Midway through an exciting summer of racing, Australia’s road cycling stars head into the 2016 Tour Down Under in strong form

The streets of Adelaide may be thousands of kilometres from cycling’s spiritual home, a world away from the mountain passes of the French Pyrenees and the muddy Belgian cobblestones. Yet on Tuesday, the World Tour peloton will roll out from the vibrant suburb of Prospect for their first race of 2016.



The domestic summer of cycling, however, is already in full swing. The Tour Down Under comes just over a week after Jack Bobridge and Amanda Spratt were crowned national champions in Ballarat, while a busy criterium season across Launceston, Melbourne and Geelong has provided plenty of fare for spectators to feed on.

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Those races have added even more depth to numerous intriguing storylines at the Tour’s 18th edition, headlined by an exciting general classification contest. From the precursor People’s Choice Classic, held this Sunday, to the infamous penultimate stage up Willunga Hill, 18 professional outfits and two wildcard entries face a tough week of competition ahead.

Leading the charge will be newly-crowned national time trial champion Rohan Dennis of BMC Racing Team, as he aims to become the first rider to win consecutive Tour Down Under titles. Dennis edged Richie Porte by just two seconds in 2015, but will this year be riding alongside the hard-working Tasmanian following Porte’s transfer to BMC. With Porte riding support due to his ambitions later in the season, Dennis will benefit immensely from the physical ability of the super-domestique who previously helped Chris Froome to twin yellow jersey triumphs in France.

The BMC duo will face off against compatriot Simon Gerrans, a three-time Tour Down Under victor riding for Australia’s lone World Tour team. After missing last year’s race with a broken collarbone, the veteran will be Orica-GreenEDGE’s leader on the road and has the backing of a strong unit. Determined to rebound from an injury-marred past season, Gerrans placed sixth at the national championships and is well-suited to the punchy Adelaide hills.

In the battle for sprint points, former stage winner Steele von Hoff and Drapac Professional Cycling’s Brenton Jones will be hoping to contain 21-year-old dynamo Caleb Ewan. The GreenEDGE prodigy was unstoppable at the recent Bay Cycling Classic, claiming three of the four stages, before he clinched the national criterium title. Ewan has long been touted as cycling’s “next big thing”, winning a Grand Tour stage in his debut professional season, and will be a threat at every bunch finish.

Australians have won 10 of the 17 Tour Down Under editions held since its inception in 1999 – partly due to a lack of race fitness for many European riders – and locals will again be among the favourites when the peloton rolls out. With Gerrans and Dennis fighting for the ochre jersey, and several international stars (including Astana’s Luis Leon Sanchez and Welshman Geraint Thomas) eager to alter the event’s distinctly green and gold tinge, the week-long race looks set to offer an exciting start to the 2016 World Tour.

The strength of this local contingent, along with the title-winning performances of Dennis and Bobridge at the national championships, also bodes well for Australia’s Olympic ambitions in Brazil later this year. Dennis is a strong contender for the individual time trial after his blistering Tour de France performance last July, while Bobridge will switch disciplines to join the track pursuit team in Rio de Janeiro.

Cycling has long been a key contributor to the nation’s medal haul, with six gongs at London 2012 behind only the 10 successes recorded by swimmers. The Australian Olympic Committee’s latest analysis forecasts three gold medals from the female track stars, and Bobridge’s team will present a tough challenge for reigning world champions New Zealand.

Before Brazil, though, and before Australia’s professional riders farewell their country for a temporary European home, they must first tackle the Tour Down Under, the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race and the historic Herald Sun Tour.

Introduced in 2015 to coincide with the retirement of the eponymous cycling great, Evans’ one-day classic is already on the verge of World Tour status. It will host a number of leading teams on 31 January, including BMC, GreenEDGE and Dimension Data, with the latter’s British sprint extraordinaire Mark Cavendish beginning his season at the race.

While the Great Ocean Road event is barely two years young, Australia’s oldest stage race – the Herald Sun Tour – will feature another Brit: Tour de France winner Froome. Team Sky’s marquee rider will compete against the best domestic teams in the country, in the 63rd edition of a race whose honour roll includes Sir Bradley Wiggins, John Trevorrow and the great Russell Mockridge.

For Australian cycling fans, 2015-16 has provided yet another summer to savour. With three compelling races on home soil still to come, the late nights of dreary-eyed Grand Tour viewing remain beyond the horizon.

Despite Australia’s “geographical separation from cycling’s European heartland”, as one magazine mused recently, the Tour Down Under has “built up a sense of being the natural and proper place to begin a global sporting series”.

With challenging and picturesque stages across sun-drenched South Australia, in the midst of a full calendar of domestic racing, it is a surprise the Europeans failed to catch on sooner.

And not a Pyrenean mountain top or muddy cobblestone in sight.