Five conclusions from the 2025 Tour Down Under

The racing is over and the celebration of 25 years too, as another double edition of the Tour Down Under opens the women's and men's WorldTour calendars in Australia and another pair of ochre-clad winners are crowned champions of their respective races.

This year it was Jhonatan Narvaez (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) and Noemi Rüegg (EF Education-Oatly who claimed the top victories of the Australian summer, leading a podium full of international riders after tackling an array of stages which delivered some of the toughest terrain yet.

The victories were grasped amid a sense that the race has entered a new era. The ice stockings and vests were out in force, but the heat was not enough to dampen the power of the European professionals. They are clearly coming well prepared for whatever the Australian summer can dish out and the domination of the overall podiums by international riders provided plenty of evidence of that.

The Australian riders, however, are hardly in a state of despair. Apart from the fact that Sam Welsford (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) once again delivered three stage wins, there were plenty of performances that inspired hope that a win is on its way, perhaps one that will be even more deeply valued because of the intensifying battle to get there.

There was, as usual, plenty of insight to be drawn from the events in South Australia -  so let's take a closer look at the takeaways, with five conclusions from the 2025 Tour Down Under.

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Despite reported reservations in Europe, teams still want to race Tour Down Under

On the first day of the men's Tour Down Under in his Nieuwsblad column, now-retired Soudal-Quickstep CEO Patrick Lefevere fired off unfavourable comments about the logistics involved for European teams to race in Australia, suggesting there was waning interest from Euro-based riders in attending.

"Cyclists used to enjoy riding there, but today it is increasingly difficult to motivate them to do so," Lefevere said, adding that with the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race, a month away from home is hard on the riders.

Now retired rider Thomas De Gendt also pointed out that recovering from jetlag was a major consideration, and that other early season events like the UAE Tour and Tour of Oman offer nice weather, too, as well as fewer time zone changes for European racers.

Yet when Cyclingnews asked about the comments, Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe sports director Bernhard Eisel emphasised the merits of the Tour Down Under.

"I think every rider that is here really enjoys his time," Eisel said. "It's great racing, it's still good training. You can always discuss the physiological side of training. But at the same time, as long as boys enjoy racing here, I think it's the best you can get."

Both Eisel and Picnic-PostNl director Matthew Winston praised the race organisation for their efforts. Having one central hotel in Adelaide where riders stay throughout the Tour Down Under makes for a relaxed week, and the race itself is high quality.

"I don't see teams losing money here come to Tour Down Under, it's well covered by the organizer, chapeau to the job there," Eisel said.

Winston added, "I think it's one of the best races on the WorldTour calendar that I've been to: the organization's fantastic and the courses are good. Kudos to the organization. It's an exciting race every year, and I think they do a really good job.

"Each race is unique in its own way and I think a race like this that's open all the way to the Queen stage and will be fought out via top battles  - that's good."

Hungry for opportunity

One thing highlighted by Lefevere's comments above is that yes, it is a long way from Europe, but that cuts both ways. For this one patch of the year, the Australian-born European professionals get to race on home soil. Equally importantly, by snaring a spot in the national team, young professionals can get a chance to get noticed,  that doesn’t involve an expensive 24-hour flight and a completely different time zone.

“We have a mixture of some more experienced riders and some developing riders,” said the ARA Australian Cycling women’s sports director Donna Rae Szalinsky. “So we really value this opportunity to expose them to a WorldTour event, in their own country as well which is nice. So this is a really valuable pathway activity for us.”

The competition to get one of those national team spots is high and once a rider grabs it you can be sure they will go all out, because as Rae-Szalinsky said “we are not just here to fill numbers”.

In the women’s race, Alyssa Polites, who had a tough couple of seasons, was determined to find her way back to the top in Europe. So she made sure she got the exposure to help her on her way, going out for a long solo on stage 1 to claim the climber's jersey, losing it on day 2 but then grabbing it right back with a savvy sprint for the final QOM points of the Tour.

“I’m really hungry for it and I think I’ve got the foundation now to build from and I’ve got my confidence and spark again,” said Polites. That, and a climber's jersey.

Once the women’s tour has ended it was time for the men to chase King of the Mountains points, and Fergus Browning wrapped up the classification in spectacular style, first going off the front in a long break with teammate Zachary Marriage and then continuing on with an unrelenting points chase right through stage 2 and 3, to have the classification all but wrapped up before the race was half over. 

Standout performances from the national team also included 18-year-old Emily Dixon, the youngest rider in the race, who finished within the top 20 on the Willunga Hill stage and was second in the youth category. 

Then there was Marriage who impressed with his strength right from day 1 as he set off with Browning through that long break. By the end of the Tour he had claimed second in the youth classification and a top 20 finish overall.

Martin Barras, the sports director of the ARA Australian Cycling team also pointed out the while the results and spotlight the race bought were important, there were also other benefits. “You know, I think all of them will go back to the respective teams better bike riders for it.”

