{"id":417302,"date":"2026-01-16T17:05:12","date_gmt":"2026-01-16T17:05:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/417302\/"},"modified":"2026-01-16T17:05:12","modified_gmt":"2026-01-16T17:05:12","slug":"all-you-need-to-know-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/417302\/","title":{"rendered":"All You Need to Know"},"content":{"rendered":"

Updated January 16, 2026 08:07AM<\/p>\n

Breathe a collective sigh of relief. After a long dark winter of contract chat and cyclocross, the Santos Tour Down Under<\/a> is here to save our road cycling souls.<\/p>\n

And this year more than ever, the men\u2019s and women\u2019s Aussie races aren\u2019t just tan-refining rust busters.<\/p>\n

Starting Saturday at the Women\u2019s Tour Down Under, the chapter opens on some of the key narratives of the new season.<\/p>\n

World champions, Tour Down Under winners, and some of the peloton\u2019s most hotly hyped riders<\/a> will be looking to set the tone early. Super teams will be scrambling to assert supremacy. And of course, we get to take a look at all the controversial 2026 kits<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s what you need to know about the men\u2019s and women\u2019s Tour Down Under, and why the Aussie block matters.<\/p>\n

Women\u2019s Tour Down Under: Jan 17-19<\/p>\n

2025 winner: Noemi R\u00fcegg
\n3 stages: 1 x sprint, 2 x hilly intermediate
\n2026 headliners: R\u00fcegg, Vallieres, Dygert, Bradbury, Roseman-Gannon, Garcia, Spratt<\/p>\n

Men\u2019s Tour Down Under: Jan 20-25<\/p>\n

2025 winner: Jhonatan Narv\u00e1ez
\n6 stages: 1 x prologue, 1 x sprint, 2 x hilly\/intermediate, 2 x GC slugfests
\n2026 headliners: Narv\u00e1ez, Vine, Brennan, O\u2019Connor, Plapp, Lamperti<\/p>\n

Women\u2019s one-day race: Jan 21<\/p>\n

2025 winner: N\/A \u2013 first edition
\n2026 headliners: As above for stage race<\/p>\n

1: UAE Emirates and the pressure to repeat
\n\"UAEGuess who wants to win TDU (again)? (Photo: Dario Belingheri\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

UAE Emirates-XRG<\/a> wiped the floor with everyone and set a new stage-win record in 2025<\/a>, and it\u2019s looking to do it all over again in 2026.<\/p>\n

And while the Emirati super crew isn\u2019t sending Tadej Poga\u010dar Down Under, the WorldTour dominator has flown out a typically ridiculous roster<\/a>\u00a0topped by defending champion Jhonatan N\u00e1rvaez.<\/p>\n

The plan?<\/p>\n

Win.<\/p>\n

\u201c2025 was an incredible season for our whole team \u2013 we showed how strong and united we are,\u201d Narv\u00e1ez said. \u201cNow we start again from zero, with the same ambition and hunger to keep building on that success.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m motivated, the team is in great shape, and we\u2019re ready to race hard together for another big result here in Australia.\u201d<\/p>\n

Victory at the first WorldTour stage race of the season will set the tone for UAE before the rainbow jersey big dog steps in later in spring.<\/p>\n

2: The SD Warpath begins
\n\"GerritseGerritse (left) and SD Worx Protime want to win it all in 2026, starting at the Tour Down Under. (Photo: Dario Belingheri\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

SD Worx-Protime<\/a> lines out at the Tour Down Under for the first time on Saturday as it debuts a season with an overarching mission to remind everyone who\u2019s the OG powerhouse of the women\u2019s peloton.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor nine years, we were the number 1 in the world ranking. Then, last year, we ended in second place. A lot of teams chased us, so now we\u2019re going to chase them,\u201d team manager Erwin Janssen recently said at the squad\u2019s launch event.<\/p>\n

Former SD Worx rider Demi Vollering<\/a> crushed the UCI league for her French team last year with a harvest of stage-racing victories.<\/a><\/p>\n

And of course, that didn\u2019t go down well with a Dutch crew that dominated the past decade.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s why this year, SD Worx wants the UCI rankings, the individual wins, and everything else in between.<\/p>\n

Femke Gerritse leads a team without a GC favorite, but rivals be warned \u2013 the SD Worx-Protime warpath begins in Australia.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve come here to win. It\u2019s good for the whole team if we can grab an early victory here,\u201d Gerritse said of the Tour Down Under.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we left home, we felt that the whole group was behind us. They waved us off with motivating words. That was really cool and gave us confidence.\u201d<\/p>\n

3: Boy wonder Brennan begins super-hype season
\n\"WonderkidWonderkid incoming: Brennan wants to start 2026 with a bang at Tour Down Under. (Photo: Luc Claessen\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Matthew Brennan<\/a> booted down the door of his WorldTour career last year when he sprinted to second on the opening stage of the TDU.<\/p>\n

