2019 Tour Down Under Stage 1 Results & Recap
Stage 1 of the 2019 Tour Down Under is in the books. The final results and standings are below, followed by our recap of how the race unfolded.
Race Recap
Viviani charges to first World Tour win of the year\nBy Clara Beard
Italian champion Elia Viviani picked up where he left off in 2018 – with incredibly strong form – claiming the first stage of the Santos Tour Down Under in commanding fashion. The Deceuninck-Quick-Step sprinter flew past Sunweb’s Max Walscheid in the final metres of the race, which ended in Port Adelaide, a first for the Tour Down Under.
Jakub Mareczko (CCC) was third on the day. Viviani’s win puts him into the overall lead of the race heading into stage 2.
It was a quiet start to the Santos Tour Down Under, the heat playing a significant role in the stage’s development, even causing race director Mike Turtur to decrease the distance by a few kilometres.
Astana’s Artyom Zakharov, UniSA’s Jason Lea, Patrick Bevin (CCC) and Michael Storer (Sunweb) were the brave four riders who formed the break of the day. They broke off almost immediately and spent 90 kilometres total off the front before the peloton swallowed them back up with about 30 kilometres left.
Lea managed to collect the only king of the mountains points, which saw him climb into that jersey at the conclusion of the stage. Failing to achieve the points needed for the jersey, Zakharov fell out of the breakaway to preserve his energy for the rest of the week.
The three leaders continued to roll through the Adelaide countryside but never were allowed much of a gap before the were reabsorbed.
From there, the peloton continued to roll along casually until 10 kilometres to go, when the pace finally injected some life into itself, and the sprinters' teams began to organise.
In the final moments, Walscheid took advantage of a messy lead out and punched it off the front early. It looked like the German may have been successful, but Viviani once again showed why he’s the best sprinter in the world, easily storming by Walscheid and celebrating his 18th career win. \n
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