Jay Vine won the 2023 Tour Down Under (Image credit: Getty Images)
Jay Vine (UAE Team Emirates) secured the overall title at the Santos Tour Down Under after a final day of racing along a 112.5km route from Unley to Mount Lofty.
Vine did not win the stage, but he sealed his overall victory upon the conclusion 11 seconds ahead of runner-up overall Simon Yates (Jayco AlUla) and 27 seconds on third-placed overall Pello Bilbao (Bahrain-Victorious).
Yates took the stage honours on the last day of racing, finishing atop Mount Lofty just ahead of Vine, as the pair proved to be the strongest climbers on the decisive ascent. Ben O'Connor (AG2R Citroën Team) finished just two seconds back but moved up the overall standings to sixth place.
Magnus Sheffield (Ineos Grenadiers) finished fourth overall, and Mauro Schmid (Soudal-QuickStep) in fifth overall.
When is the men’s Tour Down Under? There will be an opening taste of racing with the Schwalbe Classic, a one-hour and one-lap criterium on Saturday January 14, but it's not until the prologue on Tuesday January 17 that the WorldTour stage race begins. After that it moves onto five stages on the roads of South Australia, culminating with a climb heavy stage on January 22.
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How long is the men’s Tour Down Under? Across the prologue and five stages surrounding Adelaide the riders will cover 673km.
Where does the Tour Down Under start? The prologue is on the Adelaide Riverbank while the road stages begin in Tanunda.
Where does the Tour Down Under finish? The race finishes in the Adelaide hills on the summit of Mount Lofty.
The peloton heads past the beach on the Willunga stage of the Santos Festival of Cycling – the domestic Tour Down Under replacement event – in 2022 (Image credit: Daniel Kalisz/Getty Images)
The 2023 Tour Down Under once again opens the WorldTour, delivering its 23rd edition after returning from the COVID-19 cancellations of 2021 and 2022. The stage race omits a previous staple, the decisive Willunga Hill stage, but adds new features to the mix, from a 5.5 kilometre prologue and a new summit finish in the Adelaide HIlls featuring the popular local climb of Mount Lofty.
The festivities begin with a criterium on Saturday, January 14 before the WorldTour stage race commences with a 5.5km prologue along Adelaide's Riverbank on January 17.
The first of the road stages takes riders across 149.9km, out and back to Tanunda in the Barossa region of South Australia and while the stage isn't without its undulations, this is a day that is expected to be one for the sprinters.
Tour Down Under
Date: January 17-22, 2023 Location: South Australia Category: UCI WorldTour
The racing then heads to to the coast, with the longest stage of the race, at 154.8km, starting in Brighton and then descending into Victor Harbor for the finish. After that it is a climb heavy 116.8km from Norwood to Campbelltown, with the route taking in Norton Summit, Checkers Hill and Corkscrew Road.
Stage 4 will move to Willunga, but there is no sign of the iconic climb this year as it is Port Willunga and the beach which takes centre stage in the 133.2km stage this year. The coastal start and finish line in the township of Willunga should provide another opportunity for the fast men of the peloton, before the race moves back into the climbers territory for the finale.
Stage 5 heads for the Adelaide Hills, with riders setting off from Unley and onto Devil's Elbow, which spells the end of race neutral and the beginning of four passes of a 25km loop which Mount Lofty is the centrepiece of. The peak which delivers views across the Adelaide city skyline also is where the winner of both the stage and tour will be crowned.
The 2023 UCI WorldTour gets underway with the Tour Down Under and Cyclingnews will be bringing you previews, news, features and tech from the professional peloton in Australia leading up to, during and after the race. Here we also share how to live stream the Tour Down Under, no matter your location, with ExpressVPN.
