The Santos Girls’s Excursion Down Below slightly resembles the race it used to be when it formally first began in 2016 as a 2.2 UCI-ranked tournament, spawned from what used to be successfully a number of criteriums.
First of all, the sector used to be held along the long-running males’s race and used to be round 80 % stuffed with riders from Australia and New Zealand, with just a restricted choice of squads making the shuttle from Europe. Few groups had the power to actually problem the Australian staff that has now morphed into Liv-AlUla-Jayco. The squad ruled the development, successful 4 in a row from 2016 to 2019.
“But yeah, in realistic terms, it shouldn’t be like that. No team should have a monopoly on racing like that, and it is better for women’s cycling in general that the event grows and the field gets stronger,” stated Bates, who has not too long ago returned to the ladies’s staff however used to be the DS thru quite a few the ones previous years of the race. “It just means we have to be better and work harder.”
The levels have advanced considerably, with the routes lengthening, the landmark climb of Willunga offered plus the race class operating its solution to the highest tier, hitting the Girls’s WorldTour degree when it returned from a two-year COVID-19 hiatus in 2023.
The race, which led the way in which when it equalised ladies’s and males’s prize payouts in 2019, has additionally drawn way more protection and a focus because the years have long gone via. There’s no longer simply the abnormal journalist reliably going out to document the ladies’s tournament, as an alternative changed via a cast contingent chasing the most recent effects and traits amongst a peloton this is now undoubtedly world. Greater than two-thirds of the riders hail from countries past Australia and New Zealand.
A fourth day of racing used to be added this yr, with the Girls’s Excursion Down Below operating for 3 levels from Friday, January 17 to Sunday, January 19 whilst on Sunday, January 26 is the Schwalbe Girls’s One Day Vintage. This is ranked 1.Professional so will yield 200 issues, when compared with the 50 a Girls’s WorldTour degree win delivers, an element which helped sway the verdict to go for a one-day tournament.
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“It’s really important. We need more opportunities. We want to have more teams coming out. We want higher level teams, and it’s showing … we’ve got 10 Women’s WorldTour teams out here this year, so that’s the strongest field ever for our women’s race,” stated Assistant Race Director Annette Edmondson of the growth within the pre-race media convention.
“And it just means that the progression of the racing is just going to keep lifting, and we’re going to be able to hopefully continue to progress and add perhaps another stage into our WorldTour event. But at the moment, we’re focusing on sustainable progression as well.”
A general view of riders at the 2024 Women’s Tour Down Under as they ride between Adelaide to Willunga Hill on stage 3 (Image credit: Getty Images)
Many women’s races have made ambitious plans, some have succeeded but there have also been a number of cancellations in recent seasons. The Women’s Tour Down Under, however, has continued on the path of a slow build.
“Changes don’t happen overnight,” stated Edmondson, who all over her racing profession took at the tournament 3 times and received two levels alongside the way in which. “We’re very proud that Santos, major sponsor, is really prioritizing the growth of the women’s race. It’s exciting to have a fourth day of racing.”
Even before the riders arrive on that fourth day of racing, the evolution of the three days of the WorldTour event is set to shake up the race, with stage 2, in particular, a tough day of early-season racing with a forecast of hot weather across 115 kilometres. After starting in Unley, the route goes straight into the climb of Windy Point, the first QOM point of the day coming within 5km of the start. Then the peloton climbs Willunga Hill twice.
Stage 3 includes five ascents of the Stirling climb, for more than 2,000 metres of elevation gain over the 105.9 kilometres.
No surprises then that there are a number of strong climbers on the start list including Giro d”Italia Women Blockhaus stage winner Neve Bradbury (Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto), Tour de France Femmes and Giro d’Italia Women mountain classification winner Justine Ghekiere (AG Insurace-Soudal), Niamh Fisher-Black, who has just shifted from SD Worx-Protime to Lidl-Trek, and her experienced teammate Amanda Spratt, along with Liv-AlUla-Jayco’s Ella Wyllie.
“This is the hardest tour that we’ve seen for the women,” stated Bates. “With two ascents of Willunga Hill, it is certainly going to create some significant GC gaps.”
