2019 Santos Tour Down Under (World Tour), Australia
Down Under Classic: Sunday, January 13
Sunday, January 13: Down Under Classic: Adelaide, Australia, 1 hour + 1 lap (1.7 km)
Caleb Ewan takes the year's first race ahead of Peter Sagan & Alex Edmondson. Sirotti photo
The race: Here's the report from winner Caleb Ewan's Lotto-Soudal team.
Caleb Ewan took the victory in the Down Under Classic, a one-hour criterium held in the streets of Adelaide which traditionally precedes the Tour Down Under. In a finale marred by various crashes, Roger Kluge managed to keep Caleb Ewan at the front and delivered an impressive lead-out. At 200 metres from the line, Ewan launched a powerful sprint and held off Peter Sagan and Alexander Edmondson. After earlier victories in both 2016 and 2017, it’s now the third Down Under Classic victory for the pocket-rocket sprinter.
In the first part of the race, it was Thomas De Gendt who kept the early breakaway under control. Some other breakaway attempts followed, but due to the furious pace in the peloton it was nearly impossible to stay away. The sprinters’ teams took over command during the finale, aiming for a sprint finish in the streets of Adelaide. That sprint was disrupted by a big crash at the start of the final lap. Roger Kluge managed to keep Caleb Ewan out of the danger zone and delivered a perfect lead-out. With 200 metres to go, Ewan started his sprint and held off Peter Sagan, on the way to his third Down Under Classic victory.
Caleb Ewan: “During the first part of the race I tried to hide safely in the bunch. The last twenty minutes of the race, we moved to the front of the peloton. Hagen and De Gendt did a great job in controlling the early break and the other four Lotto Soudal riders kept me well-positioned at the front of the pack. We were lucky to avoid the big crash which happened just behind my back, so I didn’t see it myself. In the very end of the race, Roger Kluge had to close a little gap before I could launch my sprint. I felt that Sagan was on my wheel but I was confident that I could hold him off.”
“It is not an official UCI victory yet but it still is a great feeling to win here, the first time we are racing and preparing the sprint as a complete team. It gives a lot of confidence to conclude this first experience with a win. It is a pity for the guys who crashed because I would’ve loved to sprint head-to-head against them. But for sure that will happen during the Tour Down Under. For now, I’m very satisfied but let’s keep calm. Tuesday, we have to be focused to again make it a sprint finish, hopefully with the same result as today.”
Complete Results:
| 1 | EWAN, Caleb (Lotto Soudal) | 1hr 3min 59sec |
| 2 | SAGAN, Peter (BORA-hansgrohe) | s.t. |
| 3 | EDMONDSON, Alexander (Mitchelton-SCOTT) | s.t. |
| 4 | KLUGE, Roger (Lotto Soudal) | @ 2sec |
| 5 | OSS, Daniel (BORA – hansgrohe) | 0:04 |
| 6 | DOULL, Owain (Team Sky) | 0:05 |
| 7 | ROWE, Luke (Team Sky) | 0:09 |
| 8 | SANCHEZ, Luis León (Astana Pro Team) | s.t. |
| 9 | HALLER, Marco (Team Katusha Alpecin) | s.t. |
| 10 | VENTOSO, Francisco (CCC Team) | s.t. |
