Phil Bauhaus put in a solid sprint on the opening stage of the WorldTour 2024 season at the Santos Tour Down Under finishing second. The German rider positioned himself well and profited from the acceleration of the Bora-Hansgrohe lead-out train, beating a number of the favourites to the line, but could not catch the eventual stage winner Sam Welsford (Bora – Hansgrohe).

Bauhaus commented, “It is the best result I can do. I feel I am the strongest to be honest. It is a good result to start the season. I am happy with the legs. I definitely have the legs to win, but it’s professional sport, you can’t always win so it’s good to be second. I had a good winter with good training. In the past years I was always good in Australia. There are a few chances left for sprinters, so I hope maybe I can win one.”

“Jack is our GC guy, I really appreciate that someone like him was doing the lead-out for me. Also Fran and Cameron did really well. In the last km I was on my own. Maybe I hesitated to go on Sam’s wheel, thinking Caleb was also good. I came close, which gave me a lot of confidence in the next sprint. I want to pay my teammates back with hopefully one win this week.”

Team Bahrain Victorious looked to protect Jack Haig and Phil Bauhaus today, especially on the last climb onto Mengler’s Hill, just 13.5km to the finish, which was the crucial part of the day. Bauhaus ended up tackling it perfectly and remained well-placed in the bunch to conquer the victory. 

The plan for the team today was to get Haig and Bauhaus onto the last climb, Mengler’s Hill, in a good position to give Bauhaus the chance to take on the sprint.

“It was a really tricky day.” commented Sports Director Neil Stephens “Træen hit the deck, and still he got back in the bunch, dedicated himself with this possibly a broken arm. Another crash happened on the descent with Buratti, who is one of our key riders in the lead-out train. But the other guys did really well, especially Jack Haig. Of course, he was here for GC but is also an integral part of the team. He did really well today and a really good lead-out as well. We will see how things go with Torstein in the hospital.”  

Stage 2 will be another day on the circuit, highlighting the challenging Fox Creek Climb (1.6km, max 17.8%). This short yet intense ascent is poised to serve as a launch pad for punchy riders fighting for victory in Lobethal. It will be somewhat unpredictable considering the steep finale with obstacles within 5km to the finish.