It has been a long, gradual growth for the Santos Women’s Tour Down Under, but in 2023, the women will ride with equal status to the men as well as equal prize money that was introduced back in 2018.
There has been no official announcement from the Tour Down Under organisers, but the upgrade of the race’s status was confirmed overnight at a meeting of the UCI Management committee. They also confirmed the upgrade in status to Omloop het Nieuwsblad, the UAE Tour and the Tour de Suisse, with all the races moving up from UCI ProSeries status to the top-tier Women’s WorldTour level.
The change is part of a swell within Australian cycling over the past decade to include more women’s racing within the summer calendar, a reflection of a global trend that has seen the top female riders achieve the same status as some of the major stars of the men’s sport.
In 2015, the then-called Santos Women’s Tour was established as part of the National Road Series, and in 2016 was granted UCI 2.2 status. It switched names to more closely align with the men’s Tour Down Under which has been operating since 1999 and became known as the Santos Women's Tour Down Under in 2018. The race was upgraded to UCI 2.1 status that year as well, and the event has attracted a strong contingent of international women's teams which became regulars as they decided to commence their racing seasons in Adelaide.
The event was then cancelled in 2021 and 2022 due to international travel restrictions relating to COVID preventing international teams easily entering the country, with the Festival of Cycling organised in its place as the opener for the premier Australian domestic cycling competition, the National Road Series.
The newly minted Women's WorldTour is the second race in Australia to gain the status, with the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race running once as a WorldTour event for women in 2020.
UCI President David Lappartient heralded the inclusion of the four new events onto the Women’s WorldTour.
"As for the arrival of new events to the UCI Women's WorldTour calendar, this is evidence of the growing strength of women's road cycling,” said Lappartient. “Indeed, more and more organisers of men's events are creating women's races that will also become major events on the UCI International Calendar.”
Race Director Stuart O’Grady OAM will lead the women’s event as part of its elevation to the UCI WorldTour. He will be joined by two assistant race directors: former WorldTour riders and South Australian locals Annette Edmondson and Carlee Taylor.
“We share a passion for this great race and are committed to seizing the opportunities its new status will bring,” O’Grady said.
“Moving to the UCI Women’s WorldTour means elite teams – who increasingly have male and female rosters – can share resources, and it also reaffirms South Australia as the best place to begin each professional cycling season.”