| 11 | BALLERINI, Davide (Astana Pro Team) | s.t. |
| 12 | HONORE, Mikkel (Deceuninck-Quick-Step) | s.t. |
| 13 | LUDVIGSSON, Tobias (Equipe Groupama-FDJ) | 0:17 |
| 14 | VAN BAARLE, Dylan (Team Sky) | s.t. |
| 15 | MAS, Lluis (Movistar Team) | s.t. |
| 16 | WALSCHEID, Max (Team Sunweb) | s.t. |
| 17 | POGCAR, Tadej (UAE Team Emirates) | s.t. |
| 18 | WOODS, Michael (EF Education First) | s.t. |
| 19 | CHEVRIER, Clement (Ag2R La Mondiale) | s.t. |
| 20 | PERNSTEINER, Hermann (Bahrain Merida) | s.t. |
| 21 | HOELGAARD, Daniel (Equipe Groupama-FDJ) | s.t. |
| 22 | FRÖHLINGER, Johannes (Team Sunweb) | 0:22 |
| 23 | DEVENYNS, Dries (Deceuninck-Quick-Step) | 0:27 |
| 24 | VALGREN, Michael (Dimension Data) | 0:32 |
| 25 | BAK, Lars (Dimension Data) | s.t. |
| 26 | ULISSI, Diego (UAE Team Emirates) | s.t. |
| 27 | PHILIPSEN, Jasper (UAE Team Emirates) | s.t. |
| 28 | BOARO, Manuele (Astana Pro Team) | s.t. |
| 29 | DUPONT, Hubert (Ag2R La Mondiale) | s.t. |
| 30 | GUERRERO, Ruben (Team Katusha Alpecin) | s.t. |
| 31 | HAGEN, Carl Frederik (Lotto Soudal) | s.t. |
| 32 | OWSIAN, Lukasz (CCC Team) | s.t. |
| 33 | KANTER, Max (Team Sunweb) | s.t. |
| 34 | REIJNEN, Kiel (Trek-Segafredo) | 0:41 |
| 35 | HALVORSEN, Kristoffer (Team Sky) | s.t. |
| 36 | BAGDONAS, Gediminas (Ag2R La Mondiale) | s.t. |
| 37 | BLYTHE, Adam (Lotto Soudal) | 0:55 |
| 38 | HANSEN, Adam (Lotto Soudal) | s.t. |
| 39 | VALLS, Rafael (Movistar Team) | s.t. |
| 40 | FERNANDEZ, Ruben (Movistar Team) | s.t. |
| 41 | POLANC, Jan (UAE Team Emirates) | s.t. |
| 42 | DE KORT, Koen (Trek-Segafredo) | s.t. |
| 43 | ARASHIRO, Yukiya (Bahrain Merida) | s.t. |
| 44 | HAMILTON, Christopher (Team Sunweb) | 0:59 |
| 45 | HAMILTON, Lucas (Mitchelton-SCOTT) | s.t. |
| 46 | PETERS, Nans (Ag2R La Mondiale) | s.t. |
| 47 | IMPEY, Daryl (Mitchelton-SCOTT) | s.t. |
| 48 | HINDLEY, Jai (Team Sunweb) | s.t. |
| 49 | SUNDERLAND, Dylan (UniSA-Australia) | s.t. |
| 50 | BOL, Cees (Team Sunweb) | s.t. |
| 51 | MARECZKO, Jakub (CCC Team) | s.t. |
| 52 | CAVAGNA, Remi (Deceuninck-Quick-Step) | s.t. |
| 53 | GESINK, Robert (Team Jumbo Visma) | s.t. |
| 54 | HEPBURN, Michael (Mitchelton-SCOTT) | s.t. |
| 55 | DLAMINI, Nicholas (Dimension Data) | s.t. |
| 56 | BODNAR, Maciej (BORA-hansgrohe) | s.t. |
| 57 | VAN DER PLOEG, Neil (UniSA-Australia) | 1:17 |
| 58 | POTTER, Michael (UniSA-Australia) | s.t. |
| 59 | CARRETERO, Hector (Movistar Team) | s.t. |
| 60 | SIEBERG, Marcel (Bahrain Merida) | 1:19 |
| 61 | DENZ, Nico (Ag2R La Mondiale) | s.t. |
| 62 | FRANKINY, Kilian (Equipe Groupama-FDJ) | s.t. |
| 63 | MCCARTHY, Jay (BORA-hansgrohe) | 1:21 |
| 64 | PÖSTLBERGER, Lukas (BORA-hansgrohe) | s.t. |
| 65 | MÜHLBERGER, Gregor (BORA-hansgrohe) | s.t. |
| 66 | SAJNOK, Michael (CCC Team) | s.t. |
| 67 | GATTO, Oscar (BORA-hansgrohe) | s.t. |
| 68 | VINCENT, Leo (Equipe Groupama-FDJ) | s.t. |
| 69 | LEA, Jason (UniSA-Australia) | 1:24 |
| 70 | MARCZYNSKI, Tomasz (Lotto Soudal) | s.t. |
| 71 | STETINA, Peter (Trek-Segafredo) | 1:26 |
| 72 | CASTRILLO, Jaime (Movistar Team) | s.t. |
| 73 | MORABITO, Steve (Equipe Groupama-FDJ) | s.t. |
