Just over two minutes stood between Jack Bobridge and the overall win at the Jayco Herald Sun Tour in 2011 and this time around, the South Australian is hoping his early-season form makes all the difference.

 

Bobridge will headline the Trek-Segafredo UCI WorldTour team line-up in just his second appearance at the iconic stage race.

 

The 2016 event will be staged from Wednesday 3th to Sunday 7th February, as the climax to an exciting summer of cycling and marks the 63rd edition of the race.

Bobridge stormed into the green and gold bands at the weekend’s Cycling Australia Road National Championships in Ballarat, spending over 90km at the front of the race – and most of that time in a solitary, determined pursuit to be crowned Australian champion for the season heralding his return to the UCI WorldTour ranks.

 

"I am always glad to ride within Australia no matter what race it is. But this will be my second time at the Jayco Herald Sun Tour and once again I'll bring back in the green and gold jersey of the national champion,” Bobridge said.

 

Also the National champion in 2011, Bobridge is hopeful that his Australian jersey is just the talisman he needs to give him an edge at the Jayco Herald Sun Tour over a peloton that will include two-time Tour de France winner Chris Froome (Team Sky).

 

“My last time at the Herald Sun Tour I ended up with second (to Nathan Haas), maybe this time I can move to the top step!” he said.

 

“I look forward to racing over in Melbourne once again. We are at the start with a young and very motivated team and I am sure we will all do the best we can in order to obtain some good results."

 

Bobridge will be joined by teammates, Italians Eugenio Alafaci and Niccolo Bonifazio,Laurent Didier and his exciting fellow Frenchman, climbing specialist Julien Bernard, while former Japanese Champion Fumiyuki Beppu rounds out the line-up.

 

Trek-Segafredo Directeur Sportif, Kim Andersen admits that the Jayco Herald Sun Tour will likely be a test for his team, given most will have come from a European winter.

 

“We bring a few young guys with whom we hope to get some good results,” he said.

 

“Of course we want them to follow Jack Bobridge's example, who won the Australian nationals. Jack demonstrated that you just have to try and keep trying and in the end you can get a magnificent result.”

 

“The stages are quite short but I expect some hard and intensive racing because we will compete with smaller Australian teams that are in their high season, while we are only at the beginning of our season,” Andersen concluded.

 

The 2016 Jayco Herald Sun Tour will be presented by Jayco and the Herald Sun, along with the continued support from the Victorian State Government.