The 2016 Tour Down Under was a

road cycling Road cycling is the most widespread form of cycling in which cyclists ride on paved roadways. It includes Recreational cycling, recreational, Road bicycle racing, racing, Bicycle commuting, commuting, and utility cycling. As users of the road, ...

stage race A race stage, leg, or heat is a unit of a race that has been divided in several parts for the reason such as length of the distance to be covered, as in a multi-day event. Usually, such a race consists of "ordinary" stages, but sometimes stages ...

that took place between 19 and 24 January in and around

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

. It was the 18th edition of the

Tour Down Under The Tour Down Under (branded as the Santos Tour Down Under under a partnership arrangement) is a cycling race in and around Adelaide, South Australia, and is traditionally the opening event of the UCI World Tour and features all 19 UCI WorldTe ...

and was the first event of the

2016 UCI World Tour The 2016 UCI World Tour was a competition that included 27 road cycling events throughout the 2016 men's cycling season. It was the eighth edition of the ranking system launched by the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) in 2009. The competitio ...

. The defending champion was

Rohan Dennis Rohan Dennis (born 28 May 1990) is an Australian professional road racing cyclist who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam . Dennis was born, raised, and resides in Adelaide, South Australia, Australia. He won back to back UCI men's individual ti ...

().

Simon Gerrans Simon Gerrans (born 16 May 1980) is an Australian former professional road bicycle racer, who rode professionally between 2005 and 2018, for the , , , , and squads. Post-retirement he initially worked as an athlete intern at Goldman Sachs in L ...

() took the lead after the third stage of the race. He maintained his lead through the remaining three stages to win the race for the fourth time in his career. Australian cyclists won every stage of the 2016 Tour Down Under; this was the second time this had occurred in the race's history.

Participating teams

As the Tour Down Under is a

UCI World Tour The UCI WorldTour (2009–2010: ''UCI World Ranking'') is the premier men's elite road cycling tour, sitting above the UCI ProSeries and various regional UCI Continental Circuits. It refers to both the tour of 38 events and, until 2019, an annual ...

event, all eighteen UCI World Teams were invited automatically and obliged to enter a team in the race. Two other teams were given wildcard entries into the race: these were and

UniSA–Australia UniSA–Australia is an Australian cycling team sponsored by the University of South Australia, entering young Australian riders in the Tour Down Under stage race held in late January in and around Adelaide. 2020 The team members for the 2020 ...

Route

The route of the 2016 Tour Down Under was announced at the beginning of July 2015 and centred around the city of

. There were six mass-start road stages and no

time trial In many racing sports, an athlete (or occasionally a team of athletes) will compete in a time trial against the clock to secure the fastest time. The format of a time trial can vary, but usually follow a format where each athlete or team sets off at ...

s. The day before the start of the Tour, there was a flat

criterium A criterium, or crit, is a bike race consisting of several laps around a closed circuit, the length of each lap or circuit ranging from about 400 m to 10,000 m. Overview Race length can be determined by a number of laps or total time ...

race, the

People's Choice Classic The Down Under Classic (currently known as the Schwalbe Classic, and previously known as the People's Choice Classic and Cancer Council Helpline Classic for sponsorship reasons), is a criterium around Rymill Park in Adelaide, South Australia, Au ...

, which took place in

Rymill Park Rymill Park / Murlawirrapurka (previously spelt Mullawirraburka), and numbered as Park 14, is a recreation park located in the East Park Lands of the South Australian capital of Adelaide. There is an artificial lake with rowboats for hire, a c ...

and which was suited for the sprinters. It was won by

Caleb Ewan Caleb Ewan (born 11 July 1994) is an Australian road and track bicycle racer who rides for UCI WorldTeam . A sprinter, Ewan has a style similar to that of Mark Cavendish, taking an extremely low position that offers him an aerodynamic advantage ...

() in a sprint finish. The first five stages of the race itself included at least some climbing, with none of them particularly suited to the sprinters. The first two stages of the Tour both included climbs early in the stage and hilly circuits at the end. The third and fourth stages had climbs towards the end of each day's racing, with opportunities for attacks. The fifth stage finished with two climbs of Willunga Hill, which had been decisive in previous editions of the race. The final stage was another criterium around the centre of Adelaide.

Pre-race favourites

The Tour Down Under comes at the very beginning of the cycling season. Many riders begin their seasons at the race; they therefore are not at their peak form. Some riders also choose to start later in the season. In 2016, these included

Chris Froome Christopher Clive Froome ɹɪs fɹuːm (born 20 May 1985) is a Kenyan/British Road bicycle racing, road racing cyclist who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam . He has won seven Grand Tour (cycling), Grand Tours: four editions of the Tour de ...

