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Tour Down Under - Discussion
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| Jakstar22 |
Posted on 06-10-2025 06:43
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Grand Tour Champion
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 Tour Down Under (C1) Discussion
The season has finally arrived and we continue our short stretch in Australia. With the DUC already been and the Tour of Tasmania with 1 stage to go, the Australian stretch of the calender is almost at its end. The Tour Down Under is a race that has been active for quite some time, with the first edition way back in 2008. It is still as exciting as it was back then. Lets have a look at this years route.
The Tour Down Under continues into 2025 with the same route as 2024. This always brings a lot of excitement and also with early season fitness, not really a single race favourite.
The 2024 season saw Kristian Haugaard Jensen (Genii Hyundai N Cycling) get the GC win but no double stage winners so no single stand out rider. Especially considering the GC only seperated by 2 seconds with Ian Boswell in 2nd.
Here are the favourites for this year!
| Rider | HI | SP | AC |  Stannard | 81 | 69 | 78 |  Eiking | 81 | 68 | 76 |  Benoot | 81 | 69 | 71 |  Hirschi | 81 | 66 | 75 |  Gesbert | 80 | 68 | 73 |  Moscon | 80 | 60 | 73 |  Vakoc | 80 | 70 | 73 |  Van Niekerk | 80 | 64 | 74 |  Kelderman | 80 | 65 | 69 |  Storer | 79 | 64 | 74 | | Morin | 78 | 69 | 76 | | Boswell | 78 | 63 | 73 | | Watson | 78 | 62 | 72 |  Tesfatsion | 78 | 69 | 78 | | Bystrom | 78 | 67 | 75 |  Jensen | 78 | 64 | 73 |  Lagane | 78 | 76 | 77 | | Edmondson | 78 | 69 | 74 |  Govekar | 78 | 70 | 78 |  Demare | 78 | 80 | 78 |
In terms of stats, Stannard, Eiking, Benoot and Hirschi can't be overlooked as the favourites. They all seem to have that strong acceleration needed to get away from the rest of the favourites. Next up we have Gesbert, Moscon, Vakoc and Van Niekerk. Followed by Kelderman. Kelderman is out below the others due to acceleration however if he repeats what has happened in Tasmania, then that won't matter.
We can't look past Lagane and Demare either as they could gain valuable time in the early sprints or at least the confidence needed to go all that way. The latter already knows what is needed to win this race as he did in 2023.
| Rider | SP | AC | HI | | Zabel | 81 | 79 | 69 | | Abdul Halil | 81 | 79 | 60 | | Demare | 80 | 78 | 78 |  Zariff | 80 | 80 | 61 | | Einhorn | 80 | 78 | 61 |  Van der Lijke | 79 | 74 | 73 |  Bol | 79 | 77 | 70 | | Kamberaj | 79 | 78 | 69 |  Boudat | 79 | 78 | 68 | | Hodeg | 79 | 78 | 65 |  Willwohl | 79 | 78 | 65 | | Thijssen | 79 | 81 | 63 | | Waersted | 78 | 79 | 67 | | Page | 78 | 79 | 66 | | Hesters | 78 | 78 | 64 |  Plowright | 78 | 76 | 60 | | Norbert | 77 | 75 | 71 | | Wouters | 77 | 79 | 68 |  Tivani | 77 | 78 | 67 | | Lagane | 76 | 77 | 78 | | Page | 76 | 78 | 68 | | Mudgway | 76 | 78 | 64 |
Zabel, Abdul Halil, Demare, Zariff and Einhorn have to be the clear 5 that should be fighting it out for the sprint wins. That does make it quite hard for anyone else to get through these guys however we have seen in the past that it doesn't always matter. Positioning as well as the lead up to the sprint is extremely important. I would say Bol should have a huge chance at stealing a win from the top 5 thanks to his excellent energy stats. Thijssen and his acceleration could prove difficult to stop as well. Quick mention of Mudgway too due to some great shows at last years TDU finishing high up on 2 of the sprint days (2nd on day 1).
The TDU is probably a race I find the most random in the year so this preview could all be for nothing  I hope you all enjoy the race and can't wait to hear everyone's thoughts throughout! Reports will be provided by kandesbunzler26!
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| cunego59 |
Posted on 06-10-2025 06:57
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Team Manager
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Hoping for a Top 10 in the GC for Tesfatsion. Maybe more is possible with his strong sprint and acceleration, and his poor stamina shouldn't have a big impact. But we'll see. Stedman + Habimana isn't great support, but maybe a breakaway or two is possible for them. A couple stage Top 10s for Hodeg would also be nice. Thanks for the preview jakstar, and good luck everyone!
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| Heine |
Posted on 06-10-2025 07:15
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Grand Tour Specialist
Posts: 4462
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Will be an interesting race to follow. I have Demare as the favorite with his stat combo and ability to fight on every stage, but there are some really strong puncheurs here. Can Kelderman copy his Tasmania win? Or can Moscon continue the strong start for Bianchi? Can Zabel continue to do well in the sprints?
