A successful Santos Tour Down Under, hear from the 2024 TDU Winner Stephen Williams, Race Director Stuart O’Grady.
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SportTranscription
00:00 [MUSIC PLAYING]
00:21 It's a very prestigious race to win.
00:23 And I think to have this on my Palmares is very special.
00:27 [MUSIC PLAYING]
00:39 Yeah, it is what it is.
00:40 All we can do is set the stage.
00:42 And at the end of the day, the riders are the actors who play
00:46 out whatever they want to play out.
00:48 [MUSIC PLAYING]
01:17 [MUSIC PLAYING]
01:35 We've had a minute to process.
01:37 What does this today mean to you guys?
01:39 Yeah, it's over the moon.
01:41 Just really proud, really happy to be here.
01:45 Really proud, really happy to have pulled it off.
01:48 And I don't think there's a better way to finish it off
01:51 than that, than to win up Lofty with that jersey on my back.
01:56 So yeah, over the moon.
01:58 And what does it mean for the team going into the year ahead?
02:00 Yeah, I think it's definitely a step in the right direction,
02:04 a step forward starting like this.
02:06 I think it's going to give everybody who's back home now
02:09 training, just give everybody a morale boost and a confidence
02:12 boost.
02:13 So yeah, I think for the team to start like this
02:16 on the front foot was so important.
02:18 And yeah, just a little bit relieved as well,
02:22 the pressure.
02:23 When it's kind of just done now, it's ticked off.
02:27 And the pressure of the last two days,
02:29 trying to defend and go into the jersey and to win,
02:33 and to pull it off and pay back my teammates for what
02:37 they did the last couple of days and all week is fantastic.
02:42 And for people who may not be aware,
02:43 what is it about this event that makes
02:45 it so special for you guys?
02:46 Yeah, it's the first time for me.
02:48 And it just seems unique.
02:51 Obviously, it's the other side of the world,
02:53 and we don't come here often.
02:56 And just I think the way everybody's here
02:58 in the same place and how everything's very well
03:02 organised and well run.
03:03 And I think it's a very prestigious race to win.
03:07 And I think the Haldi SMA Palmares is very special.
03:12 Yeah, really, really happy.
03:15 Obviously, designing stages, knowing the road so well,
03:18 being an ex-professional, you like
03:22 to think you know what's going to happen during a race
03:24 and how it should unfold.
03:26 But of course, it could go any way with the weather and the win.
03:29 But stage two is fantastic.
03:33 New little circuit there, which kind of
03:35 made it quite entertaining.
03:37 It's trying to get the ability of balancing
03:39 a tough, entertaining bike race with also having sprint stages
03:43 and a couple of climbing ones at the end.
03:46 So it's really designed to attract the best sprinters
03:50 here for those sprint days, but then
03:53 have a really challenging final weekend, which I think
03:56 worked out really well.
03:58 Who caught your eye?
03:59 Del Toro, obviously.
04:02 There was a real youth movement here last year,
04:04 like 20-year-olds and everyone was going,
04:06 how's this guy going to go?
04:07 And wow.
04:08 What caught your eye?
04:09 Yeah, I think we ought to have an international podium.
04:13 I'd have to look through the books,
04:15 but that's probably be one of the rare occasions where
04:18 we've had a full international podium.
04:23 So that really means and shows to us
04:26 that the guys are really preparing well.
04:29 I've heard from his manager, Steve Williams,
04:31 that he was training really specifically for the TDU.
04:35 World Tour points and World Tour points,
04:37 whether it's the Tour Down Under or the Tour de France.
04:39 So the whole relegation and elevation system now,
04:43 I mean, they're the only pro series team here,
04:45 and they've obviously come with a mission
04:47 and snapped up all the points.
04:49 So yeah, it just puts them in a good position for the year
04:52 moving forward.
04:52 OK.
04:53 What did you make of Del Toro in particular?
04:56 Yeah, he's obviously got a massive talent.
04:58 He won the Tour L'Avenir, which is a real obvious pointer.
05:04 Pogacar and all those guys before him have won,
05:07 which normally means you've got what
05:10 it takes to win a Grand Tour.
05:12 Obviously, anything can happen, but to win a race like that,
05:15 be so young, and come out blazing in January,
05:20 he's obviously got some big talent.
