For many years, Andre Greipel began his season in Australia, during the Santos Tour Down Under. But this year, the German rider has decided to change his preparation this year after 7 following participations in the Tour Down Under. "It's a shame, but I'm 32 and if I want to try a different approach, it is now".

For Adam Hansen, without a sprint leader, the Belgian team would still have been called to work hard in chasing break. So the pressure is now on him: “It is different because normally we pull every day. We don’t have to do that now,” Hansen told Cyclingnews. “But I wouldn’t say we have less pressure. Because Andre is not here, we have more pressure on us. When Andre was here he just won and we didn’t have to do anything.“

“It’s [now] a bit more stressful for us even though the sports director doesn’t say so. We have spent a lot of time with our sports directors and we know how they feel. They are a bit stressed. So it is a bit harder now.”