Richie Porte, Andre Greipel... - The 5 riders who have won the Tour Down Under the most times

Next Tuesday, 20th of January, the Tour Down Under gets under way. As every year, it will open the WorldTour season. The riders on the startlist will fight to add their names to an honours roll already packed with big winners. Below, we look at the five men who have claimed the overall classification more than once.

The record holder is Simon Gerrans, with four titles. He is followed by Richie Porte, Stuart O'Grady, Daryl Impey, and André Greipel, all on two. The difference is that the first finished second four times, his compatriot twice, while the last two never returned to the podium in any edition.

The Australian was a hometown hero for the first time in 2006, when the race was still called the Jacob's Creek Tour Down Under. He won the opening stage and then held the lead to the finish. He beat Luis León Sánchez and Robbie McEwen by 2 and 11 seconds respectively.

Over the remaining days he placed 33rd, 28th, 23rd, and 22nd, and finished fourth in the points classification, behind Allan Davis, Russell van Hout, and Daniel Becke. He took the overall by 7 seconds over Luis León Sánchez and 14 over McEwen.

His second triumph came in 2012, under the race’s current name. He was 35th on day one and third behind Will Clarke and Michael Matthews on day two. He followed up with 20th and 17th before taking second on Willunga Hill, only beaten by Alejandro Valverde in the sprint. That result moved him into the leader’s jersey, which he held with 27th place on the final stage.

He won the overall, tied on time with Valverde. Portugal’s Tiago Machado finished 8 seconds back to complete the podium. Gerrans was third in the mountains classification behind Rohan Dennis and Thomas de Gendt, and eighth in the points, surpassed by Edvald Boasson Hagen, André Greipel, Yahueni Hutarovich, Mark Renshaw, Michael Matthews, Daniele Benatti, and Alejandro Valverde.

In 2014 he was dominant. He opened with a sprint win over André Greipel. He then finished second to Diego Ulissi; fifth behind Cadel Evans, Nathan Haas, Diego Ulissi, and Adam Hansen; fourth behind André Greipel, Jürgen Roelandts, and Elia Viviani; third behind Richie Porte and Diego Ulissi; and 11th behind André Greipel, Mark Renshaw, Andrew Fenn, Koen de Kort, Jonathan Cantwell, Matthew Goss, Nathan Haas, Jürgen Roelandts, Michael Kolar, and Matthew Hayman.

Those results delivered the overall by 1 second over Cadel Evans and 5 over Diego Ulissi. He also won the points classification, ahead of Ulissi and Nathan Haas. Meanwhile, he was fifth in the mountains behind Adam Hansen, Axel Domont, Richie Porte, and Will Clarke.

In 2016 he took his fourth and final title. He started quietly, placing 26th and 91st on the first two stages. Then he turned the screw, winning back-to-back. In Campbelltown he beat Rohan Dennis and Michael Woods, and in Victor Harbor he out-sprinted Ben Swift and Giacomo Nizzolo.

On Willunga Hill he placed eighth behind Richie Porte, Sergio Henao, Michael Woods, Diego Ulissi, Rafael Valls, Rubén Fernández, and Domenico Pozzovivo, while in Adelaide he was 11th behind Caleb Ewan, Mark Renshaw, Giacomo Nizzolo, Adam Blythe, Alexey Tsatevich, Ben Swift, Marko Kump, Davide Martinelli, Leigh Howard, and Wouter Wippert.

That was enough to secure the overall ahead of Richie Porte and Sergio Henao by 9 and 11 seconds respectively. He also won the points classification, beating Jay McCarthy and Caleb Ewan, while he was only 17th in the mountains.

Another hometown hero, Richie Porte, took his first title in 2017. He placed 38th, 19th, 30th, and 48th on stages 1, 3, 4, and 6, and won the other two. In Paracombe he beat Gorka Izagirre and Esteban Chaves, and on Willunga Hill he prevailed ahead of Nathan Haas and, again, Esteban Chaves.

In the final overall he put 48 seconds into Chaves and 51 into Jay McCarthy. He was second in the mountains classification behind only Thomas de Gendt, and sixth in the points behind Caleb Ewan, Danny van Poppel, Nathan Haas, Peter Sagan, and Jay McCarthy.

In 2020 he produced a near carbon copy. He finished 47th, 49th, 37th, and 18th on the days that didn’t suit him. Meanwhile, he won in Paracombe ahead of Robert Power and Simon Yates, and finished second on Willunga Hill behind Matthew Holmes.