05:22 Talking to Matt Haven after the race,
05:23 he said they were maybe--
05:27 or many things that went wrong for Jake Alalula,
05:30 he said that the race was more defensive than what
05:32 they were thinking it was going to be.
05:34 It was-- we saw Mount Lofty.
05:36 It was only really those last three Ks
05:38 that the heavy hitters got to work.
05:41 What's your reaction to how the race unfolded,
05:44 and will that influence what you do with next year's course?
05:48 Well, I can't influence how the guys race it.
05:51 So I was surprised.
05:53 I was surprised they didn't go hard on the second ascension
05:56 up Fox Creek.
05:58 I really was a bit blown away by that.
06:00 And speaking to the teams, they were like,
06:02 oh, we're waiting for someone else to attack.
06:03 And I guess that had a bit of a negative impact
06:07 on the overall stage.
06:09 I think you're talking stage two.
06:10 Stage two.
06:10 Yeah, three times up.
06:11 And then stage four was designed for crosswind.
06:13 And for the first time that I can remember,
06:15 we didn't have any actual wind down around Alexandria
06:18 in the council.
06:19 So the weather kind of played into the riders' hands there.
06:25 Also, the speed at which they're going up the climbs,
06:27 it's hard for people to attack.
06:29 They're only one second off Ritchie Port's Wollonga Hill
06:32 King of the Mountain, which just shows with the tailwind,
06:35 it makes it difficult for the climbers to separate.
06:37 And in Adelaide, we just don't have that many climbs long
06:42 enough to really, I guess, differentiate an attacking
06:47 rider to a climber.
06:49 Yeah, look, again, it's a real balancing act
06:51 in making the race hard, but also not too hard
06:56 being the first World Tour event in January.
06:58 Whenever we ask you and Mick this question,
07:01 you say, wait and see.
07:04 But is there anything obvious in your mind for next year
07:07 that you can tell us?
07:09 Let's just say I've been working really hard on it
07:12 for quite a while already.
07:15 How long for next year are you already--
07:17 Pretty much got all the stages close
07:21 to having all the pieces of the puzzle together.
07:23 And then it's just working out which way it all
07:26 is put together.
07:27 Of course, we want to do something a little bit special.
07:29 We want a bit of a surprise and delight for the 25th edition.
07:32 Yes.
07:34 Yeah, so we're definitely out to--
07:35 I don't want to spoil any plans.
07:37 I don't want to give you any too many hints.
07:39 But certainly, yeah, it'll be something fun and mini.
07:41 Spicy?
07:42 Spicy?
07:42 Yeah.
07:43 Very good.
07:44 Well done.
07:45 Thank you.
07:45 Can I ask, too, race highlight from this year?
07:48 What would it be?
07:51 Just the whole event in general, from the women's
07:53 through to the men's, I think the whole event
07:56 is a highlight.
07:57 Stages play out, and there's some fantastic winners.
08:01 But just seeing this whole event grow,
08:04 the Santos Tour Down Under seems to be just higher quality
08:07 each year.
08:08 We're getting record numbers of riders.
08:10 We had 36 teams, over 500 people here.
08:14 From my seat, it looked like the biggest crowds
08:17 that I've seen since I've been in charge.
08:21 I think we've really got past that COVID period, where
08:24 people were kind of a little bit umming and ahhing
08:27 whether or not they travel.
08:28 And to be out on the roads for the last 10 days,
08:32 seeing the record numbers, it was really, really--
08:34 yeah, it was a really proud moment for me,
08:36 for cycling in South Australia.
08:38 And feedback from the teams, too, has been pretty special.
08:41 It's been really positive.
08:43 I keep asking them, is there anything we can do better?
08:46 And they're like, they've got nothing to give me,
08:49 except positive feedback, which we strive for.
08:53 We do search for the little 1%ers
08:55 and to make a great experience for them.
08:59 Did you luck in with the weather?
09:01 You had that--
09:01 Absolutely.
09:02 --performance in Barossa, and then it sort of tailed off--
09:04 Yeah, well, I mean, we've had really cool weather.
09:08 Lots of rain in the build-up, which
09:09 didn't help the road conditions, which
09:11 made stages like the gorge a little bit dodgy.
09:15 But the weather was really on our side.
09:18 I think it's going to be 39 tomorrow,
09:20 so the guys dodged a bullet there.
09:23 But yeah, we didn't have any extreme weather, which
09:25 is always nice.
09:27 (upbeat music)