Cycling Australia has announced two Australian national teams to compete at the 2014 UCI 2.1 Jayco Herald Sun Tour on February 5 – 9.
Caleb Ewan will headline the Jayco national team following his dominant performance at the MARS Cycling Australia Road National Championships, where he claimed both the under 23 criterium and road race titles.
Ewan then continued his purple patch – finding the podiumalongside Marcel Kittel (Giant-Shimano) and Andre Greipel (Lotto-Belisol)in the People’s Choice Classic before making his World Tour debut with the UniSA team,at the Tour Down Under last week.
Alongside Ewan will be fellow UniSA member Bradley Linfield (WA) as well as junior road world championship representatives Robert Power (WA) and Sam Spokes (NSW). National time trial medalist Harry Carpenter (SA) and Alex Clements (TAS) round out the team.
"This squad is likely to form the nucleus of the 2014 Jayco-AIS World Tour Academy who will race in Europe this season,” said team director James Victor.
“We look forward to getting the group back together for the first time since the world titles in Florence last year.
“Caleb in particular, has had a busy start to the year but we expect he and Robert Power to challenge for stage wins in bunch finishes," Victor added.
Australia will also field an elite national team headlined by reigning track world champion and Olympic silver medalist, Glenn O’Shea (VIC) and Victorian Patrick Shaw.
The pair will lead ‘KordaMentha-Team Australia’ which is full of promising talent plucked from the Subaru National Road Series.
Mt Baw Baw and Tour of Bright winner Matthew Clark, Robert Jon-McCarthy, Chris Jory and Thomas Hamilton complete the squad.
“The team is made up of mostly young guys who are stepping up but we have some more experienced members who we expect to be up high in the rankings,” team director Dave Sanders said.
“It’s Australia’s most historic race and we’re really pleased to have a presence of Australian’s in what is now an international race.”
Sanders expects his team to make the most of their home ground advantage.
“We would be looking at targeting the prologue with a guy like Glenn O’Shea who’s the reigning one kilometer time trial national champion.
“Pat is probably the most experienced rider on the Australian circuit at the moment, the first two stages are run around his hometown of Ballarat and he has a wealth of knowledge of these circuits.
“We know these roads and it’s an advantage, more than an advantage, it’s gold.”
Berrick Wilson, National Head of Property of KordaMentha real estate, said he was proud to support the team and feels that the sponsorship agreement was a natural fit.
“The young stars of the KordaMentha-Team Australia have shown an incredible amount of discipline, dedication and aspiration to get where they are and we believe that our team have the same attributes, driving them to achieve excellent results.”
Jayco u23 National Team
Caleb Ewan
Bradley Linfield
Robert Power
Harry Carpenter
Sam Spokes
Alex Clements
Reserve:
Robert John McCarthy
KordaMentha Team Australia
Glenn O’Shea
Matthew Clarke
Pat Shaw
Chris Jory
Thomas Hamilton
Reserves:
Matthew Lloyd
Allan Davis
Michael Fitzgerald
The most coveted jersey is the leader’s yellow jersey. The leader of the Tour is presented with the yellow jersey at the end of each stage and wear’s the distinctive colour in the next day’s stage. The winner of the Tour is the rider with the least overall elapsed time for the Tour after time bonuses for intermediate sprints, hill climbs and stage finishes are taken into account.
CHAIN REACTION CYCLES BEST SPRINTER’S JERSEY
Each road stage of the Tour carries points towards deciding the best sprinter of the Tour. Intermediate sprints during each stage and additional bonus points at the finish, this is a true competition for the sprinter.
When the terrain rises, the climbers take flight. Where there are hill climbs on the Tour there are points to win for the King of the Mountain crown that determines the best climber on the Tour.
Winning a Tour is the ultimate achievement for any rider, the under 23 jersey is awarded to the champion of the future as the rising star of the Tour. The white jersey is awarded to the highest placed under 23 rider in the Tour.
Each day, a panel of experts will award the Most Aggressive Rider jersey to the rider who has best displayed the most assertive tactics. The award will be based on the panel’s opinions on which rider in the peloton best attempted to control the day’s racing, achieve a stage victory or was involved in spirited attacks during the stage.
BEST TEAM JERSEY
The Tour is a team’s race and winning the Tour depends on strong teamwork. Cooperation, loyalty and team spirit are what this competition is all about and it acknowledges the best team in the race and with the highest overall placing for the whole team.
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