Santos Tour Down Under 2011: Stage 1 Preview

The opening stage of the 13th Tour Down Under begins in Adelaide's northern suburbia, in Mawson Lakes before a journey into the region's migrant past.

The peloton will be in for a nasty surprise early on with the first King of the Mountain prize appearing at the 11.6 km mark at Black Top Road before a deceptively hilly ride north-east into the heart of South Australia's famous wine region, the Barossa Valley.

The pace will be on all day, and expect a breakaway to get away early but by the finish in Angaston, everyone will be back together.

Rabobank's Graeme Brown says:

It's quite tough terrain out there. The maps don't really give you any indication that it's up and down all day. If you looked at this on your first trip to Adelaide you'd think it's relatively straight forward and simple but it's pretty up and down and then you go through the finish line twice before the finish.

The breakaways will be gone before the tough Black Top Road climb, although it shouldn't be too much of a problem - it's only a 2.9 km's long.

When you ride the final three kilometres, you realise it's the complete opposite to what the profile says. It's about a 1500m of proper uphill. That makes for a pretty solid finish actually and it should be quite interesting to see.

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