{"id":42325,"date":"2026-01-20T07:51:20","date_gmt":"2026-01-20T06:51:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tourdepologne.pl\/?p=42325"},"modified":"2026-01-27T16:52:53","modified_gmt":"2026-01-27T15:52:53","slug":"the-worldtour-cycling-season-begins-the-tour-down-under-gets-underway-tonight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tourdepologne.pl\/en\/2026\/01\/the-worldtour-cycling-season-begins-the-tour-down-under-gets-underway-tonight\/","title":{"rendered":"The WorldTour cycling season has begun \u2013 the Tour Down Under got underway overnight."},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Tonight, Polish time, the new UCI WorldTour cycling season has officially begun. As tradition dictates, the opening race is the Tour Down Under in Australia \u2013 an event that has for years marked the start of top-level international racing and provides the first indication of the form of the peloton\u2019s leading riders.<\/p>\n<p>This year\u2019s edition of the Tour Down Under consists of a short prologue followed by five stages with a mass start. The organizers have designed a varied route that should deliver excitement for both sprinters and riders targeting the general classification. The schedule includes flat stages, ideal for the fastest riders in the peloton, as well as rolling and punchy, interval-style stages, which traditionally play a decisive role in the battle for overall victory.<\/p>\n<p>The short and intense stages characteristic of the Australian race ensure that the pace is very high right from the start of the season, with minimal time gaps between riders. Every mistake can cost valuable seconds, which often prove crucial by the end of the race.<\/p>\n<p>At the start of this year\u2019s Tour Down Under, there was one Polish rider on the start line \u2013 Micha\u0142 Kwiatkowski. He boasts numerous prestigious victories to his name, including winning the general classification at the Tour de Pologne in 2018. The Australian race is his first real test of form in the new season and an opportunity to compete against the world\u2019s best riders.<\/p>\n<p>The opening of the WorldTour season in Australia is a symbolic moment for the entire cycling community \u2013 after the winter break, the peloton returns to racing and fans can once again follow battles on the world\u2019s roads. The Tour Down Under promises to be an exciting start to a long and demanding season.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Tonight, Polish time, the new UCI WorldTour cycling season has officially begun. As tradition dictates, the opening race is the &hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":42322,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[95],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-42325","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-en"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>The WorldTour cycling season has begun \u2013 the Tour Down Under got underway overnight. - Tour de Pologne<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.tourdepologne.pl\/en\/2026\/01\/the-worldtour-cycling-season-begins-the-tour-down-under-gets-underway-tonight\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The WorldTour cycling season has begun \u2013 the Tour Down Under got underway overnight. - Tour de Pologne\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Tonight, Polish time, the new UCI WorldTour cycling season has officially begun. 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