ORICA-GreenEDGE has named a strong eight-man lineup for Clasica Ciclista San Sebastian this Saturday, including four of the six finishers from the recent Tour de France.

Having ridden himself into a threatening position only to suffer a crash on the descent to the finish last year, 2014 Tour of Turkey winner Adam Yates will be back for revenge alongside his brother Simon Yates, the 2015 Criterium du Dauphine best young rider, this weekend.

“The race itself is a very demanding race,” sport director Neil Stephens said. "It suits quite a few of our riders, but probably the standouts are the two Yates brothers.

“Realistically, we would have been looking at least at a top three last year before Adam crashed.

“This year we want to be putting ourselves in the same position, a position to go for the win, again.”

The 22-year-old’s will back up just six days after completing their first full Tour de France, but Stephens is confident the right preparation can put them in a strong position.

“It always pretty interesting,” Stephens said. “It’s a bit of a hit or miss, especially when a couple of the guys are so young come up after the Tour de France.

“You have a chance to back off the gas a little bit but it’s also time enough to get into a little bit of training as well.

“It’s not as easy as people may think, it’s tricky, but if you can get the balance right, you can actually go pretty well.”

The 219km hilly classic features three category one climbs before a final category three in the last ten kilometres of racing.

Also coming into the team direct from the Tour de France is former Australian champion Luke Durbridge and multiple grand tour stage winner Pieter Weening.

2015 Jayco Herald Sun Tour champion Cameron Meyer and Classics specialist Jens Keukeleire will come in off last weekend’s Spanish one-day race, whilst Sam Bewley and Michael Hepburn return to racing after a training block.

Stephens said the Australian outfit would use its men wisely through the demanding day.

“Sam Bewley and Michael Hepburn will be very important early,” he said “If it wasn’t for these type of guys doing their job first, we wouldn’t be able to pull off a result at the finish of the race.

“Luke Durbridge and Pieter Weening will be really important coming into the final. Hopefully we get to the extra loop, that was introduced for the first time last year, and to the foot of the last hard climb with two riders still in the mix.”

ORICA-GreenEDGE at Clasica Ciclista San Sebastian (1 Aug):

Sam Bewley
Luke Durbridge
Michael Hepburn
Jens Keukeleire
Cameron Meyer
Pieter Weening
Adam Yates
Simon Yates