Photographer Don Kennedy has been following the Tour Down Under for many years. Photo / Don Kennedy
Photographer Don Kennedy has been following the Tour Down Under for many years. Photo / Don Kennedy
Hawke’s Bay photographer Don Kennedy headed to Adelaide for the 25th Anniversary of cycling’s Tour Down Under. He shares his snaps and highlights of the tour since 2009.
This year’s edition of the Santos Tour Down Under, a UCI event held in Adelaide, South Australia, marked the 25th anniversary ofthe race that is billed as Australia’s greatest sporting event.
The inaugural race in 1999 was won by Adelaide-based World Tour rider Stuart O’Grady.
Since 2020 he has been the race director, replacing Mike Turtur, who retired from that role after 20 years.
Ecuadorian rider Jhonatan Narvaez is the 2025 TDU winner, celebrating here with sprint jersey winner Sam Welsford. Photo / Don Kennedy
At this year’s Legends Dinner, Turtur was one of five people to be inducted into the inaugural TDU Hall of Fame.
The other recipients were Simon Gerrans, who won the event a record four times; Andre Greipel, who has won the most stages (18); and race commentators Phil Liggett and the late Paul Sherwen, who died of heart failure in December 2018.
The event got a major boost in popularity when it officially became the first UCI men’s race in 2009, the year Lance Armstrong - at the time a seven-time Tour de France champion, first participated in the race. He did so again in 2010 and 2011.
Lance Armstrong was a major drawcard from 2009 to 2011. Photo / Don Kennedy
On the eve of the 2012 event, Armstrong appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show to confess to the world that he had been doping during his seven Tour de France wins. He was subsequently stripped of those titles.
But his impact on the TDU event in 2009 was instant, with thousands heading to the tour to see Armstrong in action. On his arrival in Adelaide, he posted a tweet that he was going on a training ride with local hero Patrick Jonker, who won the TDU in 2004.
An estimated 10,000 riders joined Armstrong and Jonker on the ride, causing an unexpected traffic problem for the South Australian police.
Inaugural inductees into the TDU Hall of Fame (from left) Simon Gerrans, Phil Liggett, Andre Greipel and Mike Turtur. Photo / Don Kennedy
Armstrong’s influence on the event is undeniable and, although numbers attending have since dropped back, appearances from the likes of Alberto Contador, Alejandro Valverde, Tadej Pogacar and legendary sprinters Greipel, Mark Cavendish and Robbie McEwan have ensured the race retains a high profile as riders prepare for the World Tour season that begins in earnest with the Spring Classics in Europe.
Cavendish returned this year as a special guest. He retired from racing last year after a record 35 Tour de France stage wins, beating the record he shared with Eddy Merckx, who visited the Tour Down Under in 2012.
Hawke’s Bay Today first covered the event with Armstrong’s arrival in 2009 and has done so each year since, apart from the Covid intervention in 2021 and 2022.
