Tour Down Under 2023: Route, stages, and startlist guide

(Image credit: Getty Images)

published 11 January 2023

Key Information

Where: Adelaide, South Australia

The route for the 2023 men's Tour Down Under has something for everyone. There will be plenty of action in the depths of the Adelaide hills as well as other fast and furious sprint stages which should make for an excellent opener to the WorldTour season.

Bringing the race back without its famous Willunga Hill climb was always going to be a brave decision, although race director Stuart O'Grady explained when presenting the 2023 route that he believes it was important to bring some "fresh faces" into the Australian stage race.

"I think it's important to bring some new, fresh places into the Tour Down Under,” O'Grady said.

"I was brought in to bring in some new innovations, some new exciting parcours and also didn't want just the same old kind of stages where everybody knows exactly what's going to happen. The new final stage brings in a lot of excitement. It's a short stage, it's aggressive, it's more central to Adelaide, so I'm guessing more and more people will get there.”

The evening prologue on Tuesday 17 January follows a 5.5 kilometre course through the Adelaide Parks and past the Adelaide Oval cricket ground in what promises to be a fast and furious affair.

Unusually, the riders will have to use their road race bikes due to logistical issues with bringing all of their equipment over to Australia for the race.

It's also the first time a prologue has been incorporated into the race, with race organisers clearly hoping that Rohan Dennis (Jumbo-Visma), home favourite and time trial expert, can pull off the win and the early race lead.

The first road stage of the 2023 men's race covers a 149.9 kilometre circuit around the city of Tanunda and and the Barossa wine area.

It also features four smaller circuits which involve the Menglers Hill climb, making for a total of 2,050 metres of elevation gain. Menglers Hill isn't so challenging that the best sprinters in the world won't get over it, meaning that the likes of Caleb Ewan (Lotto-Dstny) could still be in contention towards the stage finale.

The final 60 kilometres involve two challenging, categorised ascents although the flat run in could also mean a day for the sprinters once more.

In 2020, Giacomo Nizzolo (Israel-Premier Tech) grabbed the victory. Ewan will be another name to watch or a rider like EF Education-EasyPost's Alberto Bettiol. The Italian can more than hold his own on short, punchy climbs and packs a devilish fast finish.

Stage three to Campbelltown is short but will pack a mean punch with three of Adelaide's toughest hills roped into the equation.

Norton Summit, Checkers Hill and Corkscrew Road are all on the menu, providing plenty of staging posts for the high profile overall contenders to make their moves. Corkscrew Road features challenging pitches of 6.8% average gradient, with one section ramping up to more than 9%.

Perhaps homegrown hero and Giro d'Italia winner Jai Hindley (Bora-Hansgrohe) will look to test his early season form on the hills of Adelaide.

Normally on a stage in and around Willunga, you would expect the infamous Willunga Hill to feature somewhere in the route but this year's race misses out the legendary climb.

Stage four gets underway overlooking the beach and ends in Willunga Township after 133 kilometres of mainly rolling, undulating roads. Stage four is definitely a day for the sprinters once more before the race reaches its finale on Mount Lofty the day after.

Stage five to Mount Lofty will make for a spectacular finish to the 2023 edition of the race.

The stage is just 112.5 kilometres long but features five ascents of Mount Lofty, which is almost certainly going to provide drama on the races final day in the heart of the Adelaide Hills.

All four ascents of the devilish climb will make for more than 3,000 metres of climbing. The whole climb is 2.6 kilometres long with an average gradient of 7%. At two and then one kilometre to go there are two much more severe, steeper sections which is where the GC favourites will be expected to attack.

Many talented climbers feature on the expected start list which should make for a thrilling and aggressive stage five to end the race.

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After previously working in higher education, Tom joined Cycling Weekly in 2022 and hasn't looked back. He's been covering professional cycling ever since; reporting on the ground from some of the sport's biggest races and events, including the Tour de France, Paris-Roubaix and the World Championships. His earliest memory of a bike race is watching the Tour on holiday in the early 2000's in the south of France - he even made it on to the podium in Pau afterwards. His favourite place that cycling has taken him is Montréal in Canada.

Tour Down Under 2023: Route, stages, and startlist guide

Key Information

Men's Tour Down Under: Stages, 17-22 January

Prologue: Adelaide - Adelaide, 5.5 km

Stage One: Tanunda - Tanunda, 149.9 km, Hilly

Stage Two: Brighton - Victor Harbour, 154.8 km, Hilly

Stage Three: Norwood - Campbell Town, 116.8 km, Hilly

Stage Four: Port Willunga - Willunga Township, 133.2 km, Flat

Stage Five: Unley - Mount Lofty, 122.5 km, Hilly

WOMEN'S TOUR DOWN UNDER: STAGES, 15-17 JANUARY

Stage One: Glenelg - Aldinga, 110.4 km, Flat

Stage Two: Birdwood to Uraidla, 90 km, Hilly

Stage Three: Adelaide - Campbelltown, 93.2 km, Hilly

MEN'S START LIST

WOMEN'S START LIST

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