- il y a 23 heures
Conférence de presse d'avant-course hommes du Santos Tour Down Under 2026 avec :
Javier Romo (Movistar Team)
Sam Welsford (INEOS Grenadiers)
Ben O’Connor (Team Jayco AlUla)
Jhonatan Narváez (UAE Team Emirates XRG)
Race Director Stuart O’Grady
Video : @Santos Tour Down Under / @sa.gov.au
« Le vélo, partout & toujours ici » sur
https://www.cyclismactu.net / Cyclism'Actu
Javier Romo (Movistar Team)
Sam Welsford (INEOS Grenadiers)
Ben O’Connor (Team Jayco AlUla)
Jhonatan Narváez (UAE Team Emirates XRG)
Race Director Stuart O’Grady
Video : @Santos Tour Down Under / @sa.gov.au
« Le vélo, partout & toujours ici » sur
https://www.cyclismactu.net / Cyclism'Actu
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SportTranscription
00:00Sous-titrage Société Radio-Canada
00:30So please, if anyone's got any questions
00:32One of the first things you look at
00:35Where the forecast for the days of racing
00:39Yeah, obviously, you know, we're in a bit of a hot spell
00:42But that's not unusual for Adelaide or South Australia in January
00:47I think the guys and the women are fairly used to hot conditions
00:51I don't think they expect anything less, to be honest
00:53When they come down to South Australia
00:55Yeah, it's been warm conditions
00:58But the guys are well-trained professionals
01:01And are used to dealing with hot conditions
01:03Especially racing the Tour de France in the peak French summer
01:07And the Tour of Spain in the peak of the Spanish summer
01:10So we'll keep a close eye on it
01:12But yeah, the guys and women are professionals
01:15And well-trained and ready for anything
01:17The UCI have got weather protocols in place
01:27Extreme weather protocols
01:28But I haven't heard of a race yet
01:31That's been cancelled or postponed due to heat
01:34There's different, I guess, regulations
01:37And restrictions around heat
01:39And how that's gauged
01:41You know, taking into consideration humidity
01:42And all those kind of things
01:44So obviously if it's a catastrophic fire danger
01:48And we're in through the Adelaide Hills
01:50Then the race would be cancelled, the stage
01:52But yeah, we'll keep a close eye on it
01:55Do you think hot conditions will work?
01:57Are you the vantage?
01:58Personally, for me, the hotter the better
02:02Back in the day
02:03I think most Australians have been training
02:06In the conditions
02:07Whether or not it's in Perth
02:08Or down the south of Spain
02:10And I think a lot of the guys
02:12And as we saw even the women
02:13With a Swiss rider named Eroog winning
02:15It proves the level of the quality of the field
02:19How it's gone up
02:20And how the riders now are coming down to South Australia
02:23Really well prepared
02:24And they're race ready
02:27You know, a few years ago
02:29They used to come down and adapt
02:30And a lot of the guys and women
02:32Were here for training purposes
02:33With the odd one here to try and win
02:35With the UCI World Tour rankings now in place
02:39And the importance of that
02:40We see the riders coming down
02:41Super fit, ready to race
02:43And here to win
02:44Oh, you see the time trial tonight
02:45The second time it gets to be done
02:47Is that something you implement every year?
