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Tour Down Under 1999
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Host country
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Australia Australia
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Competition period
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January 19-24, 1999
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Stages
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6 stages
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overall length
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762 kilometers
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Starting field
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96 in 12 teams
(96 of which arrived at the finish)
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Tour Down Under 2000 →
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The 1st Tour Down Under took place from January 19 to 24, 1999. The cycle race consisted of six stages and began in the South Australian capital of Adelaide , where it also ended. The total distance of the race was 762 kilometers. The Tour Down Under was classified in the international category 2.3.
The participants
With the teams Arfil, AIS - an Australian national team - and the Sun-Smart World Team, three smaller Australian teams received invitations to the first Tour Down Under. With the Deutsche Telekom , Crédit Agricole , Saeco and Once-Deutsche Bank teams, some of the world's largest teams also took part in the race. In addition to the three Australian teams, the three French teams formed the most represented nation. A total of twelve delegations were at the start. Each team consisted of eight drivers.
The Australian drivers who were in the middle of their season were favored in the run-up to the overall victory, while the European professionals used the tour mainly to prepare for the season that started in March.
The stages
As the highlight of the week-long festival of Cycling in Adelaide , the Tour Down Under through the province of South Australia was created based on an idea by race director and ex-professional cyclist Michael Turtur . The six-stage tour started and ended with its first edition in the provincial capital.
1st stage, Adelaide Street Race
The first Tour Down Under began on January 19, 1999 with a 42.5-kilometer circuit in Adelaide. On the flat track, it was the Dane Nicolai Bo Larsen who was the first stage winner and first overall leader of the biggest Australian race in the mass sprint of the short section. Behind the best Australian Henk Vogels , the German Rolf Aldag came third.
2nd stage, Norwood - Strathalbyn
The second stage also led the field over largely flat terrain over a fairly short distance of 138 kilometers from the Adelaid district of Norwood inland to Strathalbyn . The section ended again in a mass sprint, where Erik Zabel became the first German stage winner of the race. Thanks to the time bonus for the winner, Zabel also took over the overall lead.
3rd stage, Glenelg - Victor Harbor
The third section included the first difficult climbs of the race, which made for a preliminary decision in the overall standings on the almost 150 kilometers long route from Adelaide's Glenelg district south to Victor Harbor . A four-man breakaway group made the victory among themselves, with the local Stuart O'Grady pulling away and celebrating a solo victory that also laid the foundation for his eventual overall victory. It wasn't until two minutes later that the peloton rolled across the finish line.
4th stage, Port Adelaide - Gawler
On the fourth day, another almost 150 kilometers long stretch had to be conquered, which led from the Adelaid port north. The largely flat section was won again by Erik Zabel , who celebrated his second stage win. Stuart O'Grady was able to defend his overall lead, with Jesper Skibby now taking second place thanks to a time bonus that he got on an intermediate sprint in which O'Grady was also up front. Duncan Smith, on the other hand, lost two seconds on O'Grady because of the credits.
5th stage, Nuriootpa - Tanunda
North of Adelaide, the penultimate section took place over 162 kilometers, which began in Nuriootpa and after a large loop led to the neighboring town of Tanunda . The stage was the most difficult of the entire tour, several hills were passed. In the end, a large group crossed the finish line - albeit without the pure sprinters - with overall leader Stuart O'Grady being the fastest and slightly increasing his lead, while Duncan Smith lost time and dropped from third to fourth place.
6th stage, Adelaide Street Race
At the end of the tour, 120 kilometers had to be covered, again on a circuit in Adelaide . The Australian Graeme Miller won the expected mass sprint , Zabel had to admit defeat in third, while Stuart O'Grady secured the overall victory in the first Tour Down Under with second place of the day.
Stage overview
Final score
The young Stuart O'Grady was able to win the first Tour Down Under in his home country Australia with relative confidence, whereby he laid the foundation for victory with the successful breakaway attempt on the 3rd stage. He was also able to distance the other comrades-in-arms of this breakaway attempt, as he showed his sprinting strength in the mass arrivals and was able to win other important time bonuses.
The tour was also successful for the German Erik Zabel , who won two stages and at times wore the yellow jersey. On their home tour, other Australians were also able to convince, for example the sprint stage winner Graeme Miller , the best young driver Cadel Evans , the winner of the sprint classification, Brett Aitken , or even the surprising fourth overall Duncan Smith , who, however, lost two positions in the classification towards the end had meanwhile been second. The most successful team was Home-Jack & Jones from Denmark . The team achieved a stage win, placed three drivers in the top ten of the final standings, won the team classification and the mountain classification.
Web links
Jesper Skibby
Magnus Backstedt
Jean-Marc Riviere
Alexander Vinokurov
Massimiliano Mori
Rolf Aldag
Graeme Miller
Leader