The 2014 UCI World Cycling Tour gets underway with the Santos Tour Down Under and you can follow the whole race live on Sky Sports.
First held in 1999 and now firmly the traditional starting point on the cycling calendar, this Adelaide-based race has grown to become one of the biggest events on the global UCI tour.
The Tour Down Under offers cycling fans a first chance of the year to glimpse the peloton’s new riders, teams and jerseys in action.
The race has usually been geared towards sprinters, but recent seasons have seen the introduction of several testing ascents and a rolling route for 2014 has attracted some high-pedigree climbers, all with designs on the winner’s Ochre jersey.
Dutchman Tom-Jelte Slagter came out on top last time out, becoming only the third cyclist in the event’s 15-year history to win both the overall and best young rider classifications.
He came through the final stage unscathed to seal the ochre jersey, finishing ahead of Javier Moreno and Team Sky’s Gerain Thomas.
Thomas enjoyed a strong finish, moving up two places on the overall leaderboard thanks to some aggressive riding from teammates Bernhard Eisel and Ian Stannard.
Germany’s André Greipel also impressed, picking up a hat-trick of stage victories.
The six-stage race is preceded by the People’s Choice Classic on Sunday, January 19, before the real racing starts two days later in Nuriootpa.
Four British riders will line-up to start this year’s Tour Down Under, including Andrew Fenn of Omega Pharma-QuickStep, and three riders from Team Sky in Luke Rowe, Ian Stannard and Geraint Thomas.
With hills being a prominent feature of the 2014 route, the favourites for this year’s race appear to be the climbers.
Richie Porte and Cadel Evans will be riding on home roads and the hilly route suits their styles, while Javier Moreno finished second overall last year and is likely to be a threat once again.
Of the non climbers, Simon Gerrans is a former winner of the race and won the Australian national road championship in the build-up.
The opening stage of the race takes place just north-east of Adelaide and navigates one and a half laps of a rolling circuit starting in Nuriootpa.
This year’s key stage could be stage five which features a climb to Willunga Hill that will possibly create splits in the general classification, meaning it could decide who claims overall victory.
On the final day of the Tour, the sprinters will battle it out over 18 laps of a 5km circuit in Adelaide city centre, so expect a fast and furious finale to the race.
Sky Sports will broadcast the entire 2014 Santos Tour Down Under from Australia as the race kicks off its coverage of a selection of the world’s biggest cycle races during the 2014 season.
Alec Wilkinson and Graham Little will share presenting duties for live coverage of all six stages during the night from January 21-26, plus extended highlights of the People’s Choice Classic on January 20.
If you miss any of the live action in the early hours of the morning, each broadcast will repeated on Sky Sports in the mid-morning and afternoon, plus a shorter half-hour bitesize review of each stage will be screened in the evening.
Various guests will be in the Sky studio throughout the week, including Roger Hammond, while Orla Chennaoui will be on-location in Australia with all the latest news and interviews with the key riders.
Sky Sports will take the world feed provided by Channel 9 for its live stage coverage, featuring commentary from the legendary duo of Phil Liggett and Paul Sherwen.
In addition to coverage of the UCI World Tour-opening Tour Down Under, there will also be live action from the Tour de Romandie in April and May, all part of Sky Sports’ bumper cycling schedule in 2014.
As in 2013, Sky Sports will again screen highlights of a selection of other one-day Classics and stage races throughout the year, including, Milan-San Remo, the Tour of Flanders, Tirreno-Adriatico and Il Lombardia.
There will also be extended highlights of every stage of the first Grand Tour of the year – the Giro d’Italia – in May and June.
Sky Sports’ dedicated cycling website and Twitter feed – skysports.com/cycling and @SkyCycling – will provide viewers with all the latest reports, video and features throughout the year.
For more information about the 2014 Santos Tour Down Under, visit the official website.
.
