Orica-GreenEdge has named its nine-man squad for the 100th Tour de France, and hopes to take home a stage win with a diverse team that isn’t solely focused on sprinting.

“The team objective this year is to win a stage at the Tour de France,” said sports director Matt White. “That’s our main goal. We’re bringing a more diverse team this year to give us a few more options for intermediate stages and days in the medium mountains. The sprint stages remain a big focus, and we bring a dedicated sprint train to support Matt Goss on the flatter days.”

The line-up includes six riders who raced the Australian team’s inaugural “Grande Boucle” – Stuart O’Grady, Matt Goss, Daryl Impey, Brett Lancaster, Simon Gerrans, and Michael Albasini – alongside three riders making their Tour de France debut – Svein Tuft, Simon Clarke, and Cameron Meyer.

“Last year, we brought together a group of riders who hadn’t raced together much before the Tour de France,” noted White. “This year, we have six who raced the Tour together last year and five who recently worked together at the Tour de Suisse. This is a group of riders that have learned to work together seamlessly.”

“Gossy will be our man on all the sprint stages,” said White. “The boys will look to deliver Gossy to the top step on one of the many stages that are available to the sprinters.”

For this task, Matt Goss will be supported by Brett Lancaster and a South African that has gone from improvement to improvement since he came to the team – Daryl Impey.

“Impey is the last guy in front of Gossy in the sprints,” noted White. “He’s also quite handy in the medium mountains. We brought him to his first Tour de France last year and have seen him develop into one of the best lead out guys in the world over the last 12 months. He’s an important asset for us at any race.”

Beyond the sprint train, the team will look to a group of opportunists who will target key stages that suit their various strengths, with Simon Gerrans, Michael Albasini and Cameron Meyer all equally likely to pick up the Tour stage win that eluded the team last year.

“Cam comes to the Tour off the back of a consistent last couple of months where he finished in the top ten overall at Turkey, California and Switzerland,” said White. “He’s been building steadily since his setback after an operation to treat a saddle sore early in the season.”

“We haven’t previously had anyone for the high mountain stages,” White continued. “With the form he showed us last week in Switzerland, we realise that Cam gives us an option. He can climb with a very select group of riders, and that opens us up to opportunities on stages that we’ve been forced to overlook in the past.”

 “This sport is very result focused,” acknowledged White. “We’re judged on wins, and we have yet to tick the box of our first stage win at the Tour de France. We’ll be happy with any win we can grab.”

Orica-GreenEdge Tour de France line-up:

Stuart O’Grady (Australia), Matt Goss (Australia), Daryl Impey (South Africa), Brett Lancaster (Australia), Svein Tuft (Canada), Simon Gerrans (Australia), Michael Albasini (Switzerland), Simon Clarke (Australia), Cameron Meyer (Australia)