02:49No, it's just nice to shake up the racing
02:52A little bit, I think
02:52You know, we're coming into our 26th year
02:55My first outing as race director
02:58It was nice to bring in something new
03:00With the prologue
03:01And I think it just changes the dynamic of the race
03:03You know, historically
03:05It's been around bonus seconds
03:07And who went up Willunga Hill
03:09And so it's just nice to bring in something different
03:13You know, it's different for the fans
03:16They get to see the teams warm up
03:17In the teams village
03:18A bit like a F1 pits garage
03:21They see the new technology in the bikes
03:23The new equipment
03:24And it's literally man-machine against the clock
03:28So it just shakes things up from day one
03:30Well, at least he's flipped the Tananda Stage 1 around
03:46Because last year we went the other way
03:48And that was harder
03:49So now we go the easier way
03:50So I can't really argue with that
03:52But no, I think it's good also
03:54To have a nice, you know
03:56Variance of stages in the tour
03:58I think for the GC guys
04:00Either tracks, you know
04:02A lot bigger riders
04:02If there's more harder stages
04:04Like this year
04:05I think stage 2 this year
04:07Will be probably one of the hardest stages
04:09You'll see in the tour
04:10It's going to be really hard for the GC guys
04:12Going up course group twice
04:14And going left at the top up towards Monty
04:17So that's going to be probably one of the most decisive stages
04:20I think
04:20So for me, you know
04:22There's probably still, you know
04:24Two sprint chances, I think
04:25Stage 3 could also be a possible sprint
04:28But I always feel like to see
04:30A nice change
04:32I mean, I can't be too picky
04:34I won 3 last year here
04:35So I guess it's not always going to be
04:37The same amount of sprint days
04:39But happy to share it around
04:41Yeah, I think for every new sprint team
04:57Down under is a really good hit out
05:00To really nail the process
05:02Driven things as a lead out
05:04And for me, I really want to be successful here
05:07It's my favourite race of the year
05:08And also for me to set up
05:10The, you know
05:11The racing leading into the next couple of races
05:14We have, you know
05:15UAE Tour coming up
05:16And then you're basically straight into
05:18Either Paris-Nice or Toronto
05:20So the racing comes quickly
05:21So you don't really have much time
05:23To work on these things outside of the race
05:25So for us, we really want to get it right here
05:27We know the sprint field is really strong here also
05:30So it makes us even more important to get it right here
05:34Hey Ben, a couple of courses here
05:36As Sam talked about
05:37What are your expectations about how the GC is going to shape out?
05:41Do you think it'll be a battle for the all-rounders like Johnny
05:43Or more for the climbers like yourself?
05:46I mean, I think for someone like Johnny
05:48You can climb pretty well
05:48You saw the Tour last year
05:50Like in the Tour of France
05:51He was fine
05:52So I think
05:53It definitely going left on top of Corkscrew
05:56Will add in another, what, couple of minutes into the climb
05:59Which is definitely helpful
06:00And there's also a fair bit of space over the top to be aggressive
06:04I think that's kind of the key change to this year's race
06:07That can create a bigger gap run
06:11Than just relying just on bonus seconds
06:12But if you look at the quality of the men around you
06:17All of us can climb very well over 15 minutes
06:19So, yeah
06:21It is a big change
06:23But at the same time
06:24Not so big of a change
06:26You're still going to fight every day
06:28Ben, do you go and try to leadership with Zah
06:30How do you look to sort of play off each other throughout the tour?
06:34I think we
06:35I mean, we also have Maro
06:36To be honest
06:37Who, when he gets it right
06:39Is an absolute machine
06:40So hopefully we can have
06:42More or less than three of us
06:43Playing around
06:44Fighting for
06:45Fighting for stages
06:47Or fighting obviously for the overall as well
06:49You know, it's
06:50It's something that's been shown
06:52Over, you know, the recent couple of years
06:54Just numbers
06:55Numbers, numbers
06:56In finals
06:57And
06:58Yeah, if you've got three guys in a group of ten
07:02The chance of you winning is
07:03Much, much, much higher
07:06Ben, this is always a hugely important race
07:09For your team
07:10But in light of what's happening
07:12The importance of getting back on the horse
07:14And racing well together as a team
07:16Can you talk to that?
07:16Yeah, I mean
07:18I think that
07:18Cycling is a team sport, right?
07:20We sacrifice for one another
07:22And
07:23There are
07:24There are guys that are truly selfless
07:25Their whole career
07:26And there are guys that are absolutely true race winners
07:29So
07:29You guess you manage both of that
07:32But the main thing here is
07:33Being on Jacob Alula
07:35Australian team
07:36Australian backed
07:38With
07:39Obviously a lot of Aussie riders this year
07:40Bar Maro
07:41But he's more or less Aussie in his demeanour
07:44Where we're here to perform
07:47Race well
07:48And
07:49Do the flag justice
07:51What's been the pullout
07:52Just from a team point of view
07:54Do you feel that you've moved on from that quickly
07:57And you want
07:58You know
07:59You've got the cohesion that you will need here
08:01To get good results
08:02Any company, team, business
08:04Has its ups and downs, right?
