Preview, favourites, profile, route and predictions Tour Down Under 2026 prologue - Is a British victory imminent?

The prologue of the 2026 Tour Down Under will take place on the 20th of January and will open up the World Tour season. It will be a short but explosive effort which will kick off the action in Australia. The stage will start at 08:30CET and finish at 11:10CET.

The stage will be 3.6 kilometers long and will be the first of six, completely flat and ridden in road bikes, despite being a time trial. This is because of the extensive travel and logistic costs, for such a small amount of time on the bike. The route in Adelaide begins in Victoria Street and heads into Victoria park, with a few bends that will make for a few technical features where tiny portions of time can be won or lost, but in the end make the winning difference.

Dry, very hot, and with some southern wind. However the weather conditions shouldn't make a difference in such an urban and short prologue.

This isn't a stage for differences to be created, but instead only the stage win and leader's jersey is going to be up for grabs. However, that is quite a good result for just about anyone in the peloton, and there will be lots of riders be willing to take big risks through the corners to increase their chances of a massive result. It's a stage where you can expect a surprise, as it's so short that technique may prove to be the decisive feature, whilst form also varies wildly in the peloton at this time of year.

There are a few men on the startlist who are known for being particularly strong prologue specialists such as Sam Watson, Maikel Zijlaard and Ivo Oliveira who aren't riders with the same skillset but seem to thrive in such environment. Having time spent on the track doing the 4-kilometer can also come in very handy in an effort of this duration.

There are sprinters who can hold huge watts for a few minutes and can definitely contest here, specially someone like Matthew Brennan, Ethan Vernon or Danny van Poppel who is also used to taking big risks in the sprints.

But we've got a whole array of favourites or potential outsiders who can surprise including time trial specialists such as Jay Vine, Mikkel Bjerg, Luke Plapp or Rémi Cavagna. Others such as Jensen Plowright, Luke Lamperti, Matteo Sobrero, Corbin Strong, Finn Fisher-Black, Mauro Schmid, Aaron Gate and even Australian national champion Pattrick Eddy could definitely be in the mix as well.

*** Sam Watson, Ethan Vernon
** Ivo Oliveira, Matthew Brennan, Maikel Zijlaard
* Danny van Poppel, Jay Vine, Luke Plapp, Mikkel Bjerg, Jensen Plowright, Finn Fisher-Black, Mauro Schmid

Pick: Sam Watson