Tour Down Under, Track World Cup, Cyclo-cross – Weekend wrap

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Tour Down Under

The official start of the Tour Down Under is not until Tuesday but on Sunday the curtain was raised with the Down Under Classic, a 51-kilometer Criterium in the centre of Adelaide.

Caleb Ewan (Orica GreenEdge) came into the race with four wins already under his belt this month and added to that tally with a meticulous sprint win over Giacomo Nizzolo (Trek-Segafredo) and Adam Blythe (Tinkoff).

The race has no bearing on the overall at the Tour Down Under but acts as a warm-up for the first WorldTour stage race of the 2016 season. Cyclingnews will have complete live coverage from the Tour Down under, and race highlights courtesy of organisers ASO.

See also

• Down Under Classic race report
  
• Down Under Classic video highlights
  
• Tour Down Under race page

Tour de San Luis

The Tour de San Luis gets underway on Monday with a 21km team time trial that will surely shift the balance of power in favour of the WorldTour teams. The Australian Pro Continental Drapac team will be first out of the gate for the test, while Astana, Cannondale and Movistar close out the start sheet.

The organisation announced Sunday that the Vivo Paraguay squad would not be able to start because of an incomplete registration with the UCI, and therefore only 28 teams will start.

The full rider start list is available here.

Start times

See also:

• Tour de San Luis: Sagan, Nibali and Quintana lead training - Gallery
  
• Tour de San Luis: Viviani proud to ride for Italy
  
• Acevedo prepared to give Jamis a result at Tour de San Luis
  
• Knee injury no longer troubling Gaviria ahead of Tour de San Luis
  
• No pressure on Sagan to win at Tour de San Luis
  
• Nibali: It's my goal to try to win the Tour de San Luis

UCI Track World Cup

While the road race season is ramping up the track season is building towards a crescendo with the World Championships taking place in March.

This weekend saw the final round of the UCI Track World Cup, which took place in Hong Kong. Thomas Boudat (France) and Laura Trott (Great Britain) won their respective Omnium competitions with Sarah Hammer (USA) and Olympic champion Lasse Norman Hansen (Denmark) finishing second.

Mark Cavendish (Great Britain), making his first appearance in national track colours since 2008 put in a consistent performance but was nudged out of the top three. He will now return to road duties for Dimension Data but the Track World Championships in London, in March, remain a goal.

In the men’s sprint, Australian Patrick Constable took the biggest win of his young career, beating Olympic champion Jason Kenny (Great Britain) in the semi-final before doing away with Chao Xu (China) in the final.

In other results, Lithuanian Simona Krupeckaite took out the women's keirin. Great Britain won the men’s sprint, beating Poland in the final. The Canadian women won the team sprint, and the Australian men won their battle against Denmark.

For a full break down of results, reports and photos head to our Track World Cup Hong Kong page.

UCI Cyclo-cross World Cup Lignières-en-Berry

With the world championships just a fortnight away Mathieu van der Poel (BKCP-Corendon) put down another important marker with his third straight World Cup win. The 20-year-old even managed to pull a wheelie as he crossed the line. Wout Van Aert (Crelan-Vastgoedservice Continental Team) and Lars Van Der Haar (Team Giant – Alpecin) rounded out the podium.

In the women’s race Sanne Cant soloed clear to win ahead of Ellen Van Loy and Eva Lechner. With just one round to go in the world cup, Cant leads Lechner by 32 points.

Catch up on all the action from the latest round of the Cyclo-cross World Cup.

The weekend's biggest news

• Nibali and Lampre-Merida open negotiations for possible 2017 transfer
• Voeckler unsure if 2016 will be his final season
• Tour Down Under: Thomas says Porte has found freedom at BMC
• Tour de San Luis: Sagan, Nibali and Quintana lead training - Gallery
• Cavendish misses out on World Cup medal but shows encouraging signs
• Quintana aims to carry Tour de France form in Olympic Games
• Tour Down Under: New bikes and equipment in the peloton - Gallery