Greig Leach

Alberto Bettiol (EF Education-EasyPost) had the foresight to go early in the opening prologue of the Tour Down Under. With rain in the forecast, he chose an early start. While not knowing what times he needed to beat, he did have the advantage of dry roads on the short five and a half kilometer individual time trial. That advantage proved to be the winning edge for the Italian. He will go into the first road stage of the return of the Tour Down Under since the start of the Covid pandemic, wearing the Ochre Jersey of race leader. He has an eight second lead over the American Magnus Sheffield and up to forty seconds over most of his main rivals. In a tour that is usually decided by less than ten seconds, he may have won the race before the first road stage. However, there are three hill top finishes this year.