As has become the norm, the 2025 Tour Down Under will ignite the touchpaper for the new racing season. The women’s event will be held from January 17-19, followed shortly after by the men’s race from January 21-26. Hosted in and around Adelaide, the warmth of the Australian summer always draws plenty of big names to the race as they turn their pedals in anger for the first time in 2025.
This year, the men’s race celebrates a milestone 25th edition, while the women’s event will mark the start of the Women’s WorldTour calendar for a third year running after it stepped up to the sport’s top tier in 2023.
Willunga Hill, a climb almost as famous as the race itself, will be the finishing point for the penultimate stages of both races this year, with the women’s event tackling it twice in one stage for the first time – the same number of ascents as in the men’s route.
Tour de France winner Geraint Thomas was the first major name to be announced by organisers for the 2025 Tour Down Under, with the Ineos Grenadiers rider potentially gearing up for his final year in the pro peloton.
The men’s teams will warm up for the WorldTour stage race by competing in the Villawood Men’s Classic on January 18, as the organisers celebrate their 25-year history with a criterium around east Adelaide – held for the first time since 2013 when André Greipel took the title.
Meanwhile, the women will get their first taste of one-day racing in 2025 when they compete in the Schwalbe Women’s One-Day Classic, hosted on the same city circuit loop that the men will tackle for their sixth and final Tour Down Under stage later that day.
The RADL GRVL, held for the first time last year, also returns on January 24 and will take place on a mix of sealed and gravel roads around Adelaide.
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