When the Women’s Santos Tour Down Under first ran in 2016, the peloton heading to the start line was a mixed bunch, with seasoned professionals alongside riders from domestic teams, squeezing in training around jobs and study as they used this rare opportunity to line up in an international race in Australia.
Plenty has changed since then, and in 2026 the race has delivered a shift that race director Stuart O'Grady describes as 'seismic'.
The field has evolved and so has the South Australian race. The level moved up from a UCI ranking of 2.2 to 2.1 in 2018 and then made the final step to the Women’s WorldTour in 2023. That meant more international teams though there were always some notable absences, Movistar, Fenix Deceuninck and in particular SD Worx-Protime, which has long been one of the top teams, prominent among them.
That, however, has changed this year as new rules introduced this season ensure that WorldTour teams can only miss one race from the series and, given there are two on the agenda in the Australian block, an absence from either makes little sense. In turn, that means that for the first time ever, the peloton that rolled out from a sunny Willunga on Saturday included all 14 Women's WorldTour teams plus a national squad from Australia.
It's a change that has consequences that extend beyond the mix of jerseys on the start line.
"It's definitely the strongest field we've ever assembled across the women's race, so it's great to see that," said O'Grady in the pre-event media conference on Friday.
"We've also, with that, been able to up the difficulty level across the stages – make the stages longer and harder – because now the quality is really rich across the board. So we're incredibly proud to welcome all the teams here. It's a bit of a seismic shift."
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A shift that means that across Saturday, Sunday and Monday the riders will take on 395km of racing, the longest edition ever, with little let up in the terrain and an expectation that now with the depth of field there will also be little easing of the pressure from within the peloton as well.
"It's been incredible the way the race has just improved and improved," three-time winner Amanda Spratt (Lidl-Trek) said of the event, where she has lined up for every single edition.
"Now we have all the WorldTour teams here. The quality of the field just gets better every year so I think any result here is meaning more and more: but it also makes it a lot harder to get those results."
"Overall, I do think everyone is fitter at this time of year than ever before," added Spratt as she looked back at what has changed over the years. "If you want to go well in Australia, then you really need to put that effort in. You can't be 80% anymore, you can't be 90%."
The road to the top
It certainly wasn't always that way, with there once being less depth in the experience level among the fields, shorter stages and, in the very early days a crit-heavy course and far less fanfare around the event when stacked up against the well-established and long-running men's WorldTour race. The media presence out on the ground was minimal, finish line media facilities out on course were simply whatever bit of comfortable-looking grass you could find to sit on, and stage podiums were once a far less flashy affair.
Amanda Spratt on the top step of the stage 1 women's podium in 2017, a victory that set her up for her first of three overall wins (Image credit: Getty Images)
Tiffany Cromwell (Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto) is another rider who remembers those days well.
"This is a race I've always known from the very, very start of my career … but for so long we didn't have a platform," said the South Australian local who has been racing internationally at a top level for close to two decades. "And then little by little we had a platform but we were always more like the side show."
"I remember in the early years, it was like we would have a women's tour, then they'd put us somewhere where you couldn't even find us off the main street. Now, seeing it in the spotlight, with our own platform … having all the World Tour teams – it's showing that people are actually seeing it as more important," added Cromwell, clearly excited to be able to line up among a full Women's WorldTour contingent at the event this year.
The perception of an elevated competitive landscape is one widely reiterated by those on the ground, both those in home territory and those who are travelling to the event.
Picnic PostNL is one of the international squads that has regularly made the trip out to Australia for the women's race, even before it was WorldTour level and they were certainly anticipating a shift in the dynamics for 2026.
"Obviously, the race is going to be different," said Picnic PostNL sports director Matthew Winston of the move to full WorldTour team attendance. 'It's great that now all the World Tour teams are here and it's a proper start to the season. So yeah, it'll for sure make the field better, more competitive and make it harder to get a top result."
Long gone is the era where it was either purely a training race or entry into the sport for budding professionals; the race, the sport and also many of the riders have evolved.
Mikayla Harvey is the perfect example of this, stepping up to the line at the event first in 2017 as a young and 'petrified' rider for the New Zealand national team in her first race out of the juniors and with plenty to learn.
"For me, this race is super special. It was my first ever professional race," Harvey told Cyclingnews before the opening stage. "I wasn't used to the resources or anything … it was my first time that I had to go back to my car to get a bidon and I learned so much in that race so thinking back to little old me, I should be so proud also of where I've come to now."
This time, her fourth start at the Tour Down Under, she is lining up as part of SD Worx-Protime as one of the two riders on the team who have raced the event before.
"We have a super strong team, and I think we can do something special here," said Harvey at the start of the stage.
It then didn't take long for the team to show its presence at the 2026 race, either, with Femke Gerritse putting the squad on the podium on day 1 after coming third in the sprint. So while the squad may not have chosen to come to the race in the past, now that they are here, they certainly plan to make the most of it - and they won't be alone in that.
Cyclingnews is on the ground for the season-opening 2026 Tour Down Under, and a subscription gives you unlimited access to our unrivalled coverage. From breaking news and analysis to exclusive interviews and tech, we've got you covered as the new season gets underway in Australia. Find out more.
Simone is a degree-qualified journalist that has accumulated decades of wide-ranging experience while working across a variety of leading media organisations. She joined Cyclingnews as a Production Editor at the start of the 2021 season and has now moved into the role of Australia Editor. Previously she worked as a freelance writer, Australian Editor at Ella CyclingTips and as a correspondent for Reuters and Bloomberg. Cycling was initially purely a leisure pursuit for Simone, who started out as a business journalist, but in 2015 her career focus also shifted to the sport.
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