Race details | |
---|---|
Date | January |
Region | Adelaide, South Australia, Australia |
Discipline | Road |
Competition | One-day |
Type | Criterium |
Organiser | Events South Australia |
Race director | Michael Turtur |
Web site | tourdownunder |
History | |
First edition | 2006 |
Editions | 17 (as of 2024) |
First winner | Robbie McEwen (AUS) |
Most wins | Caleb Ewan (AUS)(5 wins) |
Most recent | Jhonatan Narváez (ECU) |
The Down Under Classic (currently known as the Schwalbe Classic, and previously known as the People's Choice Classic and Cancer Council Helpline Classic for sponsorship reasons), is a criterium around Rymill Park in Adelaide, South Australia, Australia. It precedes the Tour Down Under.
Since the very first Tour Down Under in 1999, there has been a history of city-based circuit racing in Adelaide. For several years the Tour Down Under featured a race around the East End of Adelaide and through the centre of Adelaide around King William Street.
The Down Under Classic was developed to retain a cycling race in the city from 2006 due to rules preventing the number of small circuit races in a multi-day stage race.
Caleb Ewan is the most successful cyclist in the race with five wins.
The Down Under Classic has traditionally raced around Rymill Park/Murlawirrapurka in the East End, however it has been relocated over the years.
In 2014, the race was moved to a circuit around Victoria Drive and the River Torrens, north of the University of Adelaide. [1]
In 2017, it moved slightly south from Rymill Park to King Rodney Park/Ityamai-itpina before returning to its traditional configuration in 2019.
In 2020, it moved into the centre of Adelaide racing through main boulevards including Wakefield Street, Flinders Street and Victoria Square. [2]
The Down Under Classic is typically 'raced to distance'. For instance, in 2017 the race was 50.6 kilometres, or 22 laps of the King Rodney Park circuit. [3]
In 2019, the format was changed to be time-certain, meaning the race lasted for exactly one hour and one lap. [4] This reverted to the full-distance format in 2020.
The Down Under Classic does not count towards time or points of the Tour Down Under and, while promoted as part of the Tour Down Under 'festival' alongside the men's and women's races, is a distinctly separate race.
Instead, riders compete for prize money, with four sprint primes and the finish line prize all offering up the opportunity to obtain financial reward.
The winner of the Down Under Classic is awarded a victor's jersey, which often presents in the colours of the event sponsor. Under Cancer Council sponsorship the jersey was blue and yellow, People's Choice was green and white (until 2018) and in 2019 the jersey was red, owing to SouthAustralia.com support.
The Tour Down Under is a cycling race in and around Adelaide, South Australia. It is traditionally the opening event of the UCI World Tour and UCI Women’s WorldTour.
The Adelaide Street Circuit is a temporary street circuit in the East Parklands adjacent to the Adelaide central business district in South Australia, Australia.
The East End is a part of the Adelaide central business district, in the north-east corner of the Adelaide city centre. This area is a popular office and retail district and has an increasing residential interest from the building of high-density luxury apartments in the area.
Amaroo Park Raceway was a 1.930 km (1.199 mi) motor racing circuit located in Annangrove, New South Wales, in the present-day north-western suburbs of Sydney, Australia. Opened in 1967, the road circuit served as a venue for a variety of competitions including the Castrol 6 Hour motorcycle race, rounds of the Australian Touring Car Championship, Australian Drivers' Championship, Australian Formula Ford Championship, Australian Sports Sedan Championship, the AMSCAR Series for touring cars, historic racing and others. The last Australian Touring Car Championship round to take place at the circuit was in 1994.
The Philadelphia International Championship was an annual bicycle race held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was described as "America's top international cycling classic, and one of the richest and most prestigious one day races outside of Europe." It was one of the longest single-day races in the U.S. at 199.6 kilometres (124.0 mi). The men's event was ranked 1.1 by the International Cycling Union (UCI), the sport's governing body, which made it the highest ranked single-day race in the Western Hemisphere after the UCI World Tour Grand Prix Cycliste de Montreal and Grand Prix Cycliste de Quebec. It was part of the UCI America Tour.