08:05So
08:06You have to go with
08:08With those mistakes
08:10Or problems
08:11Work through it
08:12Speak
08:14You know
08:15It's all about communication
08:16Relationships
08:17And also knowing what your job is, right?
08:19I said that this is probably
08:21Our
08:22First or second most important race on the calendar
08:24By the Tour de France
08:25So
08:26We have to make sure we get the job done
08:28Have you got your plan in place for the year then?
08:31Tour de France
08:32You've mentioned a couple of times
08:33I imagine that's quite high on your radar again?
08:37Yeah
08:37It's always the hot ticket
08:38It's
08:38It is the biggest race of the year
08:41So it's always the
08:41The number one that you want to aim for
08:44And
08:44And
08:45Keep winning
08:46Winning out again
08:47I've had a couple good successes there
08:49So I wouldn't mind adding to it
08:50We're ages away from it
08:52But are they the sort of expectations
08:53You set of yourself
08:54I know the season sets that up
08:55Is it
08:56I want to win stages again
08:58This year at the Tour?
08:59Yeah
08:59I mean
08:59That's probably the most fun part about racing at the Tour
09:01Is winning stages
09:02I guess GC gives you another
09:04Accomplishment
09:06For the overall
09:08Kind of a
09:09Success that you've had
09:11From day in day out
09:12But
09:13Yeah
09:13I think I prefer winning stages at the Tour
09:15So Annie
09:17Your
09:17First
09:18UAE had a fantastic season
09:21Last year
09:22Racking up 100 wins
09:23You're
09:24Returning
09:25As
09:25Reigning champion
09:26How important is it to UAE
09:29To keep off this
09:30With a win?
09:30Yeah
09:33I think it's important
09:35Yeah
09:35For the team
09:36And also for me
09:36Is
09:38I think it's my favorite race of the year now
09:40It's my third time here
09:41I've been training in Ecuador
09:44The same
09:45The same weather
09:46And
09:48It's a race
09:49Okay
09:50This year it's with TT
09:51But
09:53It's
09:53It switched me good
09:54For my characteristics
09:55Bonus seconds
09:56Hilly climbs
09:59No over 15 minutes
10:00Like Ben say
10:01So I'm looking forward
10:02To
10:03To do
10:05It in a good way
10:06Je pense qu'il y a très bien que J. Vine est dans un bon condition,
10:19parce que nous pouvons jouer dans la race.
10:22C'est une race où vous pouvez gagner, je pense, en bothant.
10:33Si vous êtes intelligents ou avec une bonne stratégie,
10:37parce que ici vous n'avez pas vraiment une très forte stage,
10:42d'un 20 minutes' climb.
10:45Je dirais qu'il est une avantage d'avoir deux ou trois guys
10:49fighting le GC, parce qu'en la fin,
10:54le team ne doit pas gagner.
10:58Nous venons ici pour gagner la race,
10:59pas avec moi, avec Adam ou avec J.
11:01Comment est-ce qu'il y a Matt White,
11:06comme votre directeur sportif,
11:08comment est-il apporté à ce sujet
11:09avec le souleau local ?
11:11Est-ce que ça devient un peu comme une race
11:14d'avoir un Aussie en la chair ?
11:16Parse, qu'est-ce qu'il dit ?
11:20Pardon ?
11:22Peux-tu répéter lentement ?
11:24Oui, je pense que Matt est très bon sur cette race.
11:37Et je rencontre, pas beaucoup de Matt,
11:41mais c'est mon premier race avec lui.
11:44Mais je pense que le team est en super bonne condition.
11:49Mes teammates sont vraiment motivés pour cette race.
11:54Je pense que je pense que je suis en super bonne forme.
12:03Mais vous ne savez pas parce que c'est la première race de la saison.
12:08Le niveau de l'année, je pense que c'est plus haut que l'année 2025.
12:15Chaque année, le niveau de la peloton est plus haut.
12:18Je vois les starleeds et 20 riders qui peuvent combattre pour J.
12:27et c'est plus haut que l'année 2021.
12:56Vous faites votre recont de la course ici.
13:00Est-ce qu'il y a un stage que vous aimez vraiment le look-off ?
13:04Oui, j'ai vu la course crew.
13:07J'ai fini sur un super, super hard stage.
