As it happened: Time trial specialists aim for first leader's jersey in Santos Tour Down Under
Prologue kicks off the six-day race with a 3.6km individual time trial in Adelaide
Race Situation
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Hello and welcome to the live coverage of the prologue of the Santos Tour Down Under in Adelaide
The course is just 3.6 kilometres long, meaning this is very much a short, fast effort which will produce a first leader, but long term it'll likely have little effect on GC.
That said, this is the first day of racing in the 2026 elite men's WorldTour, so anticipation is high as the men's season gets underway.
Current weather conditions are, according to CN's reporter on the ground Simone Giuliani, as follows: "It may be stretching into the evening in Adelaide but the sun still has a sting in it and the temperature is sitting around 30 degrees Celsius. Currently there are also gusty bursts of wind blowing across the course."
"The winds should ease through the evening with the current gust speed of 26 knots expected to drop to around 18 knots by the time Jay Vine, the last rider out, is heading to the line."
First rider down the start ramp in Adelaide will be Austria's Michael Gogl (Alpecin-Premier Tech)
If you're wondering, the last time there was a prologue in the Tour Down Under was back in 2023, also in Adelaide. That was almost twice the length though, 5.5 kilometres, with the win going to Italy's Alberto Bettiol. You can read the CN report about that here.
Alberto Bettiol wins a wet prologue at the Tour Down Under
As for the course, here's what the riders can expect: some technical bits, basically and some bits to get a good turn of speed on:
"The prologue starts near the Tour village with a straight stretch down Wakefield Street before a right turn into East terrace after 1.1km and then another left, right and then left hand turn in quick succession before a sharp left and two hairpin turns before riders can complete the run through to the finish line at Victoria Park."
Critically, it's mostly flat.
And Gogl is off, the Tour Down Under is officially underway.
Gogl powers home, the first rider across the line. But a time trialing specialist like Canadian TT champion Michael Leonard (EF Education-EasyPost) is out there on the course, and he's likely to set a very good time, too.
More background from Simone Giuliani on the ground about the atmosphere out there in Adelaide:
"Crowds are starting to pack the roadside around the start area with riders sheltering from the sun under marquees before they line up, wearing ice vests given it’s still warm despite the late start. Though with it being just a hop skip and jump from the village and their accomodation they don’t have to worry about setting out too far in advance."
No clear indication yet of times, but we'll bring them as soon as we've got something vaguely official.
And as if by magic, they appear. Fastest time currently for Michael Leonard of 4:24. He's got a hefty (by 3.2 kilometre prologue standards) advantage of 2.3 kilometres on Marco Brenner (Tudor).
That was a good start to the year for Leonard in his first ever race with new team EF, but he's already been overhauled by New Zealand's Laurence Pithie (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) with a time of 4:19, nearly five seconds faster.
And that in turn is superceded by Sam Watson (Ineos Grenadiers) with a fastest time of 4:16.9. Just a couple of seconds faster, but it puts the Briton into the hot seat.
Luke Durbridge (Jayco-AlUla) finishes. A long, long time ago in a country far, far away, 'Turbo Durbo' won a very similar short opening prologue in the Critérium du Dauphiné, beating no less a time trial star than Bradley Wiggins. For those looking to dust down the history books, here's our report:
Durbridge wins Criterium du Dauphine prologue in Grenoble
Back to the present, there are two checkpoints in the course, at km 1 and km2, prior to the finish at km 3.6.
Riders are off at minute intervals all the way to last starter Jay Vine (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) at 20:19 local time.
Vine has recently claimed the Australian National TT title for a second time in his career, and even if the course is - as he said earlier today - one for the track specialists than pure road time triallers, interest will be very high in what he can achieve. You can read about his victory in Perth, on the other side of Australia, here:
Jay Vine reclaims elite men's time trial title at the Australian Road National Championships
And here's an image of Sam Watson during his ride to the provisional top spot overall: will it be enough to take the first lead of the race?
