Tour Down Under confirm presence of Australian figures Michael Matthews, Ben O'Connor and Simon Clarke
CyclingMonday, 19 December 2022 at 06:00
Simon Clarke, Ben O'Connor and Michael Matthews will all be at the Tour Down Under's start line. Recently, the organisation announced Chris Froome, Geraint Thomas, and Simon Yates would take part in the event.
Matthews last raced in the event in 2014 as he decided to shift focus on the European races but now the Australian is ready to ride in front of his home crowd. His only victory in the event came in 2011, when he won the third stage.
For Simon Clarke, it will be his twelfth time participating in the tour. In 2017, 2018, and 2019, Ben O'Connor has already participated in the ride, and he is looking forward to demonstrating his superior performance.
Race Director Stuart O’Grady is very pleased with the news and hopes this will motivate the home crowd. “We have watched these riders doing amazing things on the world stage for the past few years so it will be exciting for Australian fans to see them up close in January. “It’s really important to have these local role models to show the next generation of Australian cyclists that this is a dream they can chase,” concluded O’Grady.
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- I assume Plapp will be about as popular as a fart in a gas mask this season on the team bus. What an absolute clown shoe. Attacking his own team-mate with a lap and a half to go, bringing back his rivals with you, then fluffing it yourself to let the other guy win. You’d assume that if they had race radios, the DS would be telling Plapp to stop p*sing on Durbo’s chips, but at the same time you’d also expect a World Tour rider to understand this kind of basic racecraft. Felt like watching Dwars with Nielsen Powless and Visma. Hats off to the winner though, and him sledging his former team for giving him the boot, haha. Unreal scenes.antipodeanpedalfan11-01-2026
- You can write the same article replacing JV with a whole bunch of names. Every race needs competitors and wants the best they can get. Jonas has a Vuelta, 2 Tours and no Giro, you said it yourself so - Go figure. Has he ruled out the Tour? Am convinced if Tadej decides to do the Giro, Jonas won’t cancel, it’s nothing to do with dodging, it’s about deciding for himself and not living for others. Jonas has offered plenty of competition to Tadej, it’s not his only purpose or obligation. Had there not been a Tadej, he’d be considered one of the too 3 GT riders ever, he’s just a bit unlucky not to clearly be ahead of Froome and no other recent rider comes close, though Rogliç might have given him a good run if not in the same team.Mistermaumau11-01-2026
- But you see, you are looking at Jonas as if he thinks like you. Maybe he’s not buying houses to MAKE money, perhaps just to use them? There are plenty of countries and cultures where it is quite common for people with means to help those with less, family, friends, neighbours, community. It used to be more like that in a lot of countries where (aside from dole fringe minority) that seems to have changed and probably been forgotten.Mistermaumau11-01-2026
- Oh dear, Nobody was castigating that 18y old starting an unsure career. He’s approaching 30 now, doesn’t seem to want to move, or buy a 2nd home back home to declare at least SOME taxes there if not all, as a thank you to all he got as a child that allowed him to find this path? I’ll admit that he’s nowhere near as bad as CR but CR has one extenuating circumstance, he’s incapable of thinking, Tadej just doesn’t seem to want to consider the big picture. Once Trump and Putin split up Europe you’ll be crying why we didn’t back the idea of Europe more instead of looking so closely at peanuts. You’re free to go look for 1€ houses in the US or Russia if you don’t appreciate the EU. I personally prefer to defend this model as opposed to the other two in which there are very few winners, and currently given a choice, if we can’t defend ourselves, I’d rather team up with the Chinese to counter both the others, though the Chinese won’t drop the Russians as long as the US doesn’t treat them as equals. If you consider there’s any future for this planet if everyone decides only to look after themselves or their kind, you haven’t given things much thought either. That’s the second fastest way to finish things, the first being hate and at the moment we’re doing very well at allowing the two to combine in more and more places.Mistermaumau11-01-2026
- Like Trump taking out Maduro, that was the easy part, now what’s the plan and will everyone follow?Mistermaumau11-01-2026
- I don’t know what the pay cut explains except that his recent results just weren’t that impressive for a team like Visma, he might have understood he’d possibly gain more from them long-term than the salary cut cost him. His previous salary was probably partly based on a receding Tour win with the team that « offered the structure » before they got access to big money. Don’t think it’s as simple as you hope.Mistermaumau11-01-2026
- I would toocaptmike11-01-2026
- I would toocaptmike11-01-2026
- I would like to say one thing to Rúben Silva, the author of the article: "Jonas prefers peace and quiet to money compared to Tadej Pogacar who prefers evading taxes!?!? F*** you Rúben Silva!!! Your f***** stupid and mean, and you know nothing about Tadej. Capish? Pogi is one of the most humble guys, he takes care of his cyclists on his team, he jokes a lot, he buys his team presents, he has his own Pogi team to help young cyclists (they get everything, the complete cycling kit and bike) for free. He loves his girl Urska and he's enjoying life. So Rúben Silva, what else can I say... "shut the f**k up!!!NikkoNicco11-01-2026
- Look I also understand Jonas... do with your money what you like. Maybe he's investing in property and houses...and if he will do it smart, he will make money. That's great, he's thinking about his and his family's future, but the f**ker Ruben Silva made Pogi look like he's a greedy and materialistic person. Shame on him.NikkoNicco11-01-2026
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Australian stars set to kick off their 2023 season in front of a home crowd 🤩👉 tourdownunder.com.au/blog-articles/…
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