The Santos 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Tour Down Under not only marks the start of the 2025 racing season but is also the first men's WorldTour ဣevent of the season, sparking huge interest in the riders and the race. 

Into its 25th year, the highlight of the Australian cycling summer will see 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:20 teams and 140 riders compete for the leader💞's ochre jersey across six days of racing around Adelaide from January 21-26.

The women's Tour Down Under was be held beforehand, between January 17-19, where 168澳洲𒈔5最新开奖结果:Noemi Rüegg took overall victory. 

While many of the European riders opt to start their seaso🔜n later in the Middle East or at the Classics, the Tour Down Under still attracts several big stars of the sport to compete for victory, alongside a whole host of young super talents looking to break through. 

The key general classification stages on 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:the route offer up a familiar challenge, with a double ascent of the iconic Willunga Hill on the penultimate day, and a new test on stage 3 with the introduction of Knott's Hill. There is enough elevation gain ඣfor the overall favourites to make a vital time difference. 

The previous two race winners, 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Stephen Williams (Israel-Premier Tech) and Jay Vine (UAE Team Emirat💟es-XRG) both return and are ove🥂rall contenders again. There should be a challenge from other Australian riders on home soil and some of the WorldTour's best from Europe.

With these factors in mind, these are Cyclingnews' top favourites to wa𓄧tch in this year's Tour Down Under.&nbs🌠p;

Get unlimited access to all of our coverage of the Tour Down Under and Women’s Tour Down Under, including reporting from Australia, breaking news and analysis. 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Find out more.

Key contenders

168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Stephen Williams (Israel-Premier Tech)

While Australians have often come out on top at the Tour Down Under, it was a Welshman, Stephen Williams (Israel-Premier tech), w🧸ho took home the ochre jersey in 2024 after a thrilling six days of racing. 

Williams moved into the race lead on the penultimate stage to Willinga Hill, despite not winning the day with fellow Brit Oscar Onley just ahead of him, and confirmed his position at the top by winning the final stag♛e with a well-time sprint at Mount Lofty. 

It marked the start of the 28-year-old's career-best season, with a hu𒉰ge Ardennes win at a hellish edition of La Fléche Wallonne coming in April and a dominant victory on home roads following that at the Tour of Britain.

Williams is perfectly suited to the punchy nature of the course in and around Adelaide and is being backed u♛p by a roster of capable riders for his title defence. 

Both George Bennett and Michael Woods🔥 could operate as co-leaders depending on their form and IPT will look to win the flatter stages through Kiwi sprinter Corbin Str✱ong. 

To find out how to watch the Tour Down Under live wherever you are, read our useful guide here.

168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Luke Plapp (Jayco AlUla)

Perhaps the top favourite flying the flag for Australi♎a will be Jayco AlUla's Luke Plapp. 

He's fresh off the back of defending his national time trial titlꦓe and helping teammate Luke Durbridge to the national title in ♚the road race after allowing his compatriot to roll over the line first in his home city Perth.

While Plapp gave up the chance to win his f𝕴ourth stint in the green and gold in a row, he showed more than enough form that should make him a key contender for the Tour Down Under.

A brutal crash forced him to abandon last season's Tour Down Under but Plapp will be rꦬaring to get another shot at Willunga ꦬHill and the ochre jersey. At 24 and developing nicely as a rider, he'll be buoyed by his standout GC performance last year - sixth at Paris-Nice.

Plapp can rely on loyal support from the new Australian champion Durbridge on the approaches to the key clꦐimbs, with another home rider Chris Harper and Swiss champion Mauro Schmid for key support when the🍨 road heads uphill. 

Jay Vine and 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Jonathan Narváez (UAE Team Emirates-XRG)

2023 winner Jay Vine returns to the Tour Down Under in 2025 as one of the key contenders. He's shown strong form recently with second place at the national championꦇships time trial behind only Plapp and sixth in the road race.

While it's two♏ years from his victory in Adelaide, Vine showed how his mix of pure climbing and time-trialling strength could be suited to the hilly terrain in South Australia. He didn't win a stage at the 2023 race but racked up a winning margin of 11 seconds thanks to a trio of top-three stage finishes.

Vine finish𒁃ed 2024 in solid form, which, considering how lengthy his rehabilitation from the spinal injurꩲy he suffered in the high-speed Itzulia Basque Country crash was, is quite remarkable. 

At 29 and into his third season with the Emirati team, Vine will be looking to re-find his absolute peak climbing🍃 f🍨orm.

He won't be joined at the start by the standout UAE performer from last year's Tour Down Under, Isaac del Toro, but will partner with new teammate and 2024 runner-up Jonathan Narváez. The Ecuad🅺orian joined UAE Team Eꦚmirates from Ineos Grenadiers for 2025, adding aggression and stage race talent to the team.

Vine and Narvá🐎ez have a great balance of punch and climbing power, so should be well in contention for 🅺victory.

168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Oscar Onley (Picnic-PostNL)

The champion of Willunga Hill from 2024, Oscar Onley (Picnic-PostNL), is coming for another crac𝔉k at winning the Tour Down Under, with the young Scot looking to reach an even higher level after his breakthrough season. 

Amid a ꦺseries of unlucky collarbone breaks in the past two years, Onley has proved himself to be a serious contender in WorldTour one-week stage races. Not on𒁏ly did he finish second in Australia but he backed this up with top-ten finishes on GC at the Tour de Suisse, Tour de Pologne and Tour of Guangxi.

