The Down Under Classic (currently known as the Villawood Men's Classic, and previously known as the Schwalbe Classic, People's Choice Classic, and Cancer Council Helpline Classic for sponsorship reasons), is a

criterium A criterium, or crit, is a bike race consisting of several laps around a closed circuit, the length of each lap or circuit ranging from about 400 m to 10,000 m. Overview Race length can be determined by a number of laps or total time, ...

around

Rymill Park Rymill Park / Murlawirrapurka (previously spelt Mullawirraburka), and numbered as Park 14, is a recreation park located in the Adelaide Park Lands, East Park Lands of the South Australian capital of Adelaide. There is an artificial lake with r ...

Adelaide Adelaide ( , ; ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and most populous city of South Australia, as well as the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. The name "Adelaide" may refer to ei ...

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories by area, which in ...

, Australia. It precedes the

Tour Down Under The Tour Down Under (currently branded as the Santos Tour Down Under for sponsorship reasons) is a cycling race in and around Adelaide, South Australia. It is traditionally the opening event of the UCI World Tour and UCI Women’s WorldTour ...

History

Since the very first

in 1999, there has been a history of city-based circuit racing in Adelaide. For several years the Tour Down Under featured a race around the East End of Adelaide and through the centre of

around King William Street. The Down Under Classic was developed to retain a cycling race in the city from 2006 due to rules preventing the number of small circuit races in a multi-day stage race.

Caleb Ewan Caleb Ewan (born 11 July 1994) is an Australian road and track bicycle racer who rode for UCI WorldTeam . A sprinter, Ewan has a style similar to that of Mark Cavendish, taking an extremely low position that offers him an aerodynamic advantage ...

is the most successful cyclist in the race with five wins.

Location

The Down Under Classic has traditionally raced around Rymill Park/Murlawirrapurka in the East End, however it has been relocated over the years. In 2014, the race was moved to a circuit around Victoria Drive and the

River Torrens The River Torrens (Karrawirra Parri / Karrawirraparri) is the most significant river of the Adelaide Plains. It was one of the main reasons for the siting of the city of Adelaide, capital of South Australia. It flows from its source in the Ad ...

, north of the

University of Adelaide The University of Adelaide is a public university, public research university based in Adelaide, South Australia. Established in 1874, it is the third-oldest university in Australia. Its main campus in the Adelaide city centre includes many Sa ...

. In 2017, it moved slightly south from Rymill Park to King Rodney Park/Ityamai-itpina before returning to its traditional configuration in 2019. In 2020, it moved into the centre of Adelaide racing through main boulevards including Wakefield Street, Flinders Street and Victoria Square.

Format

The Down Under Classic is typically 'raced to distance'. For instance, in 2017 the race was 50.6 kilometres, or 22 laps of the King Rodney Park circuit. In 2019, the format was changed to be time-certain, meaning the race lasted for exactly one hour and one lap. This reverted to the full-distance format in 2020.

Prizes

The Down Under Classic does not count towards time or points of the Tour Down Under and, while promoted as part of the Tour Down Under 'festival' alongside the men's and women's races, is a distinctly separate race. Instead, riders compete for prize money, with four sprint primes and the finish line prize all offering up the opportunity to obtain financial reward. The winner of the Down Under Classic is awarded a victor's jersey, which often presents in the colours of the event sponsor. Under Cancer Council sponsorship the jersey was blue and yellow, People's Choice was green and white (until 2018) and in 2019 the jersey was red, owing to SouthAustralia.com support.

Results

References

Cycling Archives

External links

*{{official website, http://www.tourdownunder.com.au/peoples-choice-classic.htm Cycle races in Australia Sports competitions in Adelaide Recurring sporting events established in 2006 Men's road bicycle races 2006 establishments in Australia Tour Down Under