Tomorrow evening the 2011 Tour Down Under starts with the Cancer Council Classic, which is a short race around a city circuit (going around the outside of Rymill Park). It’s not part of the actual race, it is an intro to the tour which is always very popular with spectators. It gives you a good chance to get out see all the riders close up. The start time is 6:45 and it runs for just over an hour. Best to get there a bit early to get a good position, especially if you want to get into the park in the centre of the circuit.

The Stages

The tour proper starts on Tuesday with stage 1 from Mawson Lakes to Angaston (138km). It starts by heading in to the hills and up to One Tree Hill, then back down and through Gawler followed by a ride up the Barossa Valley to do do three laps of a circuit through Tanunda, Nuriootpa and Angaston. Just one climb early one, I expect they’ll all stay together and their should be a good sprint at the end – obviously Mark Cavendish will be one to look out for there.

On Wednesday stage two takes them away from Adelaide to the Murray River, with a ride from Tailem Bend to Mannum – which may sound rather short and flat, but of course they take the scenic route climbing into the hills from Callington and up through Nairne, Woodside, Mount Torrens, Birdwood and then down from Mt Pleasant to a finish on the river at Mannum. So there’s a bit of climbing early but then the stage is mostly downhill with a long flat section from the hills to the river at the finish.

On Thursday stage 3 brings them back to town with a start in Unley – though the race proper doesn’t start until they get onto the southern expressway. This one covers quite a bit of territory that’s familiar to me, having been down the expressway to McLaren Vale late last year for Amy’s ride. We went via Willunga, but the tour saves that for Saturday, so they take a more direct route to McLaren Vale and then up to Kangarilla, Meadows, Echunga and then onto a circuit around Mylor and Algate for a rather hilly stage that finishes at Stirling.

Friday has another start in town, this time at Norwood, and finished out at Strathalbyn. I did a ride to Strathalbyn recently (covering some of the roads the tour covers in stage 3) the ride there isn’t too bad once you get up to Crafers, but the ride back is nasty. Of course, once again for the tour they aren’t taking the direct route, they’ll be riding up the Torrens gorge through Cudlee Creek (a really beautiful ride that I should do again, but I can never seem to resist the temptation to turn up Corkscrew Rd), up to Checkers Hill which should be a great King of the Mountains challenge (and which should be high on my to-do list of climbs), then down to Mt Barker via Lobethal and Hahndorf and then to Strathalbyn via Macclesfield, Meadows and Ashbourne. The big downhill to Meadows should be a spectacular finish.

On Saturday the penultimate stage includes the traditional climb up Willunga Hill on a stage that’s otherwise fairly flat. It starts at McLaren Vale with two loops through Willunga and down to Port Willunga, and then two loops on a circuit up the Hill and back down at McLaren Vale, finishing in Willunga. I’m hoping to get down there to watch the two climbs up the hill.

It all wraps up Sunday week with the usual North Adelaide Street circuit, always a good one for the people of the city to get out and watch as well (and what better way to celebrate the end of the tour then by coming down to the Metro to see me do a DJ set afterwards?).

The Riders
Since the tour became a pro-tour event we’ve seen an increase in the number of big names competing. This year that includes the biggest name in cycling, Lance Armstrong, competing in an international event for the last time, Mark Cavendish who has dominated the Tour de France sprint finishes in recent years,  2010 & 2008 TDU winner André Greipel, Aussie favourites Stuart O’Grady, Robbie McEwen, Michael Rogers, Simon Gerrans, Allan Davis and lots more.
A lot of locals will be watching young Adelaide cyclist Jack Bobridge, well known to local cyclists not just for his successes in competitions but also for his record breaking ride up Norton Summit Rd climb which is so familiar to all of us.

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If you can’t get out to see the tour then you can watch some of it on TV, SBS will cover the classic tomorrow night, and the last two stages next weekend live. During the week they’ll have highlights of the other stages. There’s usually online live commentary so you can follow what’s happening in the other stages as well.

If watching all of the cycling makes you want to get out there like myself (and like me you can’t do the Mutual Community Challenge Tour because of work) then look out for the upcoming Coast to Coast which should be a great ride.

Finally, on the topic of cycling, Australia’s long awaiting pro tour team is to be launched on Monday. They won’t be competing until 2012 but there is already much speculation about which top Aussie riders they’ll manage to sign up.