Drapac Professional Cycling will make its debut at the Santos Tour Down Under with a seven-man roster featuring up-and-coming stars and some of Australia’s best cyclists.

In an event first, a wild card invitation was extended to Drapac Professional Cycling as an Australian Pro Continental team, the second tier of professional road cycling competition.

Drapac Professional Cycling’s roster includes former Australian road race champion Travis Meyer who has transferred from Orica-GreenEDGE, Australia’s only UCI Pro Tour team. Santos Tour Down Under Race Director Mike Turtur said the team would bring an experienced roster of Australian cyclists to Adelaide.

“Drapac Professional Cycling’s roster announced today will see another seven Australians added to the world-class line up of professional cyclists competing here in January,” Mr Turtur said.

“Four of the seven-man team have transferred from UCI Pro Tour teams for the 2014 season including Jonathan Cantwell from Saxo-Tinkoff and William Clarke from Argo-Shimano,” Mr Turtur said.

Directeur Sportif (team manager) Henk Vogels said the team would not be content in just making its UCI WorldTour debut in Adelaide, with an ambitious outlook towards the six-stage event.

“Everyone knows Jonathan Cantwell is quick, but Drapac is taking a very balanced squad to the race,” he said. “We’ll aim to be the most attacking team at the Santos Tour Down Under and will be looking to take our opportunities where ever we can,” Vogels continued. “Our guys won’t just be waiting to come off Andre Greipel’s wheel in a sprint finish. Expect Drapac to be mega-active where it counts.”

Drapac Professional Cycling’s debut will see a record three Australian teams competing at the 2014 Santos Tour Down Under including Orica-GreenEDGE and UniSA-Australia.

“With another Australian team added to the line-up I expect the support for our home-grown cycling stars will be better than ever and I encourage all cycling fans to show their support for Drapac Professional Cycling,” Mr Turtur said.

The Drapac Professional Cycling team competing at the 2014 Santos Tour Down Under will be led by team manager Hendricus Vogels and includes riders:

Jonathan Cantwell (Australia), Thomas Palmer (Australia), Travis Meyer (Australia), William Clarke (Australia), Bernard Sulzberger (Australia), Wesley Sulzberger (Australia) and Darren Lapthorne (Australia)