Tour down under return for Australian champions Ruby Roseman-Gannon and Luke Prapp

General
Tour down under return for Australian champions Ruby Roseman-Gannon and Luke Prapp
Current Australian champions Ruby Roseman・Gannon (Liv-AlUla-Jayco) and Luke Prap (Jayco・AlUla) have been confirmed as starters on the 2025 Santos tour and will not be competing in the season's opening World Tour and Women's World Tour races. There are growing contingent riders signing up to pin the numbers in front of the home crowd. Joining them in May in South Australia will be three times the overall winner Amanda Spratt. Lidl-Trek riders have not missed the UCI classification version of the event 1 times, racing in the predecessor of the 2016 2.2 designated event, the Women's World Tour in 2023, and Sam Wellesford, who made a stunning debut with the new team of Red Bull Bora Hansgrohe in 2024. The new sprint train was soon able to find its feet, as it was again on the start line.

"I'm really looking forward to going back to my home race to start the season," Wellesford said on the tour under a media release.

"It's an event with a lot of good memories for us, especially since this year, we took three stages, so it will be great to come back with Santos Tour down under again in 2025."For both the current Australian champions, racing in South Australia was pivotal in their early racing careers, both making the mark during the year when the COVID-19 pandemic led to the cancellation of the 2-year international race, but the event still has a high caliber domestic race." I pulled out all the stops to serve. In 2021, the then-unsigned plup caught the attention of the World tour team at a domestic event, first with a flying victory at Stage 2 of the Santos Cycling Festival, and then with a scorching run-up Wilunga. So he bridged teammate Richie Porte on the climb and crossed the line right behind the rider who proved such a valuable mentor in the Garmin Australia team. 

Then, in 2022, Roseman-Gannon began a professional road career in an epic style by bringing an overall victory in the first race for a new team. Then, in 2023, she returned to the international race with the designation of the Women's World Tour, so the rider was ranked 4th overall. Prap's return to the world Tour was initially supported by Ineos Grenadiers in 2023, but in 2024 he joined the fray again and got on with the new team Jayco-AlUla. He was fresh from winning both time trials and road titles at the Australian Road National Championships, but his South Australian race suddenly ended with "a lot of skin lost."

"I would have hoped to defend my national road race title in Perth the week before, it could be a perfect lead on the Santos tour under the bottom " The last Santos tour didn't go pretty planned after I had to give up due to a nasty crash. We have a great team and I'm ready for a much better race around this time."Other confirmed Australian riders include Simon Clarke (Israel Premiattech) and Alex Edmondson (dsm-firmenich Post NL), who will race the 14th edition. Geraint Thomas (Ineos-Grenadiers) is the first rider to be certified as an international rider in 2025. The race starts on Friday 1/17, with a 3-stage length women's tour starting down under and continuing until Sunday 1/26, with the finale of the 6-stage Men's World Tour Race taking place in central Adelaide.

Get unlimited access to all coverage of Tour Down Under and Women's Tour Down Under, including reporting, breaking news and analysis from Australia. Learn more.

Categories