"We've used this stage before, and it's the first guaranteed day for the GC riders to hit the front," Matt White, head sports director at Mitchelton-Scott, explains. "We've had that approach, the final climb and then the descent a number of times, and it's incredibly important in terms of the overall battle. The Corkscrew climb is longer and harder than Willunga Hill, and you can have a situation in which one rider goes clear, takes five seconds at the top of the climb and is able to survive until the finish if they know the descent well enough or are willing to take risks.
"You could also see a larger group of around 10 contesting a reduced sprint, but the pure sprinters won't survive the climb. It might even be too hard for Peter Sagan. By the finish we'll see who is really in contention to win the overall. If you lose time on this stage, then your race is over because Corkscrew has the potential to be more selective than Willunga."
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Tour of Chongming Island: Georgia Baker upgraded to winner of stage 1 after Kathrin Schweinberger relegated in sprint
Australian named stage victor with Sofie van Rooijen second and Mia Griffin third -
Paul Magnier sprints to victory on stage 1 of Tour of Guangxi after crash within the final 500m splits bunch
Max Kanter takes second in the Fanchenggang opening stage of final WorldTour race of the season -
'Fatigue caught up to me' – Matej Mohorič's day of chasing to third at Gravel World Championships in season where 'stars didn't align'
'I was probably wanting too much, pushing my body over the limit on a few occasions, and now I will move on from that and try to really get things into the right place' says Slovenian -
Early launches secure Cameron Jones and Sofía Gómez Villafañe wins at Little Sugar MTB
Villafañe locks in Life Time Grand Prix series lead with win in second last round while men's competition tightens as current leader Keegan Swenson finishes tenth
