“He has the legs to be on the podium, be fighting for victory, but it’s [about] positioning,” new Decathlon CMA CGM sports director Mark Renshaw told Cyclingnews when asked before stage 1 of the men’s Santos Tour Down Under if he was optimistic about Tobias Lund Andresen‘s chances in a possible sprint.
After all, Andresen is – like the Australian sports director himself – new to the French squad, so “it’s a steep learning curve this week,” pointed out Renshaw, who raced 16 editions of the Australian event before retiring at the end of 2019. However, it turns out that Andresen and the rest of his sprint lead-out learn fast. As they headed to the line in Tanunda, their positioning was perfect.
“We had cross winds the last five kilometres, really, so we wanted to be in a good position and having the right side, I think we did really well to stay together, having three, four guys together in a final like this is impressive,” Andresen told reporters after the podium ceremony.
“And then I just had to put full confidence in the Norwegian Viking [Tord Gudmestad] in front of me, that he can push everyone off. I just had to commit and trust my teammates. That’s what I did today, and then it ended up like this,” said the winner of the stage and wearer of the overall race leader’s ochre jersey.
The Danish rider already had a solid track record in Australia, with three stage results in the top seven last year at the Tour Down Under while racing with Picnic PostNL. He also then went on to find his way to the top step at the 1.1-ranked Surf Coast Classic, though the top step on Monday took the rider to the next level.
It was Andresen’s first WorldTour win, and it can leave the sprinter in no doubt that his new teammates are committed to supporting him in his pursuit of victory, even though the vigour with which they pursued their objective may have provided a nervous moment on the lead-in.
“I think we did really well to stay together as a unit, so we didn’t get squeezed away from each other. I mean, we almost took each other out. So it tells you something about the fight out there,” Andresen told broadcasters Seven after the stage.
“But yeah, I love to see the passion [of] my teammates, that they were almost willing to kill each other for me,” he added with a laugh.
After starting off with a win, there will be some celebrations on Wednesday evening: But given it’s a tough day ahead on stage 2 – particularly for the team’s GC contenders Callum Scotson and Nicolas Prodhomme – plus the fact that Andresen isn’t prepared to rest on his laurels, it will be subdued.
“I also want more, so it’s more fun to take it seriously,” said a buoyant Andresen.
And the team, it seems, also wants more.
The French squad finished seventh in the UCI rankings in 2025, but that is not where it is content to stay, especially with a boosted budget in 2026. Sprint specialist Renshaw is embracing the challenge that this represents as a new sports director.
“We’re top five teams in the world – we have a budget that reflects that, we have riders that reflect, so now we need the results,” he said, right before the stage that immediately began to deliver them for the team.
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