Down Under Classic 2019 [FULL RACE]

January 15, 2019

Down Under Classic – Adelaide : 51 km

The 2019 Tour Down Under will once again kick off the WorldTour season in Australia. The racing will begin with the People’s Choice Classic on January 13 and the peloton will move straight into the stage race held from January 15 to 20 in and around Adelaide. The climb of Willunga Hill will feature as the climax to the 2019 Tour Down Under, as the Australian UCI WorldTour event eschews its final ‘Champs-Elysées-like’ processional stage in favour of a ‘queen stage’ that should keep things exciting right to the very end. In 2019 last year’s winner Darly Impey (Mitchelton Scott) returns to defend his crown. He will be joined by Peter Sagan (Bora-hansgrohe), Richie Porte (Trek Segafredo) and Rohan Dennis (Bahrain Merida). The race will also represent Caleb Ewan’s first outing as a Lotto Soudal rider after his move from Mitchelton Scott.

Caleb Ewan (Lotto Soudal) came away with the win at the 2019 Down Under Classic ahead of Peter Sagan (Bora-hansgrohe) and Alexander Edmondson (Mitchelton-Scott). Ewan came through a difficult final lap after a crash took down several rivals, including Italian national champion Elia Viviani.

Ewan made it through the final set of corners and was perfectly brought to the line by his teammate Roger Kluge. There was a late charge from last year’s winner Peter Sagan but the three-time world champion had no answer when Ewan opened up his sprint with the Australian winning by over a bike length. Edmondson was the best of the rest and rounded out the podium.

“I knew that it was going to be a hard one to win because of the caliber of sprinter here. I went into it confident and I knew that my form was good but you never know how it’s going to go. It was a very aggressive race and that made it a little bit harder,” Ewan said at the finish.

“My team did a fantastic job. On a course like this with four corners on each lap, it’s hard to stay together but they stayed composed and I stayed with Roger and he delivered me perfectly.”

The win marked Ewan’s first major victory of the season – he won twice at the recent Bay Crits – and his first against a world class field since his move from Mitchelton-Scott to Lotto-Soudal during the winter. The Australian, who has won the Down Under Classic twice in his career, was well placed in the closing laps and was one of the first riders to come through the final set of corners, where the crash occurred. Daniel Oss held a brief gap as he attacked in the final few hundred meters but he was unable to hold his advantage as Kluge – who moved with Ewan from Mitchelton-Scott to Lotto-Soudal – brought his leader back into contention.

The early laps saw a number of attacks from within the field with Mat Hayman – riding his final race before retiring at the end of the Tour Down Under – particularly active in closing down moves. Lotto-Soudal’s Thomas de Gendt was also present at the front, while Dimenson Data’s Ben O’Connor was part of the first attack of the one-hour race. With the sprinters’ teams unwilling to see a break gain more than thirty seconds the pace was frantic throughout.

FDJ, the new CCC Team and EF Education First all tried to create breaks but with Lotto-Soudal, Bahrain Merida, Bora and the rest of the sprinters’ teams setting the pace the race quickly became a predicable battle between the fast men.

The crash in the final kilometre certainly played a huge role in the finish. By the time the remnants of the main field came through the last set of corners only a handful of riders remained in contention. However, you make your own luck and Ewan and Lotto Soudal showed cohesion and skill in making sure that their sprinter was near the front and wasn’t involved in the fight for places further back in the field.

“I’m happy with my form and I couldn’t ask for a better start. This is the first time I’ve raced with a full team like this. To start with the win is a good feeling,” Ewan added.

“This was probably the most important one today. To get the confidence of the team up. They did a perfect job and this was the first time we’ve done the leadout. It’s such a good feeling.”