| 74 | DEBUSSCHERE, Jens (Team Katusha Alpecin) | s.t. |
| 75 | DOWSETT, Alex (Team Katusha Alpecin) | s.t. |
| 76 | GIDICH, Yevgeniy (Astana Pro Team) | s.t. |
| 77 | BETTIOL, Alberto (EF Education First) | 1:29 |
| 78 | MORTON, Lachlan (EF Education First) | s.t. |
| 79 | FOMINYKH, Daniil (Astana Pro Team) | s.t. |
| 80 | KUZNETSOV, Viacheslav (Team Katusha Alpecin) | s.t. |
| 81 | STRAKHOV, Dmitry (Team Katusha Alpecin) | s.t. |
| 82 | POELS, Wouter (Team Sky) | s.t. |
| 83 | PANTANO, Jarlinson (Trek-Segafredo) | s.t. |
| 84 | ELISSONDE, Kenny (Team Sky) | s.t. |
| 85 | SÜTTERLIN, Jasha (Movistar Team) | s.t. |
| 86 | SUTHERLAND, Rory (UAE Team Emirates) | s.t. |
| 87 | BYSTROM, Sven Erik (UAE Team Emirates) | s.t. |
| 88 | HAAS, Nathan (Team Katusha Alpecin) | 1:33 |
| 89 | HOFSTEDE, Lennard (Team Jumbo Visma) | s.t. |
| 90 | LINDEMAN, Bert Jan (Team Jumbo Visma) | s.t. |
| 91 | STORER, Michael (Team Sunweb) | 1:35 |
| 92 | KNEES, Christian (Team Sky) | s.t. |
| 93 | SCULLY, Thomas (EF Education First) | s.t. |
| 94 | BAUHAUS, Phil (Bahrain Merida) | s.t. |
| 95 | MULLEN, Ryan (Trek-Segafredo) | 1:38 |
| 96 | BEVIN, Patrick (CCC Team) | s.t. |
| 97 | ROSSKOPF, Joseph (CCC Team) | s.t. |
| 98 | SCOTSON, Miles (Equipe Groupama-FDJ) | s.t. |
| 99 | CLARKE, William (Trek – Segafredo) | s.t. |
| 100 | BENNETT, George (Team Jumbo Visma) | s.t. |
| 101 | LADAGNOUS, Matthieu (Equipe Groupama-FDJ) | s.t. |
| 102 | LATOUR, Pierre (Ag2R La Mondiale) | s.t. |
| 103 | DE GENDT, Thomas (Lotto Soudal) | 1:41 |
| 104 | POZZOVIVO, Domenico (Bahrain Merida) | s.t. |
| 105 | WHELAN, James (EF Education First) | 1:44 |
| 106 | LEEZER, Tom (Team Jumbo Visma) | 1:48 |
| 107 | DAVIES, Scott (Dimension Data) | 1:50 |
| 108 | GIBBONS, Ryan (Dimension Data) | s.t. |
| 109 | O'CONNOR, Ben (Dimension Data) | s.t. |
| 110 | DE VRESSE, Laurens (Astana Pro Team) | 1:51 |
| 111 | PORTE, Richie (Trek-Segafredo) | 2:00 |
| 112 | SLAGTER, Tom-Jelte (Dimension Data) | s.t. |
| 113 | TOOVEY, Ayden (UniSA-Australia) | s.t. |
| 114 | HARPER, Chris (UniSA-Australia) | s.t. |
| 115 | HAYMAN, Mathew (Mitchelton-SCOTT) | s.t. |
| 116 | WYNANTS, Maarten (Team Jumbo Visma) | s.t. |
| 117 | COSNEFROY, Benoit (Ag2R La Mondiale) | 2:11 |
| 118 | DENNIS, Rohan (Bahrain Merida) | s.t. |
| 119 | KNOX, James (Deceuninck-Quick-Step) | 2:25 |
| 120 | SABATINI, Fabio (Deceuninck-Quick-Step) | 2:34 |
| 121 | VIVIANI, Elia (Deceuninck-Quick-Step) | s.t. |
| 122 | OLIVEIRA, Ivo (UAE Team Emirates) | 2:36 |
| 123 | MØRKØV, Michael (Deceuninck-Quick-Step) | 2:47 |
| 124 | MEYER, Cameron (Mitchelton-SCOTT) | 3:01 |
| 125 | VAN POPPEL, Danny (Team Jumbo Visma) | 3:33 |
| 126 | HAUSSLER, Heinrich (Bahrain Merida) | 4:26 |
Down Under Classic photos by Fotoreporter Sirotti:
Team Sunweb waits for the race to begin
The pack gets strung out.
Italian Champion Elia Viviani
Hubert Dupont
The pack rounds a corner
Another lap completed
Thomas Scully
Caleb Ewan gets the jump on Peter Sagan in the sprint.
The race belongs to Caleb Ewan.
Winner Caleb Ewan right after the race
Lukas Postlberger congratulates second-place Peter Sagan
Winner Caleb Ewan