Imagine cycling 781km over six days in South Australia’s gruelling summer heat. That’s exactly what 135 professional world tour cyclists did last week for the Annual Santos Tour Down Under in Adelaide.
The first event on the international cycling calendar brought together the world’s best cyclists for the biggest cycling event in the Southern Hemisphere.
The first race outside of Europe to be given UCI WorldTour Status, visits some of South Australia’s spectacular beaches, world famous wine regions and historic country towns before the finale on the streets of Adelaide.
It was Aussie domination with Australian Simon Gerrans crowned Santos Tour Down Under champion for a record breaking fourth time.
Orica-GreenEdge team rider, 21-year-old, Caleb Ewan took out the first place spot for the first and sixth stage of the comp, earning him a title of fastest sprinter on the track.
Orica-GreenEdge commanded the event and Orica team director, Matt White, had nothing but praise for his team.
“It’s been a huge week for our team, to win the overall and book-end with Caleb, this was confirmation for Caleb, he clearly was the fastest rider here all week,” said White. “And for Gerro (Gerrans) to come back, everyone saw how hard he worked. This will set the tone for rest of the year.”
Gerrans ended the 781km six-stage event on a total time of 19h 11m 33s, nine seconds ahead of fellow Australian Richie Porte (BMC Racing) with Colombian Sergio Luis Henao (Team SKY) third at eleven seconds.
The Summit Fitness Equipment team were kept busy with Wattbike in demand all over the tour village. The South Australian Sports Institute – were using Wattbike to conduct talent searches for up and coming young cyclists, Bike Exchange, who showcased Wattbike as their main exhibition feature and our team joined the fun on the Bolle Australia stand – who hosted the competitive Wattbike #BolleWattBomb Challenge at the event, attracting professional and amateur cyclists alike to compete against each other.
Contestants at the #BolleWattBomb challenge were invited to text their maximum power output on the Wattbike with the contestant achieving the highest peak of the day taking home a Bolle prize pack.
Wide World of Sports Co-host and Australian Olympic Sprinter John Steffensen even joined in on the fun, during his visit to the Bolle tent making his own impressive peaking power score of 1,434.
Channel Nines’ Sports Presenter Tim Gilbert also stopped by, doing a live cross feature of Wattbike on ‘The Morning Show.’
In it’s 17th year, the 2016 Santos Tour Down Under was deemed a success with Race Director Mike Turtur summing up the event in one word.
“Terrific!”
Mr Turtur said the quality of the race this year was testament to the calibre of riders that took part, both international and Australian.
Mike hinted that the race in future years is only going to get better and more competitive.
This article is sourced from Summit Fitness Equipment.