Mallala Motor Sport Park is a 2.601 km (1.616 mi) bitumen motor racing circuit near the town of Mallala in South Australia, 55 km north of the state capital, Adelaide.
Robert Frederick Jane was an Australian race car driver and prominent entrepreneur and business tycoon. A four-time winner of the Armstrong 500, the race that became the prestigious Bathurst 1000 and a four-time Australian Touring Car Champion, Jane was well known for his chain of tyre retailers, Bob Jane T-Marts. Jane was inducted into the V8 Supercars Hall of Fame in 2000.
Calder Park Raceway is a motor racing circuit in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The complex includes a dragstrip, a road circuit with several possible configurations, and the "Thunderdome", a high-speed banked oval equipped to race either clockwise or anti-clockwise.
John Bowe is an Australian racing driver, presently racing a Holden Torana in the Touring Car Masters series.
Gibson Motorsport was an Australian motor racing team that competed in the Australian Touring Car Championship from 1985 until 2003, though the team had its roots in Gibson's "Road & Track" team which ran a series of Ford Falcon GTHOs in Series Production during the late 1960s and early 1970s. The name of the team was also the name of Fred Gibson's automotive business in Sydney. As Gibson was also a driver for the Ford Works Team, his team was sometimes a pseudo-works team when the Ford factory did not enter.
The Adelaide International Raceway is a permanent circuit owned by Australian Motorsport Club Limited under the auspices of the Bob Jane Corporation. The circuit is located 26 km (16 mi) north of Adelaide in South Australia on Port Wakefield Road at Virginia, and is adjacent to Adelaide's premier car racing Dirt track racing venue, Speedway City. AIR is owned by the Bob Jane Corporation and run by the Australian Motorsport Club Ltd.
The American stock car racing category NASCAR raced in Australia from the late 1980s to the early 2000s. After strong initial interest, particularly in Melbourne at Australia's only purpose-built NASCAR style paved oval speedway, the Calder Park Thunderdome, the category collapsed in the early 2000s and has defied several attempts to revive it since then.
The 2011 Santos Tour Down Under was the 13th edition of the Tour Down Under stage race. It took place from 18 to 23 January in and around Adelaide, South Australia, and was the first race of the 2011 UCI World Tour. The Tour was preceded by the Cancer Council Classic race, on Sunday, 16 January, that consisted in a circuit of 30 laps around the Rymill Park in Adelaide's East End, totaling 51 kilometres (32 mi).
The Bend Motorsport Park, currently known as Shell V-Power Motorsport Park for naming rights reasons, is a 7.770 km (4.828 mi) bitumen motor racing circuit at Tailem Bend, South Australia, Australia, about 100 km (62 mi) south-east of the state capital, Adelaide.
The Supercars Challenge was an annual non-championship motor racing event held for cars from the Supercars Championship, and formerly from V8 Supercars, the Shell Championship Series and the Australian Touring Car Championship. The event was held on the Albert Park Circuit in Albert Park, Victoria, Australia as a support event to the Australian Grand Prix.
The 2016 Tour Down Under was a road cycling stage race that took place between 19 and 24 January in and around Adelaide, South Australia. It was the 18th edition of the Tour Down Under and was the first event of the 2016 UCI World Tour. The defending champion was Rohan Dennis.
The Women's Tour Down Under is an annual professional road bicycle racing for women in Australia. It is held in conjunction with the Tour Down Under.
The 2017 Tour Down Under was a road cycling stage race that took place between 17 and 22 January 2017 in and around Adelaide, South Australia. It was the 19th edition of the Tour Down Under and was the first event of the 2017 UCI World Tour.
The 2018 Tour Down Under was a road cycling stage race, that took place between 16 and 21 January 2018 in and around Adelaide, South Australia. It was the 20th edition of the Tour Down Under and the first race of the 2018 UCI World Tour.
The 2019 Tour Down Under was a road cycling stage race, that took place between 15 and 20 January 2019 in and around Adelaide, South Australia. It was the 21st edition of the Tour Down Under and the first race of the 2019 UCI World Tour.