{"id":290977,"date":"2025-11-30T06:17:12","date_gmt":"2025-11-30T06:17:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/290977\/"},"modified":"2025-11-30T06:17:12","modified_gmt":"2025-11-30T06:17:12","slug":"australias-leading-star-confirmed-for-tour-down-under-return-in-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/290977\/","title":{"rendered":"Australia&#8217;s leading star confirmed for Tour Down Under return in 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>&#13;<\/p>\n<p>He last raced the Tour Down Under in 2023, finishing sixth overall and third on the final stage to Mount Lofty. The 2026 edition marks a return to where he launched his professional career in 2017.<\/p>\n<p>Climber-friendly course gives O\u2019Connor room to aim high<\/p>\n<p>With two ascents of the Corkscrew, three trips up Old Willunga Hill and a Stirling finale expected to shape the race, the route plays directly to O\u2019Connor\u2019s strengths. He highlighted the Uraidla stage in particular. \u201cI think the main stage will be the Uraidla day when you go up the Corkscrew and turn left, it makes the climb 2km longer\u2026 it does suit me a bit better,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>The Stirling finale also caught his attention. \u201cThat final day in Stirling is pretty relentless\u2026 I\u2019m thinking things can get pretty out of hand later in the laps, because there will be some fatigue and it\u2019s a pretty unforgiving circuit.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Across the week, O\u2019Connor believes the race will demand constant focus. \u201cYou can\u2019t play it safe any day at the TDU if you\u2019re trying to win it or finish top three, because the difference between third and sixth can be five seconds.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Race Director <a href=\"https:\/\/cyclinguptodate.com\/stuart-ogrady\" title=\"Stuart O&#039;Grady\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Stuart O&#8217;Grady<\/a> welcomed the announcement and said the course is built for a rider of his calibre. \u201cWe are very excited to have Ben back\u2026 he returns to Adelaide as a multiple Grand Tour stage winner and one of the top general classification riders in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe challenging course for next year&#8217;s TDU will suit his climbing abilities,\u201d he added, saying he expects Team Jayco AlUla to bring a strong squad to support O\u2019Connor\u2019s push for the Santos Ochre Leader\u2019s Jersey.<\/p>\n<p>A historic edition for both men and women<\/p>\n<p>The 2026 men\u2019s route includes an inner-city prologue, two Corkscrew ascents, three climbs of Old Willunga Hill and a decisive Stirling finale. Meanwhile, the women\u2019s race will be the longest in its history at 395km, with new stage starts in Willunga, Norwood and Magill, two ascents of the Corkscrew and a new one-day race in the Barossa.<\/p>\n<p>For the first time, all 15 Women\u2019s WorldTeams and all 18 WorldTour men\u2019s teams will start the race together \u2014 setting the stage for one of the most competitive editions the event has hosted.<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"&#13; He last raced the Tour Down Under in 2023, finishing sixth overall and third on the final&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":290978,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[117849,4985,101,117851,110231,117850,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-290977","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-ben-oconnor","tag-cycling","tag-sports","tag-stuart-ogrady","tag-team-jayco-alula","tag-tour-down-under","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/290977","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=290977"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/290977\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/290978"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=290977"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=290977"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=290977"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}