Photo gallery: People’s Choice Classic at the 2017 Santos Tour Down Under

January 15, 2017
1 minute read

The 2017 Santos Tour Down Under began in Adelaide on Sunday evening with the People’s Choice Classic, a 50.6km circuit race and curtain-raiser to the six-day Tour. The People’s Choice Classic doesn’t affect the TDU’s general classification — instead it acts as a warm-up for those riding the TDU, and as a good early hit-out for the sprinters ahead of the opening day of competition.

Repeating his victory from a year earlier, Caleb Ewan (Orica-Scott) won Sunday’s race, as Bora-Hansgrohe duo Sam Bennett and Peter Sagan claimed the remaining places on the podium. Follow the link to read more about today’s race. And see below for a collection of images from the race, courtesy of photographer Tim Bardsley-Smith.

: Orica-Scott duo Caleb Ewan (left) and Esteban Chaves (right) will likely feature heavily throughout the six days over the Tour Down Under.

: Cannondale-Drapac come into the Tour Down Under with a compelling GC prospect in Michael Woods (centre).

: World champion Peter Sagan crosses himself ahead of the People’s Choice Classic.

: Will Clarke (front) and Ben O’Connor (back) got clear on lap 2 of 22.

: Clarke was dropped on lap 5, leaving O’Connor out on his own until lap 20. At that point, Orica-Scott rounded up the WorldTour rookie ahead of the bunch sprint.