During the winter, Steele von Hoff has moved from NFTO to One Pro Cycling Team. He hopes to be present at the start of the Tour Down Under with Team UniSA Australia. His new team is not a WorldTour team so he must fight for selection for the national team.

Last year, von Hoff delivered a great performance in the Australian race with a stage win. He crossed first the line in stage 4.

This week he will try to win his first national title. "Three (titles) would be nice because no one had ever won two but as usual the road race (on Sunday) is the most prestigious race you can win in Australia and if I could try to get that jersey and take it to Europe in the One pro colours would be fantastic," Von Hoff said according to Fox Sports. "Caleb will be there (at the front on Wednesday night) and the Avanti boys are always strong in the crit and Neil Van Der Ploeg is riding really well so it will be fantastic to race against them."

Von Hoff warmed up for the national championships by racing the Mitchelton Bay Cycling Classic in Geelong last week which followed a three-week training camp with his new team owned by former England Test cricketer Matt Prior.

He had a difficult year in 2015. At the start of the season, he had a promising schedule of European races with NFTO, but his team did not receive the expected invitatations. "I had the best start to a year that I’ve ever had but throughout the year my race schedule kept changing and diminishing and I didn’t end up racing outside the UK for the season," he added. "We’ve done a lot of teamwork (at One) and bonding so the atmosphere is set for a really good year.

"I’m hopeful of getting a start at the TDU but it just depends on my nationals form and how I go in the road race. Of course if you get on the podium that is pretty much guaranteeing it so that’s the goal, then our team is racing the Cadel Evans race and Herald Sun Tour so it’s racing as usual."