2017 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.

BMC Racing Team rider Richie Porte won the race for the first time, holding the race lead from the second day onwards following his stage win into Paracombe. Porte added a second stage win – the queen stage at Willunga Hill – as he ultimately won the race by 48 seconds ahead of his closest challenger. Orica–Scott's Esteban Chaves finished in second place, having taken third-place finishes in both of the stages won by Porte; third place on the podium was decided on the final day of the race. Jay McCarthy (Bora–Hansgrohe) trailed Nathan Haas of Team Dimension Data by three seconds, but McCarthy was able to win the first intermediate sprint of the day – offering three bonus seconds towards the general classification – after a lead-out from world champion teammate Peter Sagan. With McCarthy and Haas finishing tied on time, the final podium position went to McCarthy on countback.

In the race's other classifications, Chaves' Orica–Scott teammate Caleb Ewan won the sprints classification, winning four of the six stages during the race, becoming the third rider (and the youngest) to do so after his compatriot Robbie McEwen in 2002 and André Greipel in 2008, while Thomas De Gendt (Lotto–Soudal) won the mountains classification on the final day, taking points on the first climb of Montefiore Hill to assume the lead from Porte. Colombian Jhonatan Restrepo of Team Katusha–Alpecin was the winner of the young rider classification, finishing in tenth place overall, while the teams classification was won by the only non-UCI WorldTeam in the race, UniSA–Australia.

As the Tour Down Under was a UCI World Tour event, all eighteen UCI WorldTeams were invited automatically and obliged to enter a team in the race. One other team was given a wildcard entry into the race: UniSA–Australia.

UCI WorldTeams

Wildcard teams

The route of the 2017 Tour Down Under was announced at the beginning of July 2016 and centred around the city of Adelaide in South Australia. There were six mass-start road stages and no time trials. Two days before the start of the Tour, there was a flat criterium race, the People's Choice Classic, which took place in Rymill Park and which was suited for the sprinters. It was won by Caleb Ewan (Orica–Scott) in a sprint finish. The first five stages of the race itself included at least some climbing, and a few opportunities for the sprinters, especially stage one. Several stages of the Tour included climbs early in the stage and hilly circuits at the end. The second stage reversed this with circuits at the beginning and a climb immediately before the finish. The fifth stage finished with two climbs of Willunga Hill, which had been decisive in previous editions of the race. The final stage was another criterium around the centre of Adelaide.

In the 2017 Tour Down Under, four different jerseys were awarded. For the general classification, calculated by adding each cyclist's finishing times on each stage, and allowing time bonuses for the first three finishers at intermediate sprints and at the finish of mass-start stages, the leader received an ochre jersey. This classification was considered the most important of the 2017 Tour Down Under, and the winner of the classification was considered the winner of the race.