Cadel Evans (BMC) is making his return to the Tour Down Under this year. And he believes the race has changed a lot since he last participated: "It is certainly hillier than all the Tour Down Under's that I have done before and hopefully better for me. It is fairly tough in the early season and I see a lot guys that are fit and very motivated. I suppose I can probably count myself amongst them."
However, the first stage is under threat of being cancelled as a result of bush fires. Sky’s Ian Stannard clocked up a temperature of 51 degrees Celsius on his bike computer during a training ride and, come Monday, race organisers will make a decision on whether the stage will go ahead.
The stage is scheduled to go for 135km from Nuriootpa to Angaston, with Menglers Hill the main obstacle in the way of a sprint finish and it will almost certainly cause some sprinters to drop out of the leading group.
There are King of the Mountains points available on top of Menglers Hill as well as two sprint points at Bethany on the way to the finish.
Evans has said that he thinks this is one of the hardest opening Tour Down Under stages he has ever seen and that while he doesn’t think anyone will win the race on this stage, there could be some favourites who drop out.
On his return to Australia, Evans has said “I am happy to be back racing and my international program this year allows me to be here. It's a WorldTour race and it's in Australia, and I would love to get the team off to a good start and that's the main thing. Sometimes you get an opportunity to race in Australia and sometimes not," Evans told Cyclingnews. "It's nice when I come to race here that there are a lot of people cheering on the side of the road for me which is fantastic, but most of all it's nice to see how much cycling has grown in Australia."
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