The Tour Down Under rolls past St. Peter's Cathedral in Adelaide
Image: Keystone
Wants to be back among the big names in 2025 as leader of the Swiss Tudor team: Marc Hirschi
Image: Keystone
Julian Alaphilippe , the 2020 and 2021 road world champion, is the second notable addition to Team Tudor
Image: Keystone
Former cycling star Fabian Cancellara is team owner at Tudor
Image: Keystone
Can high-flyer Tadej Pogacar repeat his super season from last year in 2025?
Image: Keystone
Jonas Vingegaard is aiming for his third overall victory at the Tour de France this summer
Image: Keystone
Still needs some patience after an accident in training in December: double Olympic champion Remco Evenepoel
Image: Keystone
The Tour Down Under rolls past St. Peter's Cathedral in Adelaide
Image: Keystone
Wants to be back among the big names in 2025 as leader of the Swiss Tudor team: Marc Hirschi
Image: Keystone
Julian Alaphilippe , the 2020 and 2021 road world champion, is the second notable addition to Team Tudor
Image: Keystone
Former cycling star Fabian Cancellara is team owner at Tudor
Image: Keystone
Can high-flyer Tadej Pogacar repeat his super season from last year in 2025?
Image: Keystone
Jonas Vingegaard is aiming for his third overall victory at the Tour de France this summer
Image: Keystone
Still needs some patience after an accident in training in December: double Olympic champion Remco Evenepoel
Image: Keystone
After the women, the men's cycling season 2025 starts this week with the Tour Down Under. An outlook.
20.01.2025, 16:31
20.01.2025, 16:44
SDA
An innovation before the big reform?
The six-stage Tour Down Under around Adelaide, which starts on Tuesday, marks the start of this year's World Tour season, which will traditionally conclude in mid-October with the Guangxi Tour in China. This year's calendar includes 21 one-day and 15 stage races. The world's best professional cyclists will be making a new stop in Denmark, where the so-called "Copenhagen Sprint" will be held in the capital at the same time as the final day of the Tour de Suisse. However, if UCI President David Lappartient has his way, such overlaps will soon be a thing of the past. The Frenchman has announced major changes to the race calendar for 2026.
African World Championship premiere
The Tour de Suisse (June 15 to 22) and the Tour de Romandie (April 29 to May 4) will remain at the highest level. Like the three Grand Tours Giro d'Italia (from May 9), Tour de France (from July 5) and Vuelta a España (from August 23) and the most important one-day classics such as the Tour of Flanders or Paris-Roubaix, they will retain their traditional place in the calendar. There will be a premiere at the end of September, when the World Championship medals will be awarded for the first time on African soil in Rwanda's capital Kigali.
Small Swiss World Tour faction
Mauro Schmid is the only Swiss starter at the Tour Down Under. The Zurich native is a member of the local team Jayco AlUla and will try to cause as much of a sensation in the national champion's jersey as his compatriot (and Swiss champion) Noemi Rüegg, who won the overall women's race on Sunday.
Schmid is part of a Swiss sextet that is under contract with one of the 18 World Tour teams this season. The Swiss faction around him, Silvan Dillier (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Stefan Bissegger (new Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale), Stefan Küng (Groupama-FDJ), Johan Jacobs (Movistar) and Jan Christen (UAE Emirates) is therefore as small as it was in 2011, when the race series was launched. In comparison: France has the most riders this year with 81.
Lots of freedom for Hirschi
Just three years ago, there were 15 Swiss riders with World Tour status, a drastic decrease. But appearances are deceptive. The reason is Tudor Pro Cycling. The team launched by owner Fabian Cancellara almost three years ago is a second-class pro team, not a World Tour team. Seven Swiss riders are under contract, including Marc Hirschi, the great Swiss hope. After four years with UAE Emirates, the 2018 U23 World Champion has decided to change his career path. Instead of just being a helper, as was often the case recently, Hirschi can once again take on responsibility as a leader at Tudor. "I enjoy a lot of freedom here," says the 26-year-old from Bern about his new employer. Hirschi has nine of the 16 Swiss victories from last year to his name, but most of them were successes in smaller races.
Tudor relies on wildcards
Now Hirschi wants to get back into the big leagues, as he did recently at the home World Championships in Zurich (6th place). However, because Tudor is not part of the World Tour, the team is dependent on invitations from the organizers. The chances of so-called wildcards are good, however, because a second renowned rider, 32-year-old Julian Alaphilippe, road world champion in 2020 and 2021, has been signed up. The French crowd favorite could open the door to the Tour de France for Tudor after the team got its first taste of a Grand Tour at the Giro d'Italia in 2024.
Hirschi starts on Mallorca, Alaphilippe in Portugal
Due to the many uncertainties, it is still difficult for Tudor's new leading duo to make a concrete plan for the year. What is certain, however, is that Hirschi will start the season at the end of January with a series of smaller one-day races in Mallorca. Alaphilippe will make his debut for Tudor in mid-February at the Tour of the Algarve in the south of Portugal.
Other well-known riders have already announced their program or at least certain intentions. Tadej Pogacar, for example, wants to compete in significantly more races this year after his super year with the historic Giro-Tour double. He counts the Tour of France and the defense of his world championship title among his biggest goals for 2025. It remains to be seen whether Hirschi's former team-mate will again contest the Giro or the Vuelta. However, the Slovenian has stated that he will not be riding all three major tours. His great rival Jonas Vingegaard will also contest the Vuelta in addition to the Tour de France in 2025.
Evenepoel starts late
Remco Evenepoel, the double Olympic champion from Paris and time trial world champion from Zurich, also has ambitions for the Tour of France again after his 3rd place on his debut last year. However, after his training accident in December (collision with a car door), the Belgian still needs to be patient. He will probably not start the season until April.
