Tour Down Under 2016: 100,000 people gather in Adelaide’s CBD to watch Stage 6
January 24, 2016 7:43pm
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A JUBILANT Jay Weatherill has vowed to make the Tour Down Under “more exciting every year”, as a crowd of almost 100,000 gathered in the city to farewell their cycling heroes at the final stage on Sunday.
It was a triumphant finish for the Tour, as Australian Simon Gerrans won the event for a record fourth time and the crowd celebrated the news that the event was here to stay, after world cycling’s governing body told the Government it would remain a WorldTour event indefinitely.
High temperatures and strong winds had put a dampener on crowd numbers during the Barossa Valley’s Stage One last week but improved weather led to much higher numbers later in the week, particularly in the Fleurieu Peninsula on Saturday.
Crowd numbers totalled 731,000, which was 55,000 less than last year, which organisers attributed to the extreme weather early last week.
Premier Jay Weatherill, who labelled South Australia as “The Cycling State”, was quick to point out that “it was the biggest crowd ever down at Snapper Point in Aldinga”.
“People came out of their houses to get up close to those cyclists and watch those elite cyclists whizzing around through the scenery in the southern Vale,” he said". Tour Down Under winner Simon Gerrans with Orica GreenEDGE teammate Caleb Ewan after the end of the Tour on Sunday in the CBD. Photo: Tom Huntley
Simon Gerrans rides with the peloton in the Tour Down Under during Stage 6, through Adelaide’s CBD. Pic: AAP/Dan Peled
“That’s our strategy — to keep a successful event growing and make it more exciting every year. That’s what we need to do, keep delivering a successful Tour Down Under and then the arrangements with the national bodies will look after themselves.”
The cyclists have packed up their Lycra and thousands of visitors are on their way home, but the Premier believes they’ll return, for as long South Australia hosts the event.
“It’s a great event. South Australians are getting into it in their droves and it’s here to stay,” he said.
“We are absolutely confident that we’ve got this race sewn up. It’s because of the quality of this event. It’s the riders who vote with their feet by coming here from the northern hemisphere to get a bit of sun on their faces and participate in what is known as a great opening event of the season.”
Spectators were full of praise on Sunday for the event and its riders.
Stage 6 of the Tour Down Under ready to kick off. Photo: Tom Huntley
“You should keep it, you do it so well,” said Paul Lang, 45, from Melbourne, who travelled to South Australia to watch the event with his wife and two children.
“It’s become so big, especially over the last five years. People seem to embrace it more here.”
“This is the first time I’ve been to Adelaide in 20 years,” said Mrs Lang, 44. “The last time was for the last Grand Prix — and I haven’t been to that since it left Adelaide!”
For Leanne Saunders and children Siena and Tristan, the event is the highlight of the year. “We’ve been here for every single stage and every singe race since the beginning of time,” said Mrs Saunders, from Malvern. “We come to see the best riders in the world and to meet people from all over the world who come to watch them. Everyone we talk to says we should keep it here.”
Sport Minister Leon Bignell said that adding exciting events, including some in regional areas, would keep the crowds coming.
“We went down and explored Mt Gambier last year and we want to have another look at that,” he said. “Maybe we could have the Sunday Classic there somewhere down the track. There are other world class cycling events that we might go after. Maybe you do Mt Gambier one year, Port Lincoln the next, Kangaroo Island the next, Flinders Ranges the next, away from the January timeline but still some of the world’s best riders. We’re continually speaking with Christian Prudhomme, the head of the Tour de France and with Brian Cookson the president of the UCI to see what opportunities are there. We’ll seize any opportunity we can to bring world class events to South Australia.”
Mr Bignell said the Government needed to thank the people of South Australia “because it’s very hard for the world governing body of cycling to ignore the fact that more than 700,000 people turn up to a bike race”.
“That doesn’t happen in many places anywhere in the world,” he said.
Mr Bignell said free events and a family focus, particularly on the last day of the Tour, helped attract a diverse crowd.
“We shouldn’t see this as South Australia versus Victoria. They’ve got a good quality, one-day race that isn’t at the standard of the Tour Down Under yet but their ambitions are to grow that and we should see us as having the Test Match of the international cycling season and they’ve got the one-day match.
“By having two races across two states it may mean we get more international visitors coming down here and experiencing two races whereas they might not come for one. We see it as an opportunity to work with Victoria to grow the tourism numbers of South Australia.”
