ORICA-GreenEDGE will have its sights set on stage wins and overall success at theSantos Tour Down Under, which starts with the People’s Choice Classic in Adelaide this Sunday, 17 January 2016.

Headlined by two-time champion Simon Gerrans and recent national criterium champion Caleb Ewan, ORICA-GreenEDGE is also supported by three powerful Australians in 2013 national champion Luke Durbridge, 2014 national time trial champion Michael Hepburn and 2006 Commonwealth Games champion Mathew Hayman.

2013 Tour de France yellow jersey wearer Daryl Impey (RSA) and five-time Tour de Romandie stage winner Michael Albasini (SUI) complete the line up.

As the team’s only home WorldTour race, sport director Matt White said the outfit has high ambitions.

“We have multiple goals,” White said. “We’d love to win the overall and stage wins along the way.

“I am very happy with the group we have assembled for what is always a very special race for this team."

With the re-introduction of the Corkscrew climb, White said general classification teams needed to be on alert across a number of stages throughout the Tour.

“The Tour route is almost identical to when Gerro won here two years ago,” he said. “There are three crucial stages for general classification.”

“Stirling just for time bonuses, the Corkscrew because it’s a very tough climb and there is no time to get a chase organised from the top of the climb to the finish line in Campbelltown and then Willunga.

“The race is always won or lost on Willunga. It’s not the toughest of climbs but if you lose contact with whatever group you are in, that can cost you the Tour.”

White identified two Colombians Jarlinson Pantano (IAM Cycling) and Sergio Henao (Team Sky), Italian Diego Ullisi (Lampre) along with the two Australians on the BMC Racing team - Richie Porte and defending champ Rohan Dennis - as the riders to watch in the overall battle.

A strong option for stage success for ORICA-GreenEDGE is Ewan, who has started the year with plenty of success having taken out the Mitchelton Bay Cycling Classic and Australian criterium championship already in 2016.

The eager 21-year-old sprinter will line up at the Tour Down Under for the first time in ORICA-GreenEDGE colours after his first appearance for the UniSA - Australia team in 2014.

“Obviously being the only WorldTour race in Australia you want to do it,” Ewan said of his motivation for the race. “The atmosphere there, even compared to a lot of the European races, is almost better and with the crowd being Australian, you have more support.”

In discussing the course, Ewan identified a number of stages that have the potential to come down to a bunch sprint.

“The criterium on the Sunday before the race, I’ll have a go in that,” he said.  “Then, I think the first stage will be a bunch finish and possibly the fourth stage, that usually comes down to a bunch sprint too.”

“Hopefully I can do well in those two stages and then the last stage, the crit in Adelaide at the end of the Tour, I’d like to go for that one as well.”

The Santos Tour Down Under kicks off with the People’s Choice Classic criterium on Sunday evening before the six-day Tour begins in earnest on Tuesday in Prospect and finishes with the traditional final Adelaide circuit on Sunday, 24 January.

ORICA-GreenEDGE at the Tour Down Under (17 – 24 Jan):

Michael Albasini (SUI, 34)
Luke Durbridge (AUS, WA, 24)
Caleb Ewan (AUS, NSW, 21)
Simon Gerrans (AUS, VIC, 35)
Mathew Hayman (AUS, NSW, 37)
Michael Hepburn (AUS, QLD, 24)
Daryl Impey (RSA, 30)