Sam Welsford did not have an easy 2024 season, but one thing that did go well was the Tour Down Under where he dominated the sprints. We could be seeing the very same situation developing 12 months later as the Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe sprinter once again won the first stage of the World Tour calendar.
"Bloody hell, I'm getting tired and sick of having to do such a long sprint every time," he joked at the start of a post-race interview. It was a Welsford in a good mood after being able to repeat his achievement of 2024 by winning the opening stage and taking over the ochre jersey.
It was an incredibly fast finale with a few twisting corners and downhill gradients, which made for an extremely tense few minutes and even a crash near the front. "Every corner, riders dived under it and at a certain point we had to let ourselves fall back a bit, to then ride up again. The guys did that really excellently. We were the only team that rode in the front all day and I'm really happy that I can repay the guys with a victory".
The German team, as expected, managed to deliver Welsford to the sprint in prime position, much to the work of specialist Danny van Poppel. But Welsford feels he set off too early: "Actually, I even think I took over from Danny too early. He actually had more in the tank, but he did such a good job and had been riding in the lead for so long... we got to the front quite early and it was difficult to control from that position".
Still in the sprint he managed to hold off Matthew Walls, whilst VIsma's Matthew Brennan came close in the final meters but not enough to beat the 29-year old.
"I felt the other sprinters coming. When I started, I looked and thought: oh, it's still far," he described. "I eventually saw them coming, but my legs were already completely on fire with fifty meters to go. I thought I had him, but someone else came up. But I was already so cooked, I couldn't even throw my arms in the air".
A thrilling finish in Gumeracha as a familiar face of the race claims yet another success 💪 @sam_welsford
— Santos Tour Down Under 🚴🚴♀️ (@tourdownunder) January 21, 2025
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