All eyes on Tour Down Under
New outfits Team Sky and Team RadioShack will be the focus of attention at the Tour Down Under this month.
By Nick Howes
Last Updated: 15/01/10 9:52am
After almost four years in the making, Team Sky will make their eagerly-awaited debut at the Tour Down Under.
The race takes place around Adelaide between January 17-24 and is the first UCI ProTour race of the 2010 season.
Australian Chris Sutton and New Zealander Greg Henderson will both be looking to impress for the BSkyB-backed outfit and the duo are in fine form after their respective first and second-placed finishes at last week's Jayco Bay Cycling Classic in Melbourne.
Mathew Hayman is another Aussie rider aiming to make his mark in front of his own fans and he's joined by Italy's Davide Viganò and British trio Russell Downing, Chris Froome and Ben Swift as Team Sky look to start their season with a bang.
Downing for one cannot wait to impress his new employers.
He said: "The opportunity to work in a big team is one I'm looking forward to.
"Team Sky are giving me the chance I've dreamed of. I don't feel I have anything to prove to anyone, but I want to grab this opportunity and enjoy it."
Rivals
Several other teams will be looking to make an early mark too, with Lance Armstrong's new Team RadioShack at the top of that list.
The seven-time Tour de France winner has confirmed his attendance for a second year running and will be ably supported by the likes of Yaroslav Popovych and Gert Steegmans, who have both tasted stage victories in cycling's blue riband event themselves.
Armstrong had been out of action for three-and-a-half years before the 2009 event and insists he is far better prepared this time around to improve on his 29th-placed finish of 12 months ago.
He said: "It's totally different now. I certainly don't expect to win, but I expect to be far stronger than last year."
Cadel Evans will be welcomed back to his homeland a national hero after claiming the World Championship road title in spectacular style last September.
The 32-year-old will be making his debut for the BMC Racing Team, who have made waves in the close season by attracting other high-profile faces such as George Hincapie and Alessandro Ballan to their roster.
The stature of the race is further boosted by the likes of 2006 Tour de France winner Oscar Pereiro at Astana, reigning Vuelta a España champion Alejandro Valverde of Caisse d'Epargne and Australian legend Stuart O'Grady at Saxo Bank.
The race
O'Grady was the winner of the inaugural Santos Tour Down Under back in 1999 but the event has grown massively since its inception and can now lay claim to being the biggest cycling event in the southern hemisphere.
In 2008 it became part of the UCI ProTour, the first event outside Europe to do so, and is now commonly regarded as the first major race of the season.
The tour's six stages take place in and around the South Australian capital of Adelaide on flat to moderately undulating terrain which will undoubtedly favour bunch sprints.
The only real opportunity the climbers will have to shine is on stage five when they will do two laps of Willunga Hill, a 3km ascent at an average gradient of 7.6%.
