Sam Welsford wouldn’t have minded staying nearer to dwelling in January, however the promise of a wealth of dash phases on the Vuelta a San Juan satisfied Staff DSM to ship him to Argentina slightly than to the Tour Down Beneath.
The Australian would have been forgiven for questioning the selection when he was a faller on the second day in San Juan, however it was solely a brief setback. On Saturday, Welsford proved the quickest in a dash royale exterior the Velódromo Vicente Chancay to declare stage 6 of the Vuelta a San Juan.
Very similar to the velodrome, Welsford’s street profession remains to be underneath building as he makes the transition from the monitor, however he laid agency foundations in his debut season at WorldTour degree in 2022, successful a stage of the Tour of Turkey and inserting third in a combative version of Scheldeprijs.
Though the Vuelta a San Juan is a ProSeries race, this yr’s version boasts a WorldTour-level cadre of sprinters. On Saturday night, Welsford got here off European champion Fabio Jakobsen’s wheel to say the stage forward of Sam Bennett and Fernando Gaviria. To win in such august firm was a transparent signal of progress.
“It’s actually particular to be up racing these guys. I raced Fernando on the monitor again within the day, and it’s superior to dash with them,” mentioned Welsford. “To be up there constantly is a giant objective of mine. I’m stoked to be up there, it’s good for the yr forward.”
Throughout his time on the monitor, Welsford gained three world titles within the group pursuit in addition to a rainbow jersey within the scratch race. After claiming his second Olympic medal within the group pursuit in Tokyo – bronze after silver in Rio in 2016 – he turned his consideration to the street, shifting to the WorldTour with DSM on the comparatively superior age of 26.
Though DSM struggled for ends in the early a part of 2022, the neo-pro Welsford was a uncommon shiny spot. His podium end at Scheldeprijs was the group’s first within the WorldTour final season and he adopted it up with their first win on the high flight on the Tour of Turkey. His show in final yr’s robust version of Scheldeprijs, specifically, raised questions on whether or not his future lay within the sprints or the Classics.
“It’s fascinating, as a result of I see myself as being extra of a sprinter who can go nicely on these onerous days,” Welsford had advised Cyclingnews earlier this week. “At Scheldeprijs, I used to be within the high 15 or 20 all day with the massive boys, and that that provides me good confidence. I feel I can carry a superb dash on the finish of onerous days, however I feel we’ll take each alternative we will.”
After once more taking the primary win of the season for Staff DSM in 2023, Welsford could have one other shot at victory on Sunday’s flat finale in San Juan. Regardless of an inauspicious begin, the race has served as a helpful warm-up for subsequent month’s UAE Tour, the place he’ll once more joust with the elite of WorldTour sprinting.
In addition to providing tips that could his future, Saturday’s stage had a nod to Welsford’s previous with its end within the shadow of the positioning of the 2025 Monitor World Championships.
“Earlier than the race, once I noticed the stage began and completed on the velodrome, I mentioned it could be a cool one to win with my monitor background,” mentioned Welsford, who is aware of that transferring pace and energy from the boards to the street is rarely as easy because it appears.
“The sprinting in bunch racing on the monitor could be very completely different to right here. There’s much more pace on the final lap on the monitor, however it’s not a struggle for the one or two kilometres earlier than that. On the street, the final 5km is tremendous onerous, so mainly begin a dash with fatigue already, whereas in monitor you’re often a bit brisker. It’s all about how one can get to the dash.”
On Saturday’s proof, Welsford has the look of a person who’s getting there simply fantastic.
