For the first time in the race’s history, the peloton will host all 14 WorldTour teams as well as a composite team of Australian National Team riders.
Amanda Spratt in the orange leaders jersey in 2018.
Cor Vos
It’s January, and January in the world of women’s professional road racing only means one thing: Tour Down Under. For riders who live in Europe or North America, it’s a chance to escape the cold and cram in some quality training in the Adelaide hills, with a few days of racing to really get the engines firing. For the Australians, it’s an opportunity to display what form they have on the world stage, although a little less so this year.
Australia’s WorldTour races are no longer optional – here’s what that means
Before this year, WorldTour teams didn’t have to come to Cadel’s Race or the women’s Tour Down Under. Now they do.
The three-day stage race, coupled with a one-day event during the week, will dole out the first WorldTour points of the year, and there are plenty of riders who see it as an opportunity to gain valuable confidence going into the European season. This year, the women will forego Willunga Hill, the climb that has crowned the last two winners, in favour of Corkscrew Road, which the women will take on twice on the final day.
This year’s Tour Down Under might be the most challenging addition yet, not necessarily because of the course, but because of the level of the peloton. That being said, it’s still January, and normally it’s the Ausies who are firing on all cylinders this time of year. All the best teams might be on the start line, but all eyes will still be on the hometown favourites to take victory come Monday.
How to watch? Seven/7Plus (Australia), HBOMax/Eurosport (Europe), TNT Sports/Discovery+ (UK). NBC Sports/Peacock (USA), FloBikes (CAN)
The Stages
The three stages that make up this edition of the Tour Down Under are longer than ever before. Each stage is around 130 km, with the first being the longest at 137.4 km. It’s a decent increase from the longest stage in 2025, 115 km, and 2024, 104.2 km.
When Escape Collective talked to the race’s organisers about how the UCI’s new regulations around WorldTeams attending all but one WorldTour events would impact the race, one of them, Nettie Edmondson, said that since the peloton was going to be made up of more WorldTeams, it would allow them to create longer courses. The shortest stage this year is the finale at 126.5 km. In 2023 and 2024, only one of the three stages ticked over the 100 km mark in length.
Stage 1: Saturday, January 17 – Willunga to Willunga (137.4 km)
Not to be confused with the famous Willunga Hill or judged by the profile provided by the race, the opening stage is actually suited towards the punchy sprinters. Not necessarily a pure sprinter, but someone like Ruby Roseman-Gannon (Liv-AlUla-Jayco) should have no trouble. The peloton will hit the base of Willunga Hill three times and finish at the top of a 600 metre climb, but it averages 0nly 3.2%, so it’s not something for the GC favourites.
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