While the early editions were more of a sprinters’ race, the Tour Down Under has morphed into a well-rounded event allowing climbers to showcase their talents for the general classification during the more challenging stages.

Race director Stuart O’Grady and his organization did a fantastic job honoring the 25-year history of the event’s classic routes and finishes, while also including some new roads that tested the riders’ early season condition with almost 10,000m of climbing over six stages surrounding Adelaide.

The general classification was won by Ecuadorian rider Jhonatan Narváez of the mighty UAE Team Emirates-XRG in front of Javier Romo of Movistar and Finn Fisher-Black of Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe. But for me, there were many more takeaways than just the overall result.

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