TDU changes mooted

The Queen stage at Willunga on Saturday featured a hilltop finish for the first time and this proved a spectacular success.

Australian Simon Gerrans and Spaniard Alejandro Valverde were tied for the overall lead after Willunga and Gerrans won his second Tour title a day later on countback.

Now, race director Mike Turtur is awaiting expressions of interest from local councils to see if he can introduce another new element.

Turtur would not go into details, saying that would give away which councils he needs to be involved for the plan to work, only to say it would not involve another hilltop stage finish.

"If this other thing comes off, I think it has the same level of change as Old Willunga, with different elements," he said.

"If we're able to do what we're proposing, it splits it right down the centre in terms of sprinters and allrounders.

"At the moment, we have an imbalance in favour of sprinters.

"Talking with the teams ... they think what we've done this year (the hilltop finish) has really evened it up in terms of that issue, with sprinters v allrounders."

Turtur said last week's Santos Tour was the best race in its 14-year history.

It was the first in an important three-year period as the Tour tries to consolidate the massive gains made thanks to Lance Armstrong.

"He served his purpose - his presence here shot us, I believe, five years ahead of where we were hoping to be," Turtur said.

"Now we need to consolidate and just find where our level is."

From that perspective, the debut of Australian team GreenEDGE was timed perfectly for the Tour.

There was massive publicity surrounding GreenEDGE and Gerrans' overall win was an ideal result for the team and the Tour.

"GreenEDGE were big for us, of course," Turtur said.

"The debut of Australia's first team at this level, winning the race, the media has been huge.

"They will absolutely perform anywhere in the world, in any race.

"They're a strong contender for the green jersey in the Tour (de France)."