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Tour Down Under 2004
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Host country
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Australia Australia
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Competition period
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January 20-25, 2004
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Stages
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6 stages
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overall length
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726 kilometers
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Starting field
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94 drivers from 18 nations in 12 teams
(80 of them arrived at the finish)
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| ← Tour Down Under 2003
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Tour Down Under 2005 →
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The 6th Tour Down Under (officially: Jacob's Creek Tour Down Under ) took place from January 20th to 25th, 2004. The cycle race consisted of six stages, began in the South Australian capital Adelaide and ended there. The total distance of the stage race was 726 kilometers and thus nine kilometers less than in the previous year. The Tour Down Under was classified in UCI category 2.3.
The participants
The organizing South Australian Tourism Commission invited not only two, but even three Australian teams this year: in addition to United Water and the junior and amateur national team from the University of South Australia , a national team made up of professionals who were under contract with formations not participating in the race . As in previous years, a total of twelve cycling teams took part, with some of the world's most well-known teams being invited, for example with Ag2r Prévoyance , Crédit Agricole , Quick Step - Davitamon or Lotto-Domo . The Deutsche Telekom team , however, was missing this year. A total of eight teams were at the start that had already participated in the previous year. Each team consisted of eight drivers, with Quick Step and Navigators Insurance nominating only seven professionals.
The Australian drivers who were in the middle of their season were once again considered to be the favorites for overall victory, while the European professionals used the tour primarily to prepare for the season that started in March. The start list included last year's winner Mikel Astarloza ( Ag2r Prévoyance ), Alexandre Botcharov ( Crédit Agricole ), Bradley McGee ( FDJeux.com ), who had to give up before the start of the first stage due to food poisoning, or last year's seventh Patrick Jonker , who completed his last professional race as part of the UniSA team. Robbie McEwen from Lotto-Domo , Graeme Brown from Panaria-Margres and Baden Cooke (FDJeux.com) were considered favorites in the anticipated mass sprints . The Estonian Jaan Kirsipuu from AG2R Prévoyance , the Swiss Aurélien Clerc ( Quick Step - Davitamon ) or the New Zealander Julian Dean ( Crédit Agricole ) were other candidates for a sprint victory .
The stages
The highlight of the week-long festival of cycling in Adelaide was the Tour Down Under through the province of South Australia for the sixth time since 1999. As in the previous year, the six-day tour started again in the provincial capital Adelaide and ended in the same as in its previous editions. The route was at times based on last year's edition, including the difficult fifth stage around Willunga . On January 21, 23 and 24, three criteria for women were based on the men's race .
1st leg, East End Adelaide Street Race
The Tour Down Under 2004 started with a flat circuit race over 50 kilometers, consisting of a two-kilometer lap in the Adelaider "East End" to be completed 25 times on a Tuesday evening. After 20 kilometers, the twelve-man, decisive breakaway group of the day was able to form around sprinters Robbie McEwen ( Lotto-Domo ), Mark Renshaw ( FDJeux.com ) and Graeme Brown ( Panaria-Margres ), who had a lead up to 15 kilometers from the finish worked out for over a minute. In the penultimate lap, Nicolas Portal pulled away from AG2R Prévoyance , but was caught again by his escape companions. On the final lap, the leaders then lapped the main field, which led to great confusion when the two groups mixed. David McKenzie ( Navigators Insurance ) tried an attack here, but Robbie McEwen won the sprint and won the first yellow jersey of the tour.
2nd stage, Norwood - Kapunda
On the second day, the professionals took the longest stage of the race (157 kilometers) north to Kapunda . Thirty kilometers after the start, the first mountain classification of the round trip on Checker Hill was on the program, while the terrain ran downhill towards the finish. Shortly after the start, Patrick Jonker ( UniSA ), his Australian compatriot David McPartland (national team) and Alain Van Katwijk ( bank giroloterij ) were able to break away from the peloton by up to nine minutes. Seventy kilometers from the end, numerous attacks from the field began, until a 38-man chase group formed, which was able to keep the distance to the front closer. Nevertheless, the outliers brought a gap of more than one and a half minutes between themselves and the pursuers to the finish, while McPartland was the fastest in the trio's sprint and, in addition to winning the stage, also secured the yellow jersey. Behind the pursuers led by Baden Cooke , the field came almost half an hour behind.
3rd stage, Goolwa - Victor Harbor
The third, again flat stage began in Goolwa and ran across the Fleurieu Peninsula and also over a ten-kilometer gravel road in Myponga , again a mountain classification. In the beginning there were a number of attacks, but no group was able to break away from the peloton for good. Finally, after 55 kilometers, the decisive seventeen drivers were found who were able to develop a lead of over two minutes on the field - among them also the overall runner-up Patrick Jonker and the sprinters Robbie McEwen and Baden Cooke . Overall leader David McPartland , like third Alain Van Katwijk, had missed the leap into the top and was unable to catch up, so Jonker took over the yellow jersey. In the fight for the victory dared Gene Bates of the UniSA four thousand meters to go in Victor Harbor a push and was designed by Philippe Gilbert , the Belgian teammates of sprinter Cooke accompanied. The duo saved a few meters ahead of their pursuers to the finish line, whereby Gilbert proved to be livelier and was able to celebrate the first victory of his professional career.