13:12Mais j'ai aimé la dernière stage parce que si tu es un leader,
13:17un leader, c'est pas facile de contrôler pour une équipe.
13:23Parce que 9 laps, ce n'est pas un grand climat.
13:26Mais je pense que 9 laps, c'est pas facile de contrôler.
13:31Parce que beaucoup de riders peuvent attacquer parce que de ça.
13:35Parce qu'il n'y a pas de grandes climats.
13:38Je pense que ça va être comme une race de juniors.
13:41Tout le monde est attacquée.
13:43Et oui, je pense que quelqu'un peut être surpris dans cette stage.
13:48Oui, comme je dis, c'est différent de l'année dernière.
14:01C'est différent de l'année dernière, c'est différent de l'année dernière.
14:03C'est pas juste que c'est un corkscrew twice.
14:06Donc, c'est différent de l'année dernière.
14:09C'est différent de l'année dernière.
14:11Mais je pense que c'est qui permet de garder le descenre.
14:15Parce qu'en l'année dernière, vous avez un plateau.
14:18Et quand vous allez en place, on a marble hill et vous allez en quelque sorte.
14:21Donc, c'est la main différence.
14:24Je pense que quand vous êtes prudents,
14:26si vous êtes prudents ou avec 2,
14:29ça peut être un peu difficile de retour.
14:31Au même temps, les choses peuvent caer.
14:34je pense que je ne suis pas plus surprisée si quelqu'un a fait solo ou en un groupe ou deux
14:38on a on a day if they just get away and work well
14:47maybe in the early days okay maybe not so much in the latter years
14:52no look we've definitely raised the difficulty bar a few 2026 and 2025
14:58we had a lot of historical acknowledgement for the race and we tried to tap on locations
15:03which were in those first years um i was probably more excited about this course design than last
15:10year's purely because it was something fresh um just tried to up the ante a bit still it's still
15:16a fine balance right you can't make things um you still have to respect that it's january you still
15:21have to respect it's the first world tour race of the year um we try and balance it well so that
15:27there's opportunities for the sprinters but also opportunities to attract the better climbers the
15:35better gc riders so that they know they're not going to just come down and um you know there's
15:39only a wallonga hill on offer for example so it is a real balancing act and i think our team do a
15:44great job we saw that in the women's race as well as i think nearly every stage was was down the wire
15:49with a new winner on the last day and that's the kind of excitement we're all looking for i think
15:54the fans have been here watching the santos tour down under unfold and grow over the past 25 years
16:00and this is kind of seeing it as the next step now with all all the women's world tour teams
16:05on board all the men's we're at the very top level that we can get to in cycling so now it's time to
16:12really um i think bring the whole event up to that level and um yeah super proud of what we've put
16:18together and the entire team's been working hard on delivering
16:20uh well look you know hopefully the crowds will be out in numbers um i think being out you know
16:30we've had three great days of racing for the women uh we've seen our women's champion uh delivered and
16:37now it's um you know it's a kicking off with a city prologue um you know using the village
16:43again as as the the team's own uh victoria park even you know bringing that into using the old heritage
16:52grandstand uh for using it for what it's supposed to be a viewing spec you know spec watching spectator
16:59sport so um it's just really i'm really looking forward to tonight um i'm sure that people will turn up
17:06the you know seeing all the people riding out in the hills and the build up um is amazing and
17:12we've got some of the world's best bike riders in front of us so um um we'll we'll see what the
17:17numbers do during the week
17:20yeah look and look it's always great to have the family days and we're seeing the whole
17:30the festival side of the t the tdu grow and i think that's really important it's you know cycling's
17:36a theme but it's just great to be able to get all the communities out the families out
17:41um it's you know the numbers are really growing we're seeing more kids out on bikes we've got more
17:46role models uh there's more access to information uh the netflix documentaries certainly help attract
17:52the younger generations and you've got aussie legends sitting here um you know this guy over here
17:58just won the the hardest stage the queen stage of the tour de france last year um you know it gives
18:03me goosebumps still thinking about it um we've got some of the world's best athletes olympic champions
18:09um national champions people that are coming from all around the world to to race on our streets
18:15um and i think we're really seeing the growth start and you know the crowd's just been getting
18:19bigger and bigger
18:20yeah of course it's it's exciting i mean i'm pretty sure if i don't know what's going to happen
18:37on that last day then these guys probably don't know either which means the fans don't know
18:41so it's just going into that last day with a slightly different um i guess it's exciting
