a hurdle to a powerful rider like Narváez, and his ability to mix in both the sprints and climbs stands him in good stead.
The question will be how UAE manage their ambitions with the 2023 winner and home favourite Jay Vine in the team as well. Vine will debut his newly-reclaimed national champion’s skinsuit in the TT on Tuesday, and is a dangerous rider on the hilly stages. Plus, he obviously knows how to win this race. The last time he won, the race…
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