The Women's Tour Down Under (known for sponsorship reasons as the Santos Women's Tour Down Under) is an annual professional

road bicycle racing Road bicycle racing is the cycle sport discipline of road cycling, held primarily on Road surface, paved roads. Road racing is the most popular professional form of bicycle racing, in terms of numbers of competitors, events and spectators. The ...

for women in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

. It is held in conjunction with the

Tour Down Under The Tour Down Under (currently branded as the Santos Tour Down Under for sponsorship reasons) is a cycling race in and around Adelaide, South Australia. It is traditionally the opening event of the UCI World Tour and UCI Women’s WorldTour ...

. From 2016, it was rated as UCI 2.2, from 2018 as UCI 2.1., from 2020 Women's UCI ProSeries and from 2022 UCI Women's World Tour.

History

Women's racing at the Tour Down Under began in the late 2000s as a series of exhibition criterium races in conjunction with the Tour Down Under event (for example, at the 2007 Tour Down Under). This eventually formed part of the women's National Road Series (2015), with these races variously operating under guises deriving from the parent event's name. In 2016, organisers developed a new UCI-classified event that carried the 'Women's Tour' name, and was ranked as a new UCI 2.2. stage race with international teams invited to compete. The event considers the 'Women's Tour Down Under' as having started in 2016. Originally called the 'Santos Women's Tour' the first race was won by former Australian Champion

Katrin Garfoot Katrin Garfoot (born 8 October 1981) is a German-born Australian former cyclist who won a bronze medal at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in the Cycling at the 2014 Commonwealth Games – Women's road time trial, road time trial. She started cyc ...

. From 2018, the race leaders and overall winner are awarded an Ochre Jersey as has been the tradition in the men's event since 2006. In 2018, organisers announced that equal prize money would be awarded to the winners of the Tour Down Under and Women's Tour Down Under. The three subsequent races were won by

Amanda Spratt Amanda Spratt (born 17 September 1987) is an Australian road cyclist, who currently rides for UCI Women's WorldTeam . Spratt was selected to represent Australia at the 2012 London and 2016 Rio Olympics. In 2012, 2016 and 2020 she won the Au ...

, and in 2020

Ruth Winder Ruth Joyce Edwards (née Winder born July 9, 1993) is a British-born American professional cyclist. She took up the sport as a teenager, and went on to turn professional with in 2014. In July 2021 Winder announced that she would retire from prof ...

became the first non-Australian and non

Mitchelton–Scott (women's team) Liv AlUla Jayco (UCI Code: LIV) is a women's professional cycling team based in Australia which competes in the UCI Women's World Tour and other elite women's events throughout the world. After being sponsored by Orica for five years, the team ...

rider to win the event. The race was not held in 2021 or 2022 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, an alternative National Road Series stage race was held under the name Festival of Cycling. The 2021 edition was won by

Sarah Gigante Sarah Gigante (born 6 October 2000) is an Australian racing cyclist, who currently rides for UCI Women's WorldTeam . Career Junior and under-23 career In 2018, Gigante was national junior champion in the road race, individual time trial and cri ...

and the 2022 edition was won by Ruby Roseman-Gannon. In 2023 the race was elevated to Women's WorldTour level. The 2023 edition was won by Australian cyclist Grace Brown. In 2023, Stuart O'Grady replaced Kimberley Conte as race director with the addition of two new assistant race directors

Annette Edmondson Annette Edmondson (born 12 December 1991) is an Australian former Cycle sport, cyclist who competed on the track with Cycling Australia's High Performance Unit (HPU). She also competed on the road for the team between 2015 and 2018. Her greate ...

and

Carlee Taylor Carlee Taylor (born 15 February 1989) is an Australian racing cyclist, who currently rides for UCI Women's Continental Team . She took up cycling in 2007 after previously competing in triathlon A triathlon is an endurance multisport race c ...

Women's Tour Down Under Winners

Classification leaders' jerseys

Predecessor women's racing events

From the mid-2000s, women's racing commenced at the Tour Down Under, usually as small-scale criterium races at start and finish locations aligned to the men's race, such as part of the 2007 Tour Down Under. The inaugural professional event in 2011 was known as the ''Rendition Homes-Santos Women's Cup'' was won by Chloe Hosking. In 2012 the criterium series took place in Adelaide City, Prospect and Hyde Park and was won by

Judith Arndt Judith Arndt (born 23 July 1976) is a retired German professional sports, professional cycle sport, cyclist, who last rode for the GreenEDGE-AIS cycling team. She won the bronze medal in the Track cycling, 3000 m pursuit event at the 1996 S ...

. In 2013, the Santos Women's Cup was held in Adelaide City, Prospect and Hyde Park and was won by Kimberley Wells. In 2014, the Santos Women's Cup was held in Adelaide City, Angaston and Prospect and was won by

Loes Gunnewijk Loes Gunnewijk (born 27 November 1980 in Groenlo) is a Dutch former professional racing cyclist, who rode professionally between 2004 and 2015. Gunnewijk was a member of the Dutch national team together with Ellen van Dijk, Marianne Vos and Anne ...

. In 2015, the 'Santos Women's Tour' was a four-part race as part of

Cycling Australia Cycling Australia (CA), the trading name of the Australian Cycling Federation Inc, was the national governing body for bicycle racing in Australia, and represented the interests of affiliated cycling clubs and State federations. It covered the d ...

's National Road Series with stages running from Woodside-Murray Bridge, Adelaide city, Tanunda-Campbelltown, Victoria Park.

Previous Women's Tour & Women's Cup winners

Classification leaders jerseys

References

{{UCI Women's World Tour Cycle races in Australia Recurring sporting events established in 2012 2012 establishments in Australia Women's road bicycle races Annual sporting events in Australia Women's Tour Down Under