After showing his form across a recent racing block, Danish neo-pro Magnus Cortwill head a series of options for ORICA-GreenEDGE at the Vattenfall Cyclassics in Germany this Sunday.

The Australian outfit featured on the podium last year courtesy of Simon Gerrans, and aim is to feature again in what has traditionally been a race for the sprinters, despite a serious list of contenders.

“I think we will see the most competitive lineups we have seen for these one-day races in the coming weeks,” sport director Matt White said. “We have the likes of Tom Boonen, Greg Van Avermaet, Philippe Gilbert, Marcel Kittel and Andrew Greipel all racing.

“A lot of the Classics riders have been scared away from the Vuelta this year because it’s hard and also with the heat so the one-day races, like Hamburg, are the obvious alternative as preparation for the world championships.

“That could potentially change this weekend’s final because if the right group of guys got away they can survive.  We certainly have more depth there than ever before.”

Featuring on the stage podiums at both the Eneco Tour and Tour of Denmark in recent weeks, Cort will be ORICA-GreenEDGE’s preferred option in event of a bunch sprint.

Should the racing break up, particularly in the final hour of racing, the outfit has a series of additional possibilities including 2015 maglia rosa wearer Simon Clarke, multiple Tour de Suisse stage winner Michael Albasini and Criterium du Dauphine best young rider Simon Yates.

“We have multiple guys who we would be happy in a break should it go to the line,” White said. “Then the guy who has shown he has some great form at the moment, coming off a big block of racing, is Magnus Cort. If it does eventuate into a sprint, Magnus will definitely be the guy.

“This year is the 20th anniversary of the race, so we are starting 80km from Hamburg.  It won’t change too much; the first 80km is still flat until the final circuits.

“It’s a quite narrow run in to the climb on the circuit and it’s a short steep climb. The last hour of racing is when the race winning moves can get away and often a lot of it does fall down to that final climb.”

ORICA-GreenEDGE at the Vattenfall Cyclassics (23 August):

Michael Albasini
Simon Clarke
Magnus Cort
Leigh Howard
Brett Lancaster
Christian Meier
Pieter Weening
Simon Yates