Australian national criterium champion Anthony Giacoppo is fixated on landing a WorldTour contract for 2014 and is determined to use an early season platform to show what he can do.
The 26 year old had a fine 2012 season, winning stages in the Tours of Taiwan, Borneo, Gippsland, the Great South Coast, Murray River and Tasmania. In doing so he filled the gap created when Nathan Haas and Steele Von Hoff departed for the Garmin-Sharp and Chipotle Development teams, thus keeping his team in the headlines.
Giacoppo knows his chances of a WorldTour place will be boosted if he can take some big scalps and with some WorldTour riders competing in early season Australian events, he can chase victory in those races. He will line out in both the Mitchelton Bay Cycling Classic and Jayco Herald Sun Tour, with the first beginning on New Year’s day and running until early on January 3rd, and the second kicking off that evening and continuing until January 6th.
“My ultimate goal is a WorldTour team,” said Giacoppo. “I’m going the right way about it, it’s just timing I guess. I had a strong 2012 but you can always have a better year so I have to keep on working hard.”
He’s content with his form at this point in time and believes that it could enable him to clock up the kind of results he needs. “I’m feeling pretty good, I have had some time off and feeling stronger and looking to be better in 2013,” he said.
“I would say I’m more suited to first couple of stages. Arthurs Seat will be an interesting finish.”
He will be joined by 2010 national road series champion Patrick Shaw and 2012 Tour of Tasmania stage winners Jai Crawford and Nathan Earle in the Jayco Herald Sun Tour, together with former PureBlack rider Joseph Cooper and the 21-year-old Aaron Donnelly.
The Jayco Herald Sun Tour moved from its traditional autumn slot to a new place before the national championships and the WorldTour Santos Tour Down Under. While it has controversially lost its UCI ranking – something it will fight to get back – several top-level riders such as Simon Gerrans, Stuart O’Grady, Matt Goss and Simon Clarke (Orica GreenEdge), Nathan Haas (Garmin Sharp) and Greg Henderson (Lotto Belisol) will ride the race as part of national teams.
“There are some really strong National Road Series teams and some talented national teams...it will be a good race,” said Giacoppo. “I did the ‘Sun Tour’ last year and going up Arthurs Seat was great, a late arvo finish with the streets packed will be an awesome sight.”
Prior to the Jayco Herald Sun Tour, he will also ride the Mitchelton Bay Cycling Classic, which begins next Tuesday in Geelong.
Mitchelton Bay Cycling Classic:
Criterium 1 – Tuesday, 1 January - Ritchie Blvd, Geelong
Criterium 2 – Wednesday, 2 January - Portarlington
Criterium 3 – Thursday, 3 January – Williamstown
Jayco Herald Sun Tour:
Prologue - Thursday, 3 January – Williamstown ITT – 4.8km
Stage 1 - Friday, 4 January - Melbourne (Sunbury) to Bendigo – 144km
Stage 2 - Saturday, 5 January - Mitchelton Winery to Healesville – 145km
Stage 3 - Sunday, 6 January – Moonah Links to Arthurs Seat – 90km