And let's not forget, racing has already been happening already, not just the Nationals. The Women's Tour Down Under finished less than 48 hours ago. You can read our full report here:
Women's Tour Down Under: Noemi Rüegg outsprints UAE Team ADQ rivals to win stage 3 and claim overall for second year in a row
Yet more reading material should you need it: colleague Matilda Price has written the Cyclingnews' breakdown of who the big GC contenders will likely be in this year's Santos Tour Down Under. Here's the link:
Home riders among favourites in open GC field – Analysing the Tour Down Under contenders
If - and it's still a big if, given so many riders are yet to come - Sam Watson gets the win, then it won't be his first prologue victory in the World Tour. One of Watson's five wins to date was the Tour de Romandie prologue last year, over a very similar distance of 3.44 kilometres.
Worth noting that Ivo Oliveira (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) the rider that ran him the closest in Romandie, losing by just O.28 seconds, is also racing in the TDU. And he's yet to start...
Time for another photo: here's Finn Fisher-Black, currently fourth on provisional times today, out on the course.
And Ben O'Connor (Jayco-AlUla), big local star and potentially a GC favourite, rides home 13 seconds down on Sam Watson (Ineos Grenadiers).
Another big-name contender, Adam Yates (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), riding his first ever TDU, finishes 18 seconds back on compatriot Watson.
Talking of Finn Fisher-Black, we have a big interview with him courtesy of colleague James Moultrie right here:
'They're just normal guys' – Finn Fisher-Black gives unique insight into cycling superstars Evenepoel and Pogačar and the effect they can have on a whole team
No changes now in the provisional rankings for the best part of an hour, with Watson still in the lead ahead of Vernon.
A shot of Watson here in the hot seat, taken by CN's Simone Guiliani
Key start times to come
Some of the big names to come and their start-times:
Rémi Cavagna (Groupama-FDJ United): 19.49
Ivo Oliveira (UAE Team Emirates-XRG): 19.59
Maikel Zijlaard (Tudor): 20.02
Luke Plapp (Jayco-AlUla): 20.14
Jay Vine (UAE Team Emirates-XRG): 20.19
Maikel Zijlaard, incidentally, was the winner of the Tour de Romandie prologue in 2024, the same stage that Watson won back in the day, so could well be a serious threat. That stage was only 2.28 kilometres long, so a similar length to Adelaide today.
Those contenders are largely for the stage win, of course - with the likel exceptions of Plapp and Vine, the GC winner back in 2023 - but in a race won and lost by seconds overall, a lot of the interest lies in how the GC contenders fare on today's short effort, too.
Worth noting that Erik Nordsæter Resell (Uno-X Mobility) has snuck into the top five of the stage, in fourth spot, six seconds down on Watson, and pushing Fisher-Black down to fifth and early best time Leonard down to sixth.
And now Swiss National TT Champ Mauro Schmid has moved into fourth on the stage, four seconds down on Watson.
Defending champion Jhonatan Narváez (UAE Team Emiratex-XRG) rolls down the start ramp. Second in 2024 as well, his time today will be crucial long-term.
Narváez comes home nine seconds down on Watson, one of the best GC contenders. That confirms he's definitely up for a repeat win Down Under - just as Noemi Rüegg did in the Women's TDU a few days back.
It's not just the GC battle that counts, either today. The sprinters will be keen to turn in some top times, given Wednesday's 120 kilometre stage to Tanunda will be one for the fastmen, and a spell in the leader's jersey if they're close enough up on GC, (particularly with time bonuses on offer) never did anybody any harm.
That was close. Oliver Bleddyn (Australia National Team) gives local fans something to cheer for, turns in an excellent time just 4 seconds slower than Watson. For now, he's fourth on the stage.
Bleddyn was already second this year in the elite men's TT Nationals' just over a week ago, and he's clearly remained on his game here.
Another photo from the prologue. Here's Adam Yates mid-way through his TDU debut.