(),

Tom Boonen Tom Boonen (; born 15 October 1980) is a Belgian former road bicycle racer, who competed as a professional between 2002 and 2017 for the and teams and a professional racing driver who currently competes in Belcar, having previously competed in ...

( and

Alberto Contador Alberto Contador Velasco (; born 6 December 1982) is a Spanish former professional cyclist. He is one of the most successful riders of his era, winning the Tour de France twice ( 2007, 2009), the Giro d'Italia twice (2008, 2015), and the Vue ...

(). Others chose to begin their seasons at the

Tour de San Luis The Tour de San Luis was a road cycling race that was held in San Luis Province, Argentina from 2007 to 2016. The race consisted of a competition over an individual time trial, and six stages. The competition carried a UCI rating of 2.1, and i ...

, which takes place at the same time as the Tour Down Under in Argentina. These included

Vincenzo Nibali ), The Nibbler , birth_date = , birth_place = Messina, Sicily, Italy , height = , weight = , currentteam = , discipline = Road , role = Rider , ridertype = Climber , proyears1 = 2005 , proteam1 = , proyears2 = 2006–2012 , protea ...

(),

Nairo Quintana Nairo Alexánder Quintana Rojas, Order of Boyacá, ODB, (born 4 February 1990) is a Colombian racing cyclist, who rides for UCI ProSeries, UCI ProTeam . Nicknamed "Nairoman" and "El Cóndor de los Andes", Quintana is a specialist climber, known ...

() and

Peter Sagan Peter Sagan (; born 26 January 1990) is a Slovak professional road bicycle racer who currently rides for UCI ProTeam . Sagan had a successful junior cyclo-cross and mountain bike racing career, winning the junior cross-country race at the 2008 ...

(Tinkoff). Despite the many prominent riders who did not appear at the race, the race director described himself as "delighted" with the field of riders who took to the startline. The key stage was expected to be the penultimate stage, finishing on Old Willunga Hill. The third and fourth stages, which had climbs towards the finish of the race, were also expected to have the potential to affect the overall result. Three of the main favourites for the race were Australians. These were

and

Richie Porte Richard Julian Porte (born 30 January 1985) is an Australian professional Road bicycle racing, road bicycle racer who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam . His successes include wins at 8 UCI World Tour, World Tour stage races: Paris–Nice in 201 ...

(both ) and

(). Dennis was the defending champion, having beaten Porte by two seconds in the 2015 race; Gerrans had won the race on three former occasions, in

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...

and

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

. While Porte and Dennis had an advantage on the uphill finishes, Gerrans's strong sprint gave him the opportunity to win bonus seconds. Other riders with a chance at a strong overall result included

Geraint Thomas Geraint Howell Thomas, (; born 25 May 1986) is a Welsh professional racing cyclist who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam , Wales and Great Britain. He is one of the few riders in the modern era to achieve significant elite success as both a tra ...

(Sky) and

Louis Meintjes Louis Meintjes (born 21 February 1992) is a South African cyclist, who rides for UCI WorldTeam . He won the South African National Road Race Championships in 2014, and has finished 8th overall in the Tour de France, on 3 occasions in 2016, 2017 ...

(). The strongest sprinters in the race included

(),

Wouter Wippert Wouter Wippert (born 14 August 1990) is a Dutch professional road racing cyclist, who most recently rode for UCI Continental team . In 2015, Wippert took a stage win in the UCI World Tour race Tour Down Under. Career In the 2015 Tour of Californ ...

(),

Giacomo Nizzolo Giacomo Nizzolo (born 30 January 1989) is an Italian racing cyclist, who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam . Career Leopard Trek (2011–18) Nizzolo took his first win at UCI World Tour level in August 2012, on stage 5 of the Eneco Tour. He launc ...

() and

Matteo Pelucchi Matteo Pelucchi (born 21 January 1989) is an Italian former professional road cyclist, who last rode for UCI WorldTeam . He also competed in track cycling at a junior level. Career He rode for a year with in 2012, and four years with between 2 ...

(). They were expected to feature strongly on the first and last stages.

Stages

Stage 1

Stage 2

Stage 3

Stage 4

Stage 5

Stage 6

Classification leadership table

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:2016 Tour Down Under Tour Down Under

Tour Tour or Tours may refer to: Travel * Tourism, travel for pleasure * Tour of duty, a period of time spent in military service * Campus tour, a journey through a college or university's campus * Guided tour, a journey through a location, directed b ...