It is Grand Tour season and we are about to watch 4 West Australians go around in the biggest and most famous bike race on the planet – the Tour de France. While we all dream of lining the route at Le Tour the reality is that you can experience something very similar right here in Australia at the Tour Down Under. The photo at the top of this post was taken by David Menarry on this year’s final stage – winner Jay Vine and runner up Simon Yates duking it out on Mt Lofty. Dates for the 2024 edition have just been announced – 12-21 January 2024.

Quite simply, if you love cycling and you have not been to the TDU you are missing out! In the edition just gone we got to see the strongest field ever for the race – 4 Grand Tour winners, all of the top Aussies and many emerging stars. The riding in Adelaide and surrounds is fabulous and the city is taken over by bikes while the tour is on. You can ride as much or as little as you like while taking in this epic festival of cycling.

Every year there is a large group from SPR over at the TDU, not to mention a big chunk of the Perth cycling community, so if you haven’t been before there is plenty of support and plenty of people to answer your questions or provide advice. We even have a Facebook group which we use to coordinate SPR activities while we are there (and to build our excitement in the lead up!).

Each day of the tour we will have a plan, but there is so much more than just the riding and watching the pros smash each other. The eating and drinking is as much a part of the fun! The Barossa Valley, McLaren Vale and the Adelaide hills wineries are generally worth a visit. And there is local club racing during the week if you are keen on that too…

Accommodation books up pretty quickly so it’s a good idea to be planning now. If you are thinking about going and want to know more send me an email vp@southperthrouleurs.com.au or message me here or on Facebook.

Oh, and Willunga Hill is back this year…