Results :
1 Caleb Ewan (Aus) Lotto Soudal 1:03:59
2 Peter Sagan (Svk) Bora-Hansgrohe
3 Alex Edmondson (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott
4 Roger Kluge (Ger) Lotto Soudal 0:00:02
5 Daniel Oss (Ita) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:00:04
6 Owain Doull (GBr) Team Sky 0:00:05
7 Luke Rowe (GBr) Team Sky 0:00:09
8 Luis León Sánchez (Spa) Astana Pro Team
9 Marco Haller (Aut) Katusha-Alpecin
10 Francisco Ventoso (Spa) CCC Team
11 Davide Ballerini (Ita) Astana Pro Team
12 Mikkel Frølich Honore (Den) Deceuninck – Quick-Step
13 Tobias Ludvigsson (Swe) Groupama-FDJ 0:00:17
14 Dylan van Baarle (Ned) Team Sky
15 Lluís Guillermo Mas Bonet (Spa) Movistar Team
16 Max Walscheid (Ger) Team Sunweb
17 Tadej Pogacar (Slo) UAE Team Emirates
18 Michael Woods (Can) EF Education First Pro Cycling
19 Clement Chevrier (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
20 Hermann Pernsteiner (Aut) Bahrain-Merida
21 Daniel Hoelgaard (Nor) Groupama-FDJ
22 Johannes Fröhlinger (Ger) Team Sunweb 0:00:22
23 Dries Devenyns (Bel) Deceuninck – Quick-Step 0:00:27
24 Michael Valgren Andersen (Den) Dimension Data 0:00:32
25 Lars Ytting Bak (Den) Dimension Data
26 Diego Ulissi (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
27 Jasper Philipsen (Bel) UAE Team Emirates
28 Manuele Boaro (Ita) Astana Pro Team
29 Hubert Dupont (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
30 Ruben Guerreiro (Por) Katusha-Alpecin
31 Carl Fredrik Hagen (Nor) Lotto Soudal
32 Lukasz Owsian (Pol) CCC Team
33 Max Kanter (Ger) Team Sunweb
34 Kiel Reijnen (USA) Trek-Segafredo 0:00:41
35 Kristoffer Halvorsen (Nor) Team Sky
36 Gediminas Bagdonas (Ltu) AG2R La Mondiale
37 Adam Blythe (GBr) Lotto Soudal 0:00:55
38 Adam Hansen (Aus) Lotto Soudal
39 Rafael Valls (Spa) Movistar Team
40 Rubén Fernandez (Spa) Movistar Team
41 Jan Polanc (Slo) UAE Team Emirates
42 Koen de Kort (Ned) Trek-Segafredo
43 Yukiya Arashiro (Jpn) Bahrain-Merida
44 Chris Hamilton (Aus) Team Sunweb 0:00:59
45 Lucas Hamilton (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott
46 Nans Peters (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
47 Daryl Impey (RSA) Mitchelton-Scott
48 Jai Hindley (Aus) Team Sunweb
49 Dylan Sunderland (Aus) UniSA-Australia
50 Cees Bol (Ned) Team Sunweb
51 Jakub Mareczko (Ita) CCC Team
52 Remi Cavagna (Fra) Deceuninck – Quick-Step
53 Robert Gesink (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma
54 Michael Hepburn (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott
55 Nicholas Dlamini (RSA) Dimension Data
56 Maciej Bodnar (Pol) Bora-Hansgrohe
57 Neil van der Ploeg (Aus) UniSA-Australia 0:01:17
58 Michael Potter (Aus) UniSA-Australia
59 Héctor Carretero (Spa) Movistar Team
60 Marcel Sieberg (Ger) Bahrain-Merida 0:01:19
61 Nico Denz (Ger) AG2R La Mondiale
62 Kilian Frankiny (Swi) Groupama-FDJ
63 Jay McCarthy (Aus) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:01:21
64 Lukas Pöstlberger (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe
65 Gregor Mühlberger (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe
66 Szymon Sajnok (Pol) CCC Team
67 Oscar Gatto (Ita) Bora-Hansgrohe