18:46uh it's a tough circuit uh but again it's 170k it's nothing ridiculously long but it's challenging
18:55and you're going to have to have a good strategy and um and a team of guys that are really focused
19:00because you know the wrong court and the wrong group get away and it could um flip on its head
19:05really quickly so um i just think again it's nice to have something the race has kind of been
19:09focused on woolonga hill a lot over the past few years and to have three ascensions of woolonga hill
19:15um and then something new on the last day which we still don't know who's going to win i think
19:20that's pretty exciting
19:20yeah so obviously working with the new team with any else this year so uh really excited about that
19:31um really happy to have like you know ben swift he'll probably be one of my last guys uh you know
19:36him being 38's got a ton of experience so really happy to have him um or kiwatowski's one of my uh
19:43probably guys a little bit more in front but using him as more of a you know the captain of the lead
19:49out to really guide us on when to move timing and uh keeping us calm so and also sam watson will probably
19:56be the second last guy just you know young guy with bloody shit loads of power so i'm really uh happy
20:01to have them in front of me
20:02yeah it'd be cool uh i've you know been following him around for the last two years so now to be
20:15going up against him will be interesting he's uh he can slide through gaps that don't exist so
20:20um i'll be i'll be waiting for that um but uh yeah i'm really looking forward to just you know testing
20:26myself against you know the guys here and putting myself in a situation where i can just get the best
20:30out of myself in these sprints and um you know just prove to myself that i can go back on the top
20:36step sammy how i think was clicking i saw you were at the big bash um with the team i was there too but
20:42i think you were in a nicer seat than i was um it seems that you guys are trying to build a decent
20:49culture there how are you fitting in it's not been long are you feeling part of the team yeah uh the
20:55the culture within the team is really great actually um i think that you know that stems from all the
21:00the history and the team and a lot of work that i've done in the past being successful and really
21:04creating a culture where you know everyone really gives a shit about it so um for me i'm really happy
21:11to be part of it everyone's really nice and really welcoming um yeah it'll be the first race together
21:16so you know it won't be perfect but that's that's normal and it's also a really nice learning curve for
21:22us to understand how each other work in the lead outs in the race for each other we need from each
21:26other so i'm looking forward to it and um yeah i feel right at home here and obviously you would
21:31figure you last year went fantastic but the rest of the season maybe wasn't what you're hoping
21:35what are your plans for the rest of the season from here like is this a springboard to sam
21:40rosford's big year yeah obviously i would have liked to have a more successful you know later half of
21:46the year um had a lot of injuries and crashes that put me out a lot which was quite quite grim but um
21:53yeah hopefully this year i can really get the ball rolling and just i think for sprinting you need
21:58a it's like a snowball you know the more you roll it the better you go and i'm really hoping just to
22:03roll that on for this year and kind of still really targeting down under but i want to build on that
22:09you know i want to win in europe i want to win in the biggest stage i want to go to a grand tour and win
22:12um so for me that's that's the major goal this year and i think the way we start you know the first
22:19race here in down under is really important yeah actually obviously inos is such a big gc team
22:26they have you know copious amounts of history and winning um grand tours but they also see the the
22:32value in winning sprints as well i think if your team is winning in anything it also just lifts the
22:39team you know you create a really nice environment for everyone to to feed off each other so they see
22:44the the importance in that and also with three grand tours there's obviously uh opportunities
22:50for for sprinters to to go and whether that is the tour or the giro um for me i would like to go to
22:57any and try win i think uh the tour is obviously the top step but the giro looks really promising
23:02for a sprinter this year with the first first stage also being a sprint so um we'll have to see what
23:08happens i guess um yeah well he can't really give me any tips to climb but i uh yeah it's a shame not
23:24having here but i think he's he's building for bigger things this year really happy to to have him
23:28or at we were teammates in dsm for two years uh so we got along quite well and um for me i hope him
23:36he's probably doing altitude right now in uh in probably cold cold somewhere so i think he'd
23:43rather be here but uh i think he's going well and i wish him all the best great thanks guys
23:48we'll see you tonight thank you very much
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