The 2015 season is officially underway as Tinkoff-Saxo and the other WorldTour teams rode today’s People’s Choice Classic – a criterium just before the start of Santos Tour Down Under. In mild Australian summer conditions the 51 k race turned into a high-speed affair, where Marcel Kittel proved to be the fastest man in the final sprint, while Tinkoff-Saxo’s Pavel Brutt finished 15th.

“We’re all very excited to kickstart the new season. It’s three months since we last raced, so our seven riders, were all thrilled to be back on their bikes doing some real racing. They were thrown directly into it – with just 51 kilometers on a city circuit the peloton held a very high pace during the entire race”, says Lars Michaelsen, who is the leading sport director for Tinkoff-Saxo in Australia.

Tinkoff-Saxo doesn’t bring a sprinter’s team to the race, as the squad is built to support Michael Rogers during the actual Santos Tour Down Under starting Tuesday. Despite that, Michaelsen was pleased to see the first signs of a team prepared to fight.

“Except for our fastest man in the sprints Michael Kolar, who has been ill the last days, I saw some great signs from our riders. For us the real battle begins Tuesday, where our ambition is to keep Michael in the top part of the general classification”, explains Lars Michaelsen, who adds that the new 2015 kit made quite an impression on him:

“Our team is really visible in the peloton, which is not just an advantage for our fans but also for me as the sport director. It’s not a problem to spot our riders and to quickly gain an overview of where the team is positioned in the peloton during the race and in the final sprint”.

The results from today’s criterium do not count in the GC of Tour Down Under. Tuesday’s stage 1 starts off with a 132,6 kilometer undulating stage, where the riders will tackle the Checker Hill in an area of world-famous vineyards before a speedy descent down towards the finish line in Campbelltown.