Tour Down Under is no longer a holiday for Euro pros

For both the men's and women's Tours Down Under, there was one comment that was consistent across the board - the level of fitness among the European riders has been extremely high this year.

This year was the first time in the womens' Tour Down Under history that there were no Australians on the final podium and no Australian stage winners, demonstrating that the international riders are coming into the race with high ambitions.

Amanda Spratt (Lidl-Trek), the highest ranked Australian in seventh overall, said, "The level is just getting higher and higher. Everyone takes it really seriously now. You have your off-season in October, you start training in November, and if you know you're coming here, you're already doing heat training - doing intensity at Christmas time isn't as fun."

The  local men had more luck with sprinter Sam Welsford (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), who won the first two stages and stage 6, while his teammate Finn Fisher-Black landed in third overall. But over and over, the riders and directors commented how high the level of fitness has been.

"We know that everybody comes this race prepared," Jayco-AlUla sports director Mat Hayman told Cyclingnews. "When they pick a team, it's not just us that are preparing to do well here. The level across the board over the last few years has been extremely high. We see record times [on climbs], every time, with bigger groups coming with the faster times. That's quite impressive."

Even with the men's stage 3 being one of the toughest stages in the race's history, there were still 18 riders coming to the line in the lead group and 29 within half a minute of the winner.

"We were expecting a bigger selection than what happened," UAE Team Emirates XRG sports director Fabio Baldato said. "The level this year at the Tour Down Under is higher than in the past years."

Women’s ProTeams and Pro points

Pro teams were a frequent topic of discussion in the women's Tour Down Under event, given the Australian season-opener marked the first block of racing since the new women's ProTeams had been introduced. Before that there was nothing between the Continental and Women's WorldTeams, so riders outside the 15 in the top-tier didn't have a guaranteed salary, or protection if things went awry. Squads without any of those protections could end up getting the automatic WorldTour invitations – just cast your mind back to Tashkent last season.

Now these will go to the top two ProTeams, which have a minimum salary of €16,720 for a new professional or otherwise it’s €20,000, and there will be bank guarantees if anything does go astray.

The salaries will also mean riders have a little more hope of having time to train optimally, rather than work like crazy when they are not racing to sustain themselves – a move that should help narrow the gap and therefore challenges of a peloton with disparate levels.

There were two new ProTeams on the start line at the Women’s Tour Down Under, one being the team of the race winner Noemi Rüegg, EF Education-Oatly - although that has always presented as more of a WorldTeam in waiting. The other was St Michel - Preference Home - Auber93 who lined up with three Australian riders among their squad. 

Among them was Emily Watts, who spent last year racing in Belgium with a Continental team but this year has made the step up into the new category.

“For me, it means a lot for it means that I can live a bit more comfortably in Europe as it does mean a bigger salary for me, but it also means that there's more opportunities for those continental girls over in Europe,” said Watts, who welcomed the creation of the development pathway.

That's a welcome development across the board. But on a local level, too, there are two new 1.Pro-ranked races in Australia this season, with both the Santos Tour Down Under and Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race delivering a one-day second-tier event to complement their WorldTour races. 

The three-stage women’s Tour Down Under in particular could have gone in a different direction and perhaps added another day's racing. But there was a compelling reason to go for the 1.Pro race instead.

“Having a one-day pro-ranked event means that there are a lot more points on offer,” said assistant race director Annette Edmondson.

As things currently stand, a Women’s WorldTour stage win would net 50 points while UCI ProSeries one-day race win, on the other hand is worth 200.

The blessing and the curse of being first

Starting the season always adds to the anticipation and mystery of the Tour Down Under as all the question marks surrounding a new season are revealed. 

Who will be the new neo-pro to watch, who is on form and who has decided that they'll save themselves for later goals? How will riders fare in their first race with a new team. And even then, as race director Stuart O'Grady pointed out, there is so much more. 

"We get a first look at the [men's] and Women's WorldTour teams - the flashy new bikes, nice new jerseys – that's part of the build-up and the excitement we get in January," said O'Grady.

Add to that the appeal of blue skies, sunshine, beaches and heat to make it a compelling mix, particularly for those watching on from the cold of a European winter. Still, it's not all rainbows and lollipops. 

Being first also means being the initial test ground for a new round of regulations. Last year it was all about excessively turned-in brake levers, this year the standout was new feed zone rules requiring feed zones every 30 to 40km which led to the need to make some last-minute changes.

"It was a very late regulation change, which has a massive impact on us being the first WorldTour event," O'Grady told Cyclingnews before the start of stage 2. 

The tech guides were printed and plans made, but then had to be changed and there was also plenty of work done to address the concern emanating from the teams.

"Luckily, the UCI are being flexible - we've listened to the teams," said O'Grady. "They wanted another one here and there, and everyone's just worked together to make sure it happened."

Now the question is -  what will the Tour Down Under have to grapple with next year? 

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