This year, he\u2019s back, one year wiser, wanting a whole lot more.<\/p>\n

The 20-year-old leads Visma-Lease a Bike into a race loaded with stages suited to his crazy fast finishing kick. He\u2019ll have marked stages 1, 2, 5, and the GC already, and he\u2019s already plotting how to win them.<\/p>\n

\u201cI got super close to taking my first WorldTour victory last year [at TDU], and that fueled me on for a lot more,\u201d Brennan said this week from his team camp.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis year it would be nice to stretch the legs again and see what we can do,\u201d he continued. \u201cNow I can focus on who to follow and where to be at what time. I think that will be really beneficial to making those next steps to win a few stages.\u201d<\/p>\n

Watch Brennan closely next week. He\u2019s one of the hottest prospects<\/a> in pro cycling right now.<\/p>\n

Only Isaac del Toro and Paul Seixas carry more hype into the 2026 season than Britain\u2019s boy wonder<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In fact, Visma-Lease a Bike is so excited it just handed Brennan a mega-contract through 2029 and a marquee role alongside Wout van Aert in San Remo, Flanders, and Roubaix.<\/p>\n

Down Under will be the perfect place for the Brennan to warm his legs ahead of a potentially bulldozing ride across the classics.<\/p>\n

4: New jersey and new ambition for Vallieres
\n\"Vallieres\"Vallieres has a fresh rainbow jersey after EF switched from Rapha to Assos in the winter. (Photo: Courtesy EF Education-Oatly)<\/p>\n

Wildcard world champion Magdeliene Vallieres<\/a> brings a fresh set of Assos-designed rainbow bands and a whole new ambition to the Tour Down Under.<\/p>\n

The breakout Canadian will line up for EF Education-Oatly alongside defending champion Noemi R\u00fcegg on Saturday, and they both want to show last year was no fluke.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe first race of the season will be great to show the new kit early and kick things off on a positive note,\u201d Vallieres said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m excited to race in the world champion jersey in front of the Australian crowd.\u201d<\/p>\n

Vallieres revealed last autumn that her shock world title<\/a> emboldened her to shoot for the stars in 2026.<\/p>\n

The 24-year-old is planning to broaden her GC horizons and chase her own ambitions in the Ardennes this year. It would hardly seem right for this long-time domestique to be handing up bottles in a set of rainbow bands, after all.<\/p>\n

Vallieres cautioned that \u201cProject Mags\u201d won\u2019t begin on Saturday in Australia \u2013 R\u00fcegg\u2019s title defense is the priority.<\/p>\n

But don\u2019t be surprised if those rainbow bands inspire her to step up several levels. Domestique underdog? no more.<\/p>\n

5: Jayco-AlUla\u2019s Aussie redemption
\n\"JaycoPlapp and Durbridge need redemption after tactical blunders cost Jayco-AlUla the Australian national title. (Photo: Chris Auld\/SBS\/Velo)<\/p>\n

Jayco-AlUla<\/a> men\u2019s team needs to turn things upright Down Under.<\/p>\n

Luke Plapp and Luke Durbridge just wrestled defeat from the jaws of victory<\/a> at the national championships. Ben O\u2019Connor has been cursing a frustrating debut season after he was the marquee signing of 2025. And beyond that, the entire squad suffered a WorldTour season short of wins and big on key exits.<\/p>\n

Talismanic director Matt White was shown the back door, grand tour stage-winners Eddie Dunbar, Chris Harper, and Dylan Groenewegen left, and veteran captains Alessandro de Marchi and Michael Hepburn retired.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s no better place for the team to reset than on home soil. \u00a0If the beers \u2018n\u2019 BBQs of Australia\u2019s \u201csummer of cycling\u201d don\u2019t inspire a comeback next week, nothing will.<\/p>\n

National championship antiheroes \u201cPlappy\u201d and \u201cDurbo\u201d join O\u2019Connor at a Tour Down Under team<\/a> that\u2019s high on motivation and hoping to avoid another tactical disasterclass.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a super strong squad, and we\u2019re excited to take them to Tour Down Under,\u201d said sport director Matt Hayman. \u201cWith a team like this, we\u2019ve got to be expecting to get some results.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Updated January 16, 2026 08:07AM Breathe a collective sigh of relief. After a long dark winter of contract…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":417303,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[569],"tags":[64,63,784,68224,85,220110,220111,205313,220112,220113,67883],"class_list":["post-417302","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-cycling","tag-parent_category-road","tag-sports","tag-tag-jhonatan-narvaez","tag-tag-luke-plapp","tag-tag-magdeleine-vallieres","tag-tag-matthew-brennan","tag-tag-noemi-ruegg","tag-type-article"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/417302","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=417302"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/417302\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/417303"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=417302"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=417302"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=417302"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}