Tour Down Under announces major format change for 2027
The Australian race will introduce a landmark format in 2027, with men and women competing on the same roads, on the same days and over the same distances for the first time in WorldTour cycling.
The new structure, announced ahead of next year’s race, marks the most significant change to the event’s program in its 26-year history. Subject to final UCI calendar approval, the 2027 Santos Tour Down Under will take place from January 19 to 24, opening both the men’s UCI WorldTour season and the women’s UCI Women’s WorldTour season.
Under the revised format, the men’s race will run across six stages from Tuesday to Sunday, while the women’s race will be condensed into three stages from Friday to Sunday. On the shared race days, the women’s peloton is expected to start around 90 minutes after the men, using the same start and finish locations, the same route and the same distance.
While several major European races, including Paris-Roubaix, the Tour of Flanders and the Tour de Suisse, have brought their men’s and women’s events onto the same day, those races still use different courses or distances. The Tour Down Under’s decision to mirror stages in full is being positioned as a world first.
The change follows a request from the UCI after feedback from women’s teams, who had called for a more compact Australian racing schedule. The aim is to reduce the amount of time women’s teams spend in the country while competing in both the Santos Tour Down Under and the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race.
For the Tour Down Under, however, organisers see the shift as more than a logistical adjustment. The event has long presented itself as a progressive force in the sport. In 2018, it became the first major cycling race in the world to offer equal prize money to men and women. Now, it is taking another step towards placing the women’s race on a more equal stage.
Last year’s men’s race was won by Jay Vine of UAE Team Emirates XRG, despite being caught up in the now famous kangaroo crash. In the women’s race, Noemi Rüegg (EF Education-Oatley) claimed the title in the season opener.
Full stage details for the 2027 edition, including start and finish locations, will be announced in the coming weeks.
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