In order to mark a full century since Don Kirkham and Iddo ‘Snowy’ Munro became the first Australians to ride the Tour de Farnce, Cycling Australia will select nine men to make up their greatest ever riders to take part in the race. 50 men have ridden the event since those two pioneers 100 years ago.

The ‘Team of the Century’ will be announced by Cycling Australia at the Jayco Australian Cyclist of the Year Awards in Melbourne on Friday November 21.

Nine riders will be selected for specific roles including:

Two riders for the GC

Two key domestiques to support the GC riders

One sprinter

Two leadout men for the sprinter

One all rounder

One team captain

The man in charge of the selection, Peter Bartels AO said the hardest thing would be to compare the different generations of cycling.

“Unfortunately, with just nine spots on a Tour de France team, there’ll be world-class riders, who have done wonderful things for Australian cycling, who will miss out,” Bartels said.

“The style of racing from Opperman’s period to now is so different and there was far less opportunity for many of our pioneers."

“It’s so hard to measure the quality of a rider like Russell Mockridge, who was arguably the best of his generation, but we sadly didn’t get to see his best.”

Phil Anderson, the first non-European to wear the yellow jersey, Robbie McEwen, triple Green Jersey winner and Cadel Evans, the only Australian to win the Tour de France, have been tipped as certainties to be in the team.

Any riders who have served a doping suspension or made a confession will not be eligible under Cycling Australia’s anti-doping stance. 

Bartels will be helped by Orica-GreenEDGE team manager Shayne Bannan and two-time UCI Road World Cup winner Anna Wilson, along with three others to help make the decision.