The men's Santos Tour Down Under has been a fruitful hunting ground for Sam Welsford the last two years, with the Australian having swept up three stages in each of the last two editions, though this year things are going to get tougher.
It's not that coming with a new team after signing with Ineos Grenadiers is likely to prove an obstacle; he proved he could hit the ground running when he lined up for his first race with Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe in 2024 and started his winning streak. Instead, it's the terrain that's likely to make it far tougher to keep the run of three wins going as this is a Tour Down Under that is leaning toward the climbers.
That means the fight will be furious for the two stages that look likely to provide a sprint opportunity, the first coming on Wednesday's stage 1 as the race starts and finishes in Tanunda. Welsford has clinched the win in Tanunda the past two years, but it wasn't easy going in 2025 given he crashed and was also dropped on the final climb, clawing his way back to the front with about 15km to go. The good news this year, however, is that the race will be approaching Menglers Hill from a different direction in 2026.
"Well, at least he's flipped that Tanunda stage 1 around, because last year we went the other way, and that was harder so now we've got the easier way – so I can't really argue with that," Welsford said when he was jokingly asked if he felt like having a word to race director Stuart O'Grady about the far from sprinter friendly course.
"But no, I think it's good also to have a nice variation of stages in the tour. I think for the GC guys it attracts a lot bigger riders if there are more harder stages like this year," said Welsford.
"For me, you know, there's probably still two sprint chances. I think stage 3 could also be a possible sprint, but I also like to see a nice change. I mean, I can't be too picky, I won three last year here, so I guess it's not always going to be the same amount of sprint days but I'm happy to share it around."
The key will be making the most of what's there, no easy task with a new sprint train to hone and also some fierce rivals, including Danny van Poppel (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) who used to be a crucial cog in the lead out for Welsford.
"I've been following him around for the last two years, so now to be going up against him will be interesting," said Welsford. "He can slide through gaps that don't exist, so I'll be waiting for that.
"But yeah, I'm looking forward to just testing myself against the guys here, and putting myself in a situation where I can just get the best out of myself in these sprints and just prove to myself that I can get back on the top step," he added, after a season in 2025 that may have started well at the Tour Down Under but then the winning streak then came to an abrupt end as injuries and crashes intervened.
The Tour Down Under, however offers the perfect opportunity to start it rolling again with new squad Ineos Grenadiers.
"For every new sprint team, Down Under is a really good hit out to really nail the process, drive things as a lead out and for me, I really want to be successful here, it's my favourite race of the year and also for me to set up the racing leading into the next couple races," said Welsford. "We have UAE Tour coming up, and then basically straight into either Paris-Nice or Tirreno.
"The racing comes quickly and you don't really have much time to work on these things outside of the race so for us, we really want to get it right here. We know the sprint field is really strong here also, so it makes this even more important to get it right."
The riders Welsford will have around him include Ben Swift, Michal Kwiatkowski, who Welsford said will be acting as "the captain of the lead-out", guiding the timing and keeping the riders calm, while Sam Watson will be crucial near the end.
"Sam Watson will probably be the second last guy, just a young guy with shitloads of power so I really am happy to have him in front of me," said Welsford late on Tuesday morning.
Watson then proved that point on Tuesday evening, winning the 3.6km prologue which opened the event.
Now, the plan is for Welsford to continue that opening team success through to stage 1 and beyond.
"Hopefully this year I can really get the ball rolling," said Welsford. "I think for sprinting, it's like a snowball, the more you roll it the better you go. I'm really hoping just to roll that on for this year and I'm still really targeting Down Under but I want to build on that.
"I want to win in Europe. I want to win on the bigger stage, I want to go to a Grand Tour and win. So for me, that's, that's the major goal this year and I think the way we start the first race here at Down Under is really important."
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