The Cycling Disciple

New year, new season, new stages, new rosters. In its 21st year, the Tour Down Under opens the WorldTour calendar for the 12th time, but for the first time will finish with the double ascent of Willunga Hill - scrapping the final stage criterium. Caleb Ewan won the 2019 Down Under Classic criterium on Sunday evening after a crash on the last corner took down many of his rivals Photo credit: cyclingtips.com Also, the uphill sprint into Angaston returns - last seen when Australian champion Simon Gerrans beat Andre Greipel on stage one in 2014 - while the steep Montacute climb will prelude a downhill battle into Campbelltown. There's also a tricky circuit to navigate on stage three; a completely new addition by the race organisers, which is reported to contain 3500 metres of climbing. With those changes in mind, here's a guide to each of the six stages of the 2019 Tour Down Under and a rider with fresh targets to who could thrive on the parcours. Stage One - North Adela

The Vuelta a España, alongside the Giro d'Italia, is often used as a proving ground for talent and can be a breakthrough race for general classification hopefuls and sprinters alike: take for example Chris Froome (2011), John Degenkolb (2012), Michael Matthews (2013) and  Tom Dumoulin (2015). With quite a handful of top bracket GC riders and practically all of the sprinters focusing instead on the Autumn classics, Tour of Britain and the World Championships in Innsbruck, Austria, many young riders are getting a chance at Grand Tour level.  Here are five riders under-26 who've impressed in the smaller races throughout the season and could take a massive step forward at this Vuelta. Tao Geoghegan Hart (Team Sky) Geoghegan Hart (right of centre) was an instrumental domestique as Geraint Thomas won the 2018 Criterium du Dauphine Photo credit: cyclingnews.com After a tremendous showing at the Tour of California in May  (fifth)  and Criterium du Dauphiné in June  (13th)

In the most open Grand Tour in years, Simon Yates finds himself with a golden opportunity to banish the heartbreak of the Giro. Simon Yates wore the maglia rosa for 12 stages after taking it on the stage six finish on Mount Etna won by teammate Esteban Chaves Photo credit: road.cc The 26-year-old Brit riding for Mitchelton-Scott came unstuck at the Giro for one reason. It wasn't inexperience or not fueling properly or a crash.  Purely and simply he pushed his body too far in an effort to make up time before the stage 16 time trial. He also pushed himself so far into the red in Trento to Rovereto TT his climbing legs abandoned him when he needed them most. He had 56 seconds over Tom Dumoulin as the race ticked over to stage 17. He was three days from becoming the first Briton to win the Giro.  The problem was his race was now done. His body exhausted after riding the hardest he'd ever ridden for over a week just to retain the maglia rosa heading into the Alps.  The

Yesterday was earmarked as a boring, straight forward stage for a bunch sprint. It turned out to be anything but. As Sam Bennett left the rest of the field spluttering in his rooster tail on the soaking wet circuit at Imola, Elia Viviani was 145th and nine minutes behind. All thanks to bad weather and a small climb. Sam Bennett claims his second victory of the 2018 Giro d'Italia with jersey holder Elia Viviani minutes behind Photo credit: cyclingnews.com Flash back to 25th March this year, as Viviani sat hunched on the side of the road, sobbing, as a Quick-Step sougneur draped a jacket over his shoulders after narrowly losing to world champion Peter Sagan at Gent-Wevelgem. It wasn't so much of a huge surprise given the calibre of sprinters in the field, but with Quick-Step's dominance to that point in Belgian one-day races, you could empathise with the Italian for letting down a team that is set up primarily for success in the classics. As Team Sky is for Grand Tours.

As pictures emerged of Team Sky's talisman picking himself up off the floor, covered in road rash with his training kit in tatters, you could feel the weight of  physical pressure to perform to such a high standard so early in the season pile on top of the existing  mental pressure of an unresolved dope test. The latter exists, no matter how much Froome and his team downplay the extent of the stress he's feeling. Chris Froome bears the scars of a crash in his course recon Photo credit: eurosport.co.uk Discussion has been rife ever since late last year when Chris Froome returned an adverse analytical finding for double the allowed level of salbutamol, but chatter over his eligibility to race has intensified ever since his team announced he would contest the 101st Giro d'Italia.  An alleged multi-million pound attendance fee probably played a part in their decision for the legendary Grand Tourer to take to the start line in Israel, but nevertheless, the improbable p

The 101st Giro d'Italia is absent of some big names as far as both the general classification and sprints are concerned, which opens the door to an open race as many young riders make their debut at the Corsa Rosa. Here are five riders making their Giro debut who could very likely produce a career propelling performance. Miguel Angel Lopez (Astana) Miguel Angel Lopez wins stage two of the Tour of the Alps ahead of eventual overall winner Thibaut Pinot Photo credit: todaycycling.com 'Superman' is the rider Astana General Manager, Alexander Vinokourov, has chosen to bestow the task of filling the cleats vacated by Fabio Aru, who departed Astana last year to join ranks with Quick-Step's Daniel Martin and Katusha's Alexander Kristoff on a lucrative contract at UAE Team Emirates.  That said, Aru didn't exactly leave the Kazakh outfit with a particularly glowing CV. The Italian showed tremendous promise throughout 2015, finishing second at the Giro and