Looking forward to the reports!
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| Marcovdw |
Posted on 06-10-2025 07:20
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Grand Tour Champion
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Our season opener with debuts for Van Niekerk and Kamberaj. First impressions are important so don't let me down guys!
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| Sykkel_Freak |
Posted on 06-10-2025 07:32
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Small Tour Specialist
Posts: 2129
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Excited to see what Gesbert will do this season. Maybe we'll get some early impressions here, although the stages are a bit short for him in general.
Hopefully Abdul Halil can also grab a stage win in a sprint, but Demare and Zabel will be hard to beat.
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| Laurens147 |
Posted on 06-10-2025 08:10
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Sprinter
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Thanks Jakstar for the preview! 
Double punch here with Vakoc for GC and Wouters for sprints. And maybe Oliveira can surprise.
MG - Lotto - Caloi
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| DaveTwoBob |
Posted on 06-10-2025 09:19
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Small Tour Specialist
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Thanks for the preview Jakstar and the reminder that this race is unpredictable.
Turgis was 18th for Kraftwerk last year, Masnada is getting his chance this year, can he go better after his win in San Jose?
Walscheid got us a stage win last year, now its Bol's turn up against former rider Zabel, very excited to see how this plays out.
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| hillis91 |
Posted on 06-10-2025 09:22
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Team Leader
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Our second PCT season starts right here, right now.
We got the big dog representing our colors - Let's go Eiking!! 
'
Good luck everybody, thank you Jakstar for the previews and kandesbunzler26 for the reports
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| jandal7 |
Posted on 06-10-2025 09:28
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World Champion
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Let's go Stannard!
24/02/21 - kandesbunzler said “I don't drink famous people."
15/08/22 - SotD said "Your [jandal's] humour is overrated"
11/06/24 - knockout said "Winning is fine I guess. Truth be told this felt completely unimportant."
[PT]  Xero Racing
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| Gustavovskiy |
Posted on 06-10-2025 10:20
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Yay season start for us.
First battle with Hirschi should be informartive of how the puncheur scene in PCT should unfold this year. But then it's TDU so anything can happen, and probably shouldn't be banking so much on the results here to set expectations for the season.
Wither way I'm excited.
Thanks for the preview Jakstar. Good luck everyone!
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| Ad Bot |
Posted on 05-12-2025 14:17
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| Blasing |
Posted on 06-10-2025 10:49
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Any point scored here would be nice for us, but given the starting field it will be hard for Großschartner to score any on the puncheur stages and it will also be tough for Boudat to get good sprinting results. Looking forward to the start of the season for us, so thanks for the preview!
Manager of JEWA TIROL Cycling Team
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| sammyt93 |
Posted on 06-10-2025 10:53
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Classics Specialist
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Time for Hirschi and Einhorn to start their seasons, not sure what to expect down under but figured it's worth a trip to try and start the opening months off strongly, especially as we need to offset the lower scoring of all our C2 days being in the first 2 months
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| Luis Leon Sanchez |
Posted on 06-10-2025 11:39
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Hoping for a great start to our season! Excited to see how Storer goes but it's quite the field here.
Thijssen should have some success, with Hesters to support him!
Just a note, my team name seems to be the older version in the preview 
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| whitejersey |
Posted on 06-10-2025 14:40
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Classics Specialist
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Quita not mentioned in the preview. Time to prove the doubters wrong
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| jt1109 |
Posted on 06-10-2025 15:09
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Quite exicted for this one the bonus system suits Moscon quite well and a couple of the stages can get selective
Having said that Demare the most likely winner here for me think he could go very well |
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| Booker |
Posted on 06-10-2025 15:37
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Despite Bettiol's lack of mention in the preview, we are here with a solid team, looking to be a spoiler. C'mon Alberto!
Thanks for the preview Jakstar
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| jph27 |
Posted on 06-10-2025 19:24
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Hoping for some good sprint results from Zariff, and for the team to not drop back to support him on stage 2 and ruin any potential GC result for vdP  |
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| Dane Bramage |
Posted on 06-10-2025 20:18
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Our goal for the season is stage wins. It will be tough, but we hope for a lucky punch with van der Lijke or a breakaway.
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| TheManxMissile |
Posted on 06-10-2025 21:15
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Tour de France Champion
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It's a good but not crazy startlist. Room in there for some upstart Pirates to try something! Mixed up team with clear aim to try and get a few breaks, and then just see what happens.
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| seancoll |
Posted on 06-10-2025 22:23
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Tivani has made it over hillier races before so we're hoping that he makes a few finishes that other sprinters can't however the list looks like Tivani will still have competition on the tougher finishes, if Tivani is even considered competition.
Montenegro and Semenyov will cover the true hilly stages and we hope that they can sit in groups and then sprint occasionally. Otherwise, we assume some breakaway attempts for our teams by our younger folks.
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