68 Leo Vincent (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
69 Jason Lea (Aus) UniSA-Australia 0:01:24
70 Tomasz Marczynski (Pol) Lotto Soudal
71 Peter Stetina (USA) Trek-Segafredo 0:01:26
72 Jaime Castrillo (Spa) Movistar Team
73 Steve Morabito (Swi) Groupama-FDJ
74 Jens Debusschere (Bel) Katusha-Alpecin
75 Alex Dowsett (GBr) Katusha-Alpecin
76 Yevgeniy Gidich (Kaz) Astana Pro Team
77 Alberto Bettiol (Ita) EF Education First Pro Cycling 0:01:29
78 Lachlan Morton (Aus) EF Education First Pro Cycling
79 Daniil Fominykh (Kaz) Astana Pro Team
80 Vyacheslav Kuznetsov (Rus) Katusha-Alpecin
81 Dmitry Strakhov (Rus) Katusha-Alpecin
82 Wout Poels (Ned) Team Sky
83 Jarlinson Pantano (Col) Trek-Segafredo
84 Kenny Elissonde (Fra) Team Sky
85 Jasha Sütterlin (Ger) Movistar Team
86 Rory Sutherland (Aus) UAE Team Emirates
87 Sven Erik Bystrøm (Nor) UAE Team Emirates
88 Nathan Haas (Aus) Katusha-Alpecin 0:01:33
89 Lennard Hofstede (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma
90 Bert-Jan Lindeman (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma
91 Michael Storer (Aus) Team Sunweb 0:01:35
92 Christian Knees (Ger) Team Sky
93 Thomas Scully (NZl) EF Education First Pro Cycling
94 Phil Bauhaus (Ger) Bahrain-Merida
95 Ryan Mullen (Irl) Trek-Segafredo 0:01:38
96 Patrick Bevin (NZl) CCC Team
97 Joey Rosskopf (USA) CCC Team
98 Miles Scotson (Aus) Groupama-FDJ
99 William Clarke (Aus) Trek-Segafredo
100 George Bennett (NZl) Team Jumbo-Visma
101 Matthieu Ladagnous (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
102 Pierre Latour (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
103 Thomas De Gendt (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:01:41
104 Domenico Pozzovivo (Ita) Bahrain-Merida
105 James Whelan (Aus) EF Education First Pro Cycling 0:01:44
106 Tom Leezer (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma 0:01:48
107 Scott Davies (GBr) Dimension Data 0:01:50
108 Ryan Gibbons (RSA) Dimension Data
109 Ben O’Connor (Aus) Dimension Data
110 Laurens De Vreese (Bel) Astana Pro Team 0:01:51
111 Richie Porte (Aus) Trek-Segafredo 0:02:00
112 Tom Jelte Slagter (Ned) Dimension Data
113 Ayden Toovey (Aus) UniSA-Australia
114 Chris Harper (Aus) UniSA-Australia
115 Mathew Hayman (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott
116 Maarten Wynants (Bel) Team Jumbo-Visma
117 Benoit Cosnefroy (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:02:11
118 Rohan Dennis (Aus) Bahrain-Merida
119 James Knox (GBr) Deceuninck – Quick-Step 0:02:25
120 Fabio Sabatini (Ita) Deceuninck – Quick-Step 0:02:34
121 Elia Viviani (Ita) Deceuninck – Quick-Step
122 Ivo Oliveira (Por) UAE Team Emirates 0:02:36
123 Michael Mørkøv (Den) Deceuninck – Quick-Step 0:02:47
124 Cameron Meyer (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott 0:03:01
125 Danny van Poppel (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma 0:03:33
126 Heinrich Haussler (Aus) Bahrain-Merida 0:04:26
DNF Mitchell Docker (Aus) EF Education First Pro Cycling
DNF Daniel McLay (GBr) EF Education First Pro Cycling
DNF Eduard Prades Reverte (Spa) Movistar Team
DNF Victor de la Parte (Spa) CCC Team
DNF Nick White (Aus) UniSA-Australia