Welsford completes hat trick at Tour Down Under, but a major crash overshadows the final kilometer

Sam Welsford ( Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe) won the final stage of the Tour Down Under in Adelaide. After 90 kilometers of circling through the Australian city, he was the fastest of the peloton. The leader's jersey of Jhonatan Narváez was no longer under any threat, making the Ecuadorian of UAE Emirates-XRG the overall winner of the stage race.

After several years of absence, the closing criterium of the Santos Tour Down Under in Adelaide was back, whether or not motivated by the fact that the top favorite in terms of sprints is from Australia for the second year. Before that man, named Sam Welsford, could ultimately get to sprinting, they had to race, of course.

That was done on a 4.5-kilometer lap, run twenty times in total. In the opening phase, a leading group of three riders immediately emerged: Casper Pedersen (Soudal Quick-Step), Kelland O'Brien (Jayco AlUla), and Damien Howson of the Australian selection.

They blasted through the big city in temperatures above 30 degrees Celsius, while behind them, there was a small battle for bonus seconds for podium spots. However, these were snatched away by the breakaway riders, who were eventually caught by the peloton in the last ten kilometers—Pedersen being the last. This earned the Dane the combativity award in this stage race.

Lead-put Van Poppel helps a stunned Welsford

Then, the fight for suitable positions for the final sprint began, where, unfortunately, a big crash shocked us in the final kilometer. Welsford managed to escape the crash with his men and, after another good lead-out by Danny van Poppel, prevailed over Bryan Coquard of Cofidis and Bahrain Victorious rider Phil Bauhaus. Narváez could thus call himself the GC winner of the 2025 edition of the Tour Down Under.

"I didn't think three (stage wins) was possible going into this race," Welsford sounded surprised afterward. "I knew it would be a demanding tour and challenging stages. The team believed in me and backed me in stages. We knew this last one was a good one for us, an enormous power circuit.

The boys did a fantastic job. (teammate) Danny Van Poppel dropped me off (as the lead-out man) about 200 meters from the finish. I am pleased with this tour."

GC winner Narváez felt relieved after a challenging final ride. "We can finally enjoy," he sighed. "Today's stage was one of the hardest of the week because it was never really safe. Sometimes you have to brake, sometimes you don't, and sometimes it depends on the other riders. That makes it more dangerous. But we made it. You see two crashes in the last three kilometers. It's not easy, but when 150 guys are trying to go through a corner at 70 kilometers per hour, it becomes dangerous. But we got through the day."

Stage 6 results & GC Tour Down Under 2025

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Want to know when and where the most exciting races of 2025 will take place? Check out our updated 2025 cycling calendars for the men's and women's peloton!

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