Tour Down Under

Since 1999 the Adelaide Hills have gained worldwide attention as Adelaide and environs host the Tour Down Under for competitive cyclists. This has happened every January, except in 2021 and 2022, during the Covid pandemic.

For a brief time, the Tour Down Under cuts it with the Tour de France and the Giro d’Italia, and the Hills share the glow when they are included in the routes. An international audience gains quick views of the Hills towns and landscapes, from a variety of angles – including from above, thanks to helicopters and drones.

The commentary includes brief remarks on the passing features, with perhaps even their history. The Hills roads are described as ‘having good surfaces but [unsurprisingly] up and down all the time’. An especially steep section, sometimes chosen for a route, is the Corkscrew Road between Castambul and Montacute.

Enthusiastic spectators line the way, especially in the towns. They show great commitment, especially given that the pelotons approach, whoosh past, and disappear in a very short time. No doubt the excitement is encouraged by the awareness that the event is viewed internationally.

Odd pockets of spectators appear on the stretches between the towns. A farming family might bring a large item of machinery to a fence to give them a vantage point to sit on. In latter years many spectators film the flypast on their mobile phones, those items so ubiquitous these days.

The event was won for South Australia by the State’s Olsen Liberal Government, to
compensate for the loss of the Grand Prix to Victoria in the mid-1990s. The win was also forwarded by Bill Spurr, who was chief executive of Australian Major Events, and happened to live at Longwood.

When it began in 1999, the Tour Down Under was sponsored by the
winemakers Jacobs Creek, and in 2009 Santos, the global energy company (with
headquarters in Adelaide), bought the naming rights and it became the Santos Tour Down Under. Such corporate sponsorships match those of other notable sporting events, such as the Melbourne Cup, now sponsored by Lexus.

Women cyclists began participating in 2011, with a full Women’s Tour Down Under established in 2016.

For the various daily routes Stirling has often hosted starts and finishes, with Mount Lofty Summit, and Lobethal, Uraidla and other towns as Hills locations. The Adelaide Hills Council sets down pavers by the Stirling Oval to record winners. There have been many local entertainments associated with the Tour, and local businesses encouraged by competitions to put on displays.
This annual event, more than any other, puts the Adelaide Hills on the world map.

Sources: Wikipedia; Courier passim; Adelaide Hills Council; News.com.au

If you have recollections, knowledge or further information that you would like to share about the people, places or events described here, then please contact us at mldhs@mtloftyhistoricalsociety.org.au