Racing is back on–and so are the crashes, it seems. Sam Welsford took a big win at the Down Under Classic crit in Australia, ahead of a massive pile-up.
The race serves as a lead-up for the pro men who will race the Tour Down Under, which starts Tuesday. The women are already racing the season opener, with Noemi Rüegg (EF Education-Oatly) leading the overall, with one stage to go.
Sarah Van Dam had a strong debut with her new squad, CERATIZIT-WNT Pro Cycling Team, taking fourth on the first stage.
At the Down Under Classic, Australian national criterium champion Welsford took the sprint from a small group of riders that avoided the spill.
It seems like Andrea Raccagni of Soudal Quick-Step hit the barrier on the outside of the corner and took out dozens of other riders. He slid across the road, taking out a number of riders, some of whom crashed dramatically into the barrier.
“I was pretty close to the barriers,” Welsford said in an interview after to Australia’s Channel 7. “I saw that it was pretty strung out, I saw that I had a meter and just sent it.”
Several riders limped across the line, including Manlio Moro of Movistar.
The crash comes days after the UCI has listed new safety measures for 2025, in an effort to avoid a repeat of 2024. Last season there were several brutal crashes which derailed many top riders’ seasons. Jonas Vingegaard, Primoz Roglic, and Remco Evenpoel had terrible crashes at the Tour de Basque Country. Vingegaard came out the worst of it, and missed much of his usual Tour de France preparation. His Visma – Lease a Bike teammate Wout van Aert also had two bad crashes to bookend his season–the first at Dwars van Vlanderen, and the second at the Vuelta a España.
Tragically, Swiss junior Muriel Furrer died at the road worlds in Zurich.
According to media reports, most of those who crashed at the crit–an event known to be hairy–seem to be OK, suffering mostly abrasions.
Le champion d’Australie du critérium Sam Welsford (Red Bull Bora Hansgrohe) s’est imposé au sprint sur le Villawood Men’s Classic, le critérium inaugural au 🇦🇺 #TourDownUnder #cycling #cyclisme pic.twitter.com/V4EzeSfmCa
— 🚴 Les Rois du Peloton 🚲 (@LRoisDuPeloton) January 18, 2025
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