1500-watt sprint earns Sam Welsford full set of Tour Down Under sprints: "It's the perfect start to the year for us"
Cycling
Sam Welsford has won all three bunch sprints of the Tour Down Under. A clean sweep and absolutely perfect start for BORA - hansgrohe's new head sprinter.
"I'm speechless. The way we've been riding all week, we had a bit of pressure today, as expected, but we rode very well," the Australian said in a post-race interview. After winning two sprints and leading the points classification, the race was already a success for the German team who successfully tested their strong leadout with it's new signing. However, they were still the favourites to win stage 4, and they delivered once again.
"It was such a fast approach and I don't know exactly how it all happened, but I had good momentum coming out of the corner. I wasn't right on Danny's [Van Poppel] back wheel, but he knew I was up to that point and I just used the guys between us as my leadout," Welsford describes. He was in the wheel of Elia Viviani starting the sprint, but the Italian didn't have the legs to accelerate, and from behind no-one had the speed to beat Welsford - who had perhaps his hardest earned win of the week.
"This win is just amazing, it's the perfect start to the year for us. It's also really special for me to come into a new team and get that support straight away," he admits. "In the end, this win is a reward for the hard work the guys have put in all week." Now with two hilltop finishes, Welsford will no longer be contesting for sprints, whilst the team changes it's priority to helping Ben Zwiehoff and Roger Adrià in the fight for the overall classification.
Rúben SilvaEditor-in-Chief
A founding contributor to CyclingUpToDate since its launch in January 2022, Ruben Silva has played a central role in shaping the site’s editorial direction and long-term growth. Before joining the project, he built his experience through independent blogging at Echelons Hub and by producing race previews for Ciclismo Internacional, developing a strong analytical voice rooted in daily engagement with professional cycling.
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Originally from the Porto metropolitan area in Portugal, he holds a bachelor’s degree in Geography. His path into cycling journalism was shaped not through formal media training, but through independent reporting, community engagement, and sustained on-the-ground involvement in the sport.
Over the course of his career, he has conducted approximately 100 interviews across road cycling and cyclocross, ranging from one-to-one conversations and online formats to press conferences and on-site pre- and post-race coverage. His interviews include leading riders, team managers, and prominent figures within cycling media: Tadej Pogacar, Jonas Vingegaard, Mathieu van der Poel, Primoz Roglic, Wout van Aert, Joao Almeida and Tom Pidcock; managers like Patrick Lefevere and Joxean Matxin; and YouTube personality Bryan Kennedy (BKXC)...
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- Yeah, unreal.
parisbound0008-11-2026 - there needs to be space in life for pointless comments!Ketterechts08-11-2026
- That is a very lazy way of putting it but so far on this website it seems like everyone is happy to look at everything lazily, even things that annoy them intensely. All they want to do is state their feeling and position but ask most to analyse a problem or come up with solutions or improvements and you’re stunned by silence. Nobody even really knows how this all happens. It’s very simple and quick to just say the UCI did it but I bet you they didn’t, I bet you not more than 2 people were involved, more likely just 1. The UCI may be ultimately responsible but it is not their decision, this is about hierarchy, power and delegation. The fact that protest is possible also means it isn’t over and that MORE people could get involved for a thorough review which could throw up anything. It is highly likely it was a sole commissar who decided and has that power in a first round. Therein might lie the problem the UCI has to consider, is it acceptable to give so much authority to one single person when it is quite possible for them to have a natural bias or be too easily susceptible to imposed bias. Who is to say an individual in this position isn’t susceptible to collaboration with outside players with interests in the results, nations, families, teams, betting companies, etc. On the one hand we have sports where these problems have been worked on way more to reduce such problems, on the other hand we have sports with far stricter and more draconian rules not even concerning safety or obstruction that nobody really questions like false starts or stepping out of lane or zones in athletics. If cycling hastowork on itself, it would be good if protagonists (all kinds) would start doing a little more than just moaning over outcomes.Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- Yes, so why not make comments less pointless?Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- What a race! I didn't expect Vanthourenhout to collapse like that, and Wyseure did take the fight to Nys, but there was no doubt at the end. I also wonder what Aubin Sparfel would be capable of were he to race in the elites now. In the U23 ranks he is making good work of Giel Lejeune, who himself is among the better riders in the elites, and a top 10 contender in the big races (3rd at Kleebergcross, 8th at Berencross and 5th at Heerderstrand). In the French Cup, Sparfel is significantly better than Romain Debord (8th at Koppenbergcross and 10th at the Euros) and Rémi Lelandais (12th at Koppenbergcross and 19th at the Euros).
Rafionain-Glas08-11-2026 - There really was nothing in it. Schreiber was so much faster, and Brand was fighting to stay in the wheel in the sprint. Schreiber did move a bit, but to say she closed the door doesn't make sense because Brand couldn't enter it anyway, abd she wasn't impeded.Rafionain-Glas08-11-2026
- He should have been allowed to go to Movistar. Right now both arent a good fit for each other and are just wasting each other's time and effortabstractengineer08-11-2026
- Thibau Nys does exactly what Iserbyt is calling forRafionain-Glas08-11-2026
- i did not see it. was the relegation justified or an overly hard decision? and don‘t cross riders deviate from straight lines all the time? bumping into each others when they cut corners, etc … why being more strict with the rules on the finish sprint?Ketterechts08-11-2026
- seems like we are advertising the website with pointless comments…Ketterechts08-11-2026
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#TourDownUnder, Stage 4 SAM WELSFORD (🏆) • Time — last 15 sec 💥 • Distance — 240 m 📏 • Speed — Avg 57.9 Kph, Max 60.6 Kph 💨 • Power — Avg 1,265 W, Max 1,538 W ⚡️ • Cadence — Avg 102 rpm, Max 109 rpm 🔃 • Hr — Avg 169 bpm, Max 169 bpm ❤️
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