Less than two years ago the races Sam Welsford was taking on were measured in thousands of metres, not thousands of kilometres. But now the Olympic track medallist is already facing up to his first Tour de France sprint stage firmly embedded among the list of contenders for the victory.
It’s been the quickest of transitions for the Australian rider, who entered the WorldTour in 2022. Yet he is already taking on the Tour de France as DSM-Firmenich's supported sprinter after a spate of impressive results in the first half of the year made it hard to pass him over for the biggest race on the calendar, even though he had yet to face the test of a Grand Tour.
