UCI World Tour Cycling Season Begins With Tour Down Under

Officially the second stage of the Tour Down Under, the first race on the UCI World Tour Schedule, has finished with Juan José Lobato of the ProTeam Movistar taking day two. The first day was won by Australian born Jack Bobridge of Team Budget Forklifts, who also leads with the best accumulative time, 6:41:55, over the two day period. An interesting side note, an Australian cycler has won the Tour Down Under four out of the last six years.

Now like Tour de France’s yellow jersey, which signifies the racer with the best time, the Tour Down Under has various jerseys that indicate racers positions: the Ochre is for the best time (Bobridge), the Subaru King of the Mountain is for the racer with the most points (Bobridge), the iiNet Sprint is for the rider with the most points and time bonuses (Lobato), the Cycle Instead Young Rider represents the leading under 23 cyclists (Niccolo Bonifazio), the Europcar Most Competitive is worn by the player who has instigated attacks/helped teammates move forward (Thomas De Gendt) and finally the Virgin Australia Winning Team is for the team with the best cumulative time (Movistar).

For those who do not understand cycling, the Tour Down Under is one of 29 events that are spread over the course of the UCI World Tour Season: these races are broken down into three Grand Tours — Tour de France, Giro d’Italia, Vuelta a España — five Monument races, nine stage races in Europe and an assortment of 12 other events. For placing in each race, the cyclist is awarded points, with the Grand Tours offering the highest amount of them; the points are then counted up and the totals determine the overall rankings.

As for the winner of the Tour Down Under, only two of six stages are complete: with stage three beginning on January 22 at 11 am ACDT and the winner being announced on the final day, January 25.