Katusha have announced their roster for the Tour Down Under. The team will be lead by Tiago Machado while Giampaolo Caruso and Sergey Lagutinw ill also be going for GC and Rüdiger Selig and Alexey Tsatevich will try to shine in the sprints.

A Portuguese cyclist who battled on after a serious crash in this year’s Tour de France will bring his fighting spirit to South Australia for the 2015 Santos Tour Down Under.

Tiago Machado was in third place after the ninth stage of the Tour de France but crashed badly during a descent the next day and slid down the road for about 100 metres.

Despite doctors urging the 29-year-old to abandon the race he demanded to get back on his bike, then went on to climb three mountains and cross the finish line 43 minutes behind the stage winner.

Race Director, Mike Turtur said he looked forward to watching Machado and is sure he will become a crowd favourite. 

“I’m sure we’ll see strong crowds lining climbs such as Checker Hill, Torrens Hill Road and Willunga Hill and the atmosphere is sure to be fantastic as top riders fight for all-important UCI WorldTour points – securing the best vantage points to see the team.”

Riders set to join Machado in South Australia include Russian Maxim Belkov, an all-rounder who took out stage nine of the 2013 Giro d’Italia. Italian climber Giampaolo Caruso, winner of this year’s Milano-Torino, will also represent Katusha Team.

"Tiago will be our designated leader in this race. Tiago likes the Santos Tour Down Under. He started twice and both times with success. After having finished already third overall, he is motivated to do even better in 2015," said Team Director Gennady Mikhaylov. "With Sergey Lagutin and Giampaolo Caruso we have two riders able to do the same. When something goes wrong with Tiago, we have other irons in the fire."

"The Santos Tour Down Under will be my first race for Team Katusha. I look forward to proving to the team they did well by contracting me. It's always very hot around Adelaide. Many European riders suffer from it, but I don't. Also in Portugal we have those extreme temperatures in summer. I like it,” said Machado.

The Katusha Team competing at the 2015 Santos Tour Down Under will be led by sport director Gennady Mikhaylov and includes riders Maxim Belkov (Russia), Giampaolo Caruso (Italy), Vladimir Isaychev (Russia), Sergey Lagutin (Russia), Tiago Machado (Portugal), Rudi Selig (Germany) and Aleksei Tsatevich (Russia).