Rémi Cavagna, considered one of the big TT favourites, heads down the start ramp.
And another big name for today's win, Ivo Oliveira (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), narrowly second behind Watson last year in the Tour de Romandie prologue, has made his start.
Yet another top contender for today, Maikel Zijlaard (Tudor) has started. Watson will be watching the TV screens very closely...
Ivo Oliveira finishes eight seconds down, visibly disappointed.
Still the top three the same as for a long time, Watson leading Ethan Vernon at 0.59 seconds and with 2.7 seconds on Laurence Pithie.
Ooh this is a good time for Maikel Zijlaard, but will he get it?
Five seconds down on Watson. A big boost for the Briton en route to victory today.
Maikel Zijlaard (Tudor) placed sixth, provisionally, on the stage.
Excellent ride by Harry Sweeny (EF Education-Easy Post), eight seconds back. Could he be a surprise contender for GC?
There are a lot of riders at 15 seconds or less on Watson, the gaps are predictably very minimal on such a short course where a tiny error can cost multiple placings, given there's no time to recover from mistakes.
Luke Plapp (Jayco-AlUla), also a multiple TT National champion, starts down the ramp.
Here's a pic of last year's winner Jhonatan Narváez (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) in action
Tim Torn Teutenberg (Lidl-Trek) delivers an excellent time, just five seconds back. That'll be very good for his chances to maybe snatch the lead in the probable bunch sprint tomorrow at Tanunda.
Plapp finishes eight seconds down, not enough for the win today, but definitely putting him fair and square in the GC game for the rest of the week
Meantime, the last rider to start today and another top Australian name, Jay Vine, is out on the course...
Vine is looking very intent on causing as much damage as possible, but is perhaps a bit wobby on the corners. He's three seconds down on the second checkpoint.
Vine isn't going to make it but it'll be close.
Vine finishes just over four seconds down on Watson meaning...
Some initial quotes from the winner, when asked who made him the most nervous about his very long spell in the hot seat watching rider after rider come home.
"There were quite a lot of guys, just as I climbed off the bike Ethan Vernon finished and he was 0.5 seconds behind me, he was a contender. I was maybe not going to make it to the hot seat."
Seeing Vine finish behind him "was a big sigh of relief for myself, I'm so happy to start the season with a win."
"Tomorrow, we'll go 100% for him [Sam Welsford], he's won here six times in the last two years, so full for him."
And here's the opening set of results, courtesy of FirstCycling
Vine will have been disappointed not to take the stage win on home soil and in his national TT jersey, but nonetheless the overall situation for him is excellent. He's the best placed of the pre-race GC contenders, none of whom appear in the top ten, though Mauro Schmid (Jayco-AlUla) has delivered an excellent above-expectations result and is only a second behind.
No such consolation for Ivo Oliveira (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) and Maikel Zijlaard (Tudor), who'll have been targeting stage and not looking at the GC target like Vine. But fastman Ethan Vernon (NSN) will definitely be aiming for a spell in the lead on Tuesday, after missing out by so little he'll definitely be motivated to go for the sprint.
Meantime here's the link to our full report on the prologue of the Tour Down Under:
Tour Down Under: Samuel Watson edges out Ethan Vernon for prologue victory
And here we have a shot of the first Tour Down Under race leader and prologue winner, Sam Watson, clad in his ochre jersey as he celebrates the vicgtory. Standing next to him is Stuart O'Grady, head of the race organisation and the first ever winner of the TDU way back in 1999 - which he won again in 2001.
Watson won't be getting all of the honours today, though. Michael Leonard (EF Education-Easy Post), finally 13th on the stage at seven seconds, is leader of the Best Young Rider's classification, and Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe are heading the teams' ranking.
And that just about wraps it up for the main section of the live coverage today. We'll be back again tomorrow with more live coverage and all the way through the week to the final stage in Stirling, plus we'll have news, analysis and more reports as the dust settles on the opening day's racing of the Santos Tour Down Under.
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