The season starts here with the first WorldTour race of the year: the 2019 Santos Tour Down Under, running from January 15-20, with the traditional curtain-raiser criterium, the Down Under Classic, warming the riders up on January 13. Here, Cyclingnews picks the five men most likely to animate the week of racing.
Defending champion Daryl Impey returns with a strong Mitchelton-Scott squad, while last year's runner-up – and the 2017 champion – Richie Porte returns as the leader of his new Trek-Segafredo team.
Look for stage wins from the big sprinters – the likes of Elia Viviani (Deceuninck-QuickStep) and Caleb Ewan (Lotto Soudal) – and for the riders with an eye on the GC to try to steal a march on their rivals whenever they can ahead of the big climbing showdown on Willunga Hill where the race ends on January 20.
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And Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe) is back for a third straight year – this time clad in his Slovakian national road race champion's jersey, rather than those familiar world champ's stripes, although it doesn't really look that much different, and he'll be easy enough to pick out as he gets his season under way in Australia.
Daryl Impey (Mitchelton-Scott)
Impey stayed under the radar for most of last year's race before emerging to take the race lead after the penultimate stage – to Willunga Hill. That same stage becomes the final stage for this year's race, which will keep the excitement going right up until the final pedal strokes of the race.
The South African finished second to Porte on the stage to Willunga Hill in 2018, ceding eight seconds to the Australian. It was enough to put Impey into the race lead, but on equal time with Porte, with Impey given the ochre leader's jersey on 'countback'. Porte then had little chance of gaining any kind of advantage on the final, flat and fast stage in central Adelaide, being closely marked by Impey and his Mitchelton-Scott teammates.
Elia Viviani (Deceuninck-QuickStep)
Richie Porte (Trek-Segafredo)
Caleb Ewan (Lotto Soudal)
Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe)
You can read more at Cyclingnews.com
via Cyclingnews Latest Interviews and Features http://www.cyclingnews.com/features/5-riders-to-watch-at-the-2019-tour-down-under
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