The opening stage of the men’s Santos Tour Down Under went exactly as predicted. A small breakaway led for the most of the stage, Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe spent much of the day on the front of the peloton, and ultimately their world-class lead-out delivered Sam Welsford to victory in a bunch sprint.
Welsford had been the clear favourite. He won three stages here last year, he won the Australian criterium title a couple weeks back, and most importantly, he was easily the best sprinter at the curtain-raiser criterium on Saturday evening. All of that translated into pressure for the West Australian on the first day of men’s WorldTour racing in 2025.
“We had a lot of eyes on us today, and our backs up against the wall,” Welsford told reporters after dashing to victory in Gumeracha, taking the leader’s jersey for his troubles. “From the start, no one really wanted to help us out there today, but, you know, we kind of expected that, so we went out there and just kept the break in check. Eventually some teams started to put one on [the front] in the last maybe 60 km and then the gap started coming down as well.
“We’re really relieved – we had a lot of pressure coming in from last year. So really happy to get the first win on the board.”
Welsford’s sports director Bernie Eisel also spoke of how the expectation of a stage win weighed heavily on the team in the lead-up.
“Everybody could feel the pressure rising,” he told Escape. “Everybody’s like, ‘We’re not going to help anyway [with the chase], because you win anyways’, then it’s also creating a little bit more tension for the riders. At the same time we try to stay calm, stay to our ideas.
“Now third race for him, third win this year, and first WorldTour stage again, leaders jersey – he couldn’t start better for us. So we’re happy, and especially for Sam.”
While Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe were understandably delighted with the win today, Welsford admitted there were several things he could have done better. For one, he started his sprint much earlier than he would have liked – most of 300 metres from the finish.
“Danny told me he had more to give in the final; he could have gone longer,” Welsford said of his final lead-out man Danny van Poppel. “I just need to be a bit more patient and stop going so bloody early and use him a lot longer and make my life a lot easier,” he concluded with a chuckle.
And then there were the final metres before the line. While Welsford was looking around to his right, Matthew Brennan (Jumbo-Visma) was coming up the left, with speed. As Welsford posted up early to celebrate, the 19-year-old Briton very nearly pipped the 29-year-old Australian.
“I had someone on my wheel, and I was keeping them in check, and I didn’t actually notice the left,” Welsford said of the close finish. “I mean, I should have bloody been closer to the left, I think. But eventually I went to stop and salute, but I went pretty long, so I didn’t have much legs left. And I should have realised that it was a really fast downhill sprint to the end so they come really fast from the back.”
Welsford held on for the win, ahead of Brennan and Matthew Walls (Groupama-FDJ), but only just.
“I thought I had it, but he came with such pace,” Welsford said. “I thought my front wheel was over the line, but then he came zooming past me, and I was like, ‘Hmm, maybe I mucked that up.’”
That finish was a source of amusement to Welsford’s sports directors Bernie Eisel and Shane Archbold who laughed about the near-embarrassment with riders Van Poppel and Filip Maciejuk as they arrived at the team campervan. Archbold joked about Welsford saluting for 25 seconds, while Eisel remarked that “the Jumbo guy – he was not even in the screen, and he nearly rolled him!”
It’s been a perfect start to the year for Welsford who will be hoping that 2025 offers a little more than 2024 did. After his three stage wins at the Tour Down Under last year, he didn’t win at WorldTour level again in 2024. A win at the 2.Pro (second-tier) Tour de Hongrie was his only other win on the road for the season. While Welsford did win a gold medal on the track at the Paris Olympics – as part of Australia’s team pursuit squad – his road season peaked very early in the year.
In 2025, though, he’s taken a new approach to training that will ideally make him more competitive come the season’s bigger races over in Europe.
“I have a new trainer now, and I’ve just been targeting a lot of hours on the bike and lots of general fitness,” he said. “I think I have a lot of power from the track in the legs, so working that aerobic capacity is probably more my weakness, and improving that allows me to still do my good sprint, still carrying fatigue. So I’m just working on the engine, being able to handle the harder days and still producing a strong sprint.”
That strong sprint sees Welsford lead the Tour Down Under into tomorrow’s stage 2 in the Barossa Valley wine region. With a flat finish in Tanunda it’s expected to be another day for the sprinters. Based on what we saw today, there’s no reason to suspect Welsford won’t win again.
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