He took the overall by 25 seconds over Diego Ulissi and Simon Geschke, who joined him on the podium. He was again second in the mountains, this time behind Joey Rosskopf, and again sixth in the points behind Jasper Philipsen, Daryl Impey, Caleb Ewan, Sam Bennett, and André Greipel.

He dominated the 1999 edition. He was third behind Erik Zabel and Mario Traversoni on stage two; won stage three; placed ninth on stage four behind Erik Zabel, Graeme Miller, Jan Svorada, Brett Aitken, Lauri Aus, Mario Traversoni, Roger Hammond, and Franky van Haesebroucke; won again on stage five; and was second to Graeme Miller on the sixth and final stage.

In the final overall, he put 21 seconds into Jesper Skibby and 35 into Magnus Bäckstedt. He also finished 2nd in the points classification behind Brett Aitken and 3rd in the mountains, topped by Christian Andersen and Warren Jennings.

In 2001, he was 2nd on stage 1 behind Graeme Allen Brown and repeated the result on stage 2, this time beaten by Fabio Sacchi. He placed 3rd on stage 3 behind Alessio Galletti and Graeme Allen Brown; 8th on stage 4 behind Luke Roberts, Marcel Gono, Nicolaj Bo Larsen, Trent Wilson, Nicolas Jalabert, Tayeb Braikia, and Hendrik van Dyck; and 10th on stage 5 behind Kai Hundertmarck, Peter Rogers, Allan Davis, Fabio Sacchi, Glenn D'Hollander, Gilles Maignan, Alexandre Botcharov, Cadel Evans, and Russell van Hout.

On the sixth and final day, he was 30th in Adelaide, but that was enough to reclaim the leader’s jersey and seal the title by 2 seconds over Kai Hundertmarck and 3 over Fabio Sacchi. He also took 4th in the points classification behind Graeme Allen Brown, Alessio Galletti, and Trent Wilson.

The South African won in back-to-back seasons. In 2018, he was 13th in Lyndoch, 2nd in Stirling behind Caleb Ewan, 19th in Victor Harbor, 2nd in Uraidla behind Peter Sagan, 2nd on Willunga Hill behind Richie Porte, and 36th in Adelaide. He claimed the overall on the same time as Richie Porte, with 16 seconds over third-placed Tom-Jelte Slagter.

He also finished 4th in the points classification behind Peter Sagan, Caleb Ewan, and Elia Viviani, and 6th in the mountains behind Nic Dlamini, Richie Porte, Scott Bowden, Thomas de Gendt, and Simon Gerrans.

He repeated a year later, opening with 11th in Port Adelaide and in Angaston. He was 3rd in Uraidla behind Peter Sagan and Luis León Sánchez, won in Campbelltown, placed 19th in Strathalbyn, and took 3rd on Willunga Hill behind Richie Porte and Wout Poels.

In the general classification, he topped Richie Porte and Wout Poels by 13 and 17 seconds respectively. He also finished 4th in the points classification behind Patrick Bevin, Danny van Poppel, and Peter Sagan, and 8th in the mountains behind Jason Lea, Wout Poels, Richie Porte, George Bennett, Kenny Elissonde, Manuele Boaro, and Artyom Zakharov.

The German is another rider with two overall wins. In 2008, he opened with 8th in Angaston behind Mark Renshaw, José Joaquín Rojas, Graeme Allen Brown, Allan Davis, Robert Förster, Stuart O'Grady, and Matthew Hayman; won in Hahndorf; took 5th in Victor Harbor behind Allan Davis, Mark Renshaw, Matthew Hayman, and Davide Viganò; before winning back-to-back in Strathalbyn, Willunga, and Adelaide.

With four stage wins, he secured the overall by 15 seconds over Allan Davis and 33 over José Joaquín Rojas. He was also the most consistent, beating Allan Davis and Mark Renshaw in the points.

In 2010, he added three more victories. He also placed 22nd in Stirling, 16th on Willunga, and 5th in Adelaide behind Chris Sutton, Gregory Henderson, Graeme Allen Brown, and Robbie McEwen. In the overall, he put 11 seconds into Luis León Sánchez and 15 into Gregory Henderson, while topping the points classification ahead of Gregory Henderson and Robbie McEwen.