4th stage, Unley - Hahndorf
The fourth day began for the drivers in the Adelaid suburb of Unley , from where the route first headed southeast and then north. After the mountain classification of the day, the finish line in Hahndorf was approached on a flat path . Both stage locations were already known from previous years. After breakaway groups had determined the action on the three days before, there was now a real mass sprint for the first time in the course of the tour, in which Robbie McEwen was able to secure his second day win of the year. But before this happened, the peloton had to catch up with a thirteen-man breakaway group, which after a start full of attacks had only been able to break away after 47 kilometers and was able to gain a lead of up to two minutes. It included defending champion Mikel Astarloza ( AG2R Prévoyance ) and his team-mate Jaan Kirsipuu . After the first target passage 37 kilometers from the end, the top was blown up by numerous attacks until the sprinter Kirsipuu was able to pull away alone eleven kilometers from the finish. Only fifty meters before the finish line was he stopped from the field and sprinted over.
5th stage, Willunga - Willunga
The penultimate stage of the Tour Down Under 2004 traditionally led around the town of Willunga and with the passage of Old Willunga Hill (3.5 km long) twenty kilometers from the finish it was also the topographically most demanding section of the tour. Ten riders formed the breakaway group at the beginning of the day, including the Swiss and second from the previous day, Aurélien Clerc , and David McPartland , who wore the yellow jersey after the second stage. However, the peloton did not allow the lead to be more than a minute and a half ahead, and they caught up with 32 kilometers to go. Finally, on Old Willunga Hill, Philippe Gilbert attacked , who however quickly fell back, as well as the two Panaria Margres teammates Giuliano Figueras and Paolo Tiralongo , who was able to secure the mountain points on the summit and thus his victory in this special classification. Eight kilometers from the finish, the duo was caught again by the group of thirteen chasing leaders Patrick Jonker , Baden Cooke and Robbie McEwen , which was mainly thanks to the speed work of Jonker's team-mate Luke Roberts . With three thousand meters from the finish line, the former Australian time trial champion Ben Day (national team) dared the decisive attack and was able to leave the two sprinters Cooke and McEwen behind, while Jonker successfully defended the yellow jersey.
6th stage, Adelaide City Council circuit
As in previous years, the race ended on a flat circuit in the provincial capital Adelaide. This time 18 laps of 4.5 kilometers each (81 kilometers in total) had to be completed, with the short Montefiore Hill another mountain classification on the program. Once again the race was characterized by a nervous start with numerous attacks, until finally, thirteen laps before the end, a six-man breakaway group around the Austrian Bernhard Eisel ( FDJeux.com ) was able to pull away . Just three laps later, however, the group was taken off the field again, and repeated attacks followed, but other breakaway groups around Eisel, his team-mate Philippe Gilbert or Graeme Brown ( Panaria-Margres ) were just as unsuccessful. With three laps to go, the peloton was closed again and the expected mass sprint came. Here, Baden Cooke prevailed over his rival Robbie McEwen , who was able to secure the points jersey and second place in the overall standings with second place on the day. Meanwhile, Patrick Jonker was celebrated as the overall winner.
Stage overview
Ratings
The point distribution was as follows:
- 2 intermediate sprints on each stage
- 1: 6 points, 3 seconds time bonus (no bonuses on the first stage)
- 2: 4 points, 2 seconds
- 3: 2 points, 1 second
- target
- 1: 8 points, 6 seconds
- 2: 6 points, 4 seconds
- 3: 4 points, 2 seconds
- Mountain ratings (one mountain rating on each stage except the first; two mountain ratings on the last stage)
- 1: 16 points
- 2: 12 points
- 3: 8 points
- 4: 6 points
- 5: 4 points
Ratings in the course of the tour
The table shows the leader in the respective classification after the respective stage.
Final score
For the fourth time in six years an Australian could win the domestic Tour Down Under, for the second time since 2001 a rider of the national selection of the University of South Australia . Patrick Jonker ended his active career with the overall victory. He laid the foundation for winning the yellow jersey with a successful breakaway attempt on the second day, on the next stage he took the overall lead and defended it confidently to the end. The Australians also determined the fight for the individual stage wins, only on the third day, a foreigner, the young Belgian Philippe Gilbert , who also won the youth competition. On the six flat stages there were only two real mass sprints, four times larger breakaway groups or soloists like Ben Day (5th stage) determined the course.
As in previous years, Robbie McEwen ( Lotto-Domo ) played a major role in the sprints and won two parts of the day. By mingling in top groups and countering attacks, he also finished second in the overall standings and secured the points classification for the second time since 2002 . The Italian Paolo Tiralongo took the lead in the mountain classification, while the UniSA team crowned the strong performance of the Australian national selection (overall victory by Jonker, two stage wins) with victory in the team classification.
Web links
Individual evidence
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↑ The first number (2) stood for "Etappenrennen"; the second number (3) for the third of five categories ranked by importance.
Philippe Gilbert
Massimo Giunti
Murilo Fischer
Alexandre Botcharov
Aurélien Clerc
Thomas Lövkvist
FDJeux.com
Leader