First in Tour Down Under: men and women race on same days and course in 2027

The Tour Down Under presents a first: for the first time in WorldTour history, the men's and women's editions of a race will take place on the same day and on the same course in 2027.

This is what sets it apart from races organized by Flanders Classics, Paris-Roubaix, and also the Tour de Suisse, for example. There, men and women compete on the same days, but always on shortened or modified versions of the route.

In the 26th edition of the Australian season opener, six stages await the men between February 19 and 24, 2027. The women's race is half as long, so we will only see them in action during the last three stages. The women will start each stage an hour and a half after the men.

Women's teams have complained for some time that the Australian schedule was not compact enough. They always had to start before the men's Tour Down Under and then had a long waiting period until the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race. Thanks to the intervention of the UCI, the logistics of the trip are now easier to organize.

The stage plans for the upcoming edition are not yet known. We do know, however, that successors for Jay Vine and Noemi Rüegg will be sought in January.