Movistar’s Javier Moreno has fond memories of the Tour Down Under. Last year he was 2nd Overall and won the King of the Mountains Classification.

He has won stage races before, such as the 2011 Vuelta a Esturias and the 2013 Vuelta a Castilla y Leon, but his chances are limited with top GC riders like Nairo Quintana and Alejandro Valverde in the team.

But the Spaniard is ready to take his chance and lead the team.

"It's normally my job to help my leaders, Valverde and Quintana, so I'm going to take advantage of the opportunity to be the leader this week at the Tour Down Under but I don't quite expect to be as good as the Australians," he said

He is a rider who has a realistic chance of winning but gave nothing away when asked about his form: "I've prepared like the last two years, I don't actually know quite what condition I'm in right now. The first race is always an unknown factor but I hope to go as well as possible and see what happens,"

While ha acknowledged that the Australians, such as Porte, Evans and Gerrans will be difficult to beat, the course suits him "There is an extra day of hard climbing and as a principle, the harder the race is, the better for me. The level of the field is also higher this year so, it will be a difficult race to win."