When the Women’s Santos Tour Down Under first ran in 2016, the peloton heading to the start line was a mixed bunch, with seasoned professionals alongside riders from domestic teams, squeezing in training around jobs and study as they used this rare opportunity to line up in an international race in Australia.
Plenty has changed since then, and in 2026 the race has delivered a shift that race director Stuart O’Grady describes as ‘seismic’.
The field has evolved and so has the South Australian race. The level moved up from a UCI ranking of 2.2 to 2.1 in 2018 and then made the final step to the Women’s WorldTour in 2023. That meant more international teams though there were always some notable absences, Movistar, Fenix Deceuninck and in particular SD Worx-Protime, which has long been one of the top teams, prominent among them.
“We’ve also, with that, been able to up the difficulty level across the stages – make the stages longer and harder – because now the quality is really rich across the board. So we’re incredibly proud to welcome all the teams here. It’s a bit of a seismic shift.”
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