With a proper punch to his climbing, best shown on stage 5 of last year's race, Onley will look to rack up bonus seconds and finish stronger th🐎an ☂he did in 2024, after only losing out on the podium due to a poor final stage.

He'll have local support from  Austrians, Patrick Eddy and Alex Edmondson, with Tobias Lund Andresen leading the Dutch team in the sprints. Key teammate Ch✃ris Hamilton is out after his December training camp crash  but Onley will be a real threat in this year's race. 

The 2025 TDU bring Onley his first WorldTour overall stage race victory🥀.

168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Finn Fisher-Black (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe)

It's not only the Aussies who thrive down under, with their fellow Antipodeans from just across the Tasman Sea also enjoyin💟g their summer racing schedule. Finn Fisher-Black is of the riders from New Zealand eyeing a top GC finish. 

He's completed a move away from the congestion of talent that is UAE Team Emirates, in search of more leadership opportunities with Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe. And he's got his w♕ish at the first race of the season, taking up the GC mantle for the German team. 

Fisher-Black has been pushing out some seriously impressive efforts while training near Christchurch on New Zealand's South Isꦛland, so expect him to be right up there when the road ventu✨res uphill sharply on stage 3 and stage 5.

It's histori♕cally not been his strongest race, often finding his form later in the year while he was aꦜt UAE, however, recent comments from Fisher-Black to Cyclingnews suggest he's raring to get time on his new team off to a flying start. 

"Last year, I🍰 realised I do have this punch to me which I really try to utilise and I think, now, I've found a way I can win races, and I'm really trying to dial into that," said Fisher-Black. 

"For example, at the Tour Down Under."

168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Sergio Higuita and 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Alberto Bettiol (XDS-Astana)

The start of the new season also bri๊ngs the first race in a new chapter for XDS Astana, with their new Chinese🤪 sponsor, new bikes and largely changed roster all on show. 

It's an important race for them in the pursuit of UCI points to ensure they don't get relegated back to the ProTeam division next season, so they'll be looking to score big in the season 𒆙opener. 

Two of their new riders should lead their GC hopes, Italian champion Alb﷽erto Bettiol - who joined mid-2024 from EF Education-EasyPost, and Se𒁃rgio Higuita, who will race in the colourful new kit for the first time on January 21. 

Bettiol won the prologue of the 2023 race so has shown January form in the past, while Higuita is onꦓ debut in Australia. However, expect the Colombian to be in decent shape as he tends to be good in the early season with his national road race championships often falling in the first two months of the year.

If Higuita can get close to his 2022 season form, when he won the GC at the Volta a Catalunya and stages at the Tour de R𒀰omandie and Tour de Pologne, he should be a strong contender. He'll also have s🐎upport from talented puncheur Ide Schelling and New Zealand national champion Aaron Gate who will contest the sprints. 

168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Magnus Sheffield and 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Geraint Thomas (Ineos Grenadiers)

After the worst season in their 15-year history, Ineos Grenadiers will be looking f𒐪or a major bounce back in 2025, starting at the Tour Down Under where they are fielding a strong team. 

2018 Tour de France winner Geraint Thomas is the headline name on their start list but tends to find his best form later in the year. His last four appearances in the Australian⭕ stage race have been in support roles for others, with his one podium finish Down Under being from the 2013 edition.

However, Ineos have come with several options wh🐼o could be suited to the punchy finishes and fight for bonus seconds across the five days♛. 

Talented American rider Mag♕nus Sheffield looks the most likely as a versatile Classics and stage race rider, with a good history at the Tour Down Under having finished fourth overall on debut in 2023.

Ineos also have former world champion Michał Kwiatkowski as another punchy option, with Aussie climber and new signing Lucas Hamilton also a potential contender.

Young riders to watch

The Tour Down Under provides the biggest teams with the perfect opportunity to get young riders and neo-pros used to the chaos of WorldTour stage races, without the pressure of the perhaps more prestigious events such as Paris-Nice or the Critér𒅌ium du Dauphine.🔯 

Isℱaac del Toro was the young star of last 🌟year's race and there's little doubt that 2025 should see an up-and-coming rider do similarly, either in the sprints or in the general classification.

Former junior world champion 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Albert Withen Philipsen (Lidl-Trek) is touted as being one of the stars of the future as a top multi-discipline talent. At 18, he'll be the youngest man in the race during his WorldTour debut. Also on Lidl-Trek🌃's roster is Tim Torn Teutenberg, a sprinter and Classics star of the future.

Narrowly older than the Dane is 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:S🌠pain's next climbing sensation, Pablo Torres, who was signed with UAE Team Emirates on a contract until 2030. He'll likely be in support of Vine and Narváez but it will be intriguing to see where h🙈e stands on Willunga Hill.

Visma-Lease a Bike's provisional roster for the five days contains a wealth of young talen൲t, notably, 19-year-old Brit Matt Brennan, who could be their opti👍on for the sprints. The Dutch pair of Menno Huising and Tijmen Graat are both climbing talents.

From the home nation's perspective, two of their top under-23 talents, Fergus Browning and 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Zac Marriage will be representing the Australian national squad fresh off the bac🐷k of impressive performances at the national championships. 

Watch for them to go in major breakaways before the super talents and WorldTour leaders emerge on the key stages.&nbsꦉp;

Get unlimited access to all of our coverage of the season-opening 2025 Tour Down Under - including breaking news, analysis and more, reported by our journalists on the ground from every stage as it happens. 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Find out more.