ORICA-GreenEDGE head into the Criterium du Dauphine this weekend with a balanced and experienced team hungry for stage results.

Last year’s race saw Briton Simon Yates finish fifth overall for ORICA-GreenEDGE whilst also winning the races best young rider award after a string of excellent performances including multiple top five finishes in the mountains.

The difficult yet mixed parcours generally favours the climbers, with at least one of the mountain stages identical to one of the key stages in the upcoming Tour de France.

Sport director Laurenzo Lapage is looking forward to the race, especially on the back of a successful Giro d’Italia for ORICA-GreenEDGE.

“This is always a hard race,” said Lapage. “The route is a difficult one in and around the Alps, but we have a really balanced team and we are going into the race looking for stage results.

“The diversity of our squad means that we have options for the mountain stages and also for the sprints.”

2016 Tour Down Under winner Simon Gerrans makes a return to racing after the Tour de Romandie and will be supported in the sprints by the strong men Jens Keukeleire, Mitch Docker and Daryl Impey.

“After achieving a great result in the Giro d’Italia we are hoping to carry this momentum into Criterium du Dauphine,” explained Lapage. “The team is hungry for success and we are highly motivated to do well here.

“Of course the race serves as conditioning both physically and mentally for the Tour de France and we are aiming to come out of the race in top shape with some good results under our belts.”

2015 Clasica Ciclista San Sebastian winner Adam Yates returns to the Criterium du Dauphine as does Canadian Christian Meier with 22-year old Australian Jack Haig making his first appearance.

Haig will be providing support for Yates in the mountains whilst Meier typifies the strength in depth of ORICA-GreenEDGE by offering all round skills from the flatter stages to the mountains. 

The 2016 edition of the Criterium du Dauphine starts this weekend and will cover 1153kilometres over eight days around the Rhone-Alpes region of southeastern France.

The race is a precursor for the Tour de France and also the Tour de Suisse and is historically used as form finder by the general classifcation contenders.

Due to the pending decision regarding Simon Yates, he will not ride the 2016 Criterium du Dauphine. His next scheduled race is the Tour of Slovenia. 

ORICA-GreenEDGE at Criterium du Dauphine (5-12 June):

Mitch Docker (AUS, VIC, 29)

Simon Gerrans (AUS, VIC, 35)

Jack Haig (AUS, VIC, 22)

Daryl Impey (RSA, 30)

Jens Keukeleire (BEL, 27)

Christian Meier (CAN, 31)

Adam Yates (GBR, 23)

NB: eighth rider to be confirmed.