2009 winner Allan Davis (Astana), seven-time Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong (Team RadioShack), world road race champion Cadel Evans, US champ George Hincapie (BMC) and Vuelta a España victor Alejandro Valverde are just some of the big names which have been confirmed for the 2010 Santos Tour Down Under, which gets underway in Adelaide in ten day’s time.
Race organisers have released names of most of the teams taking part, with a small number yet to be confirmed.
Davis and 2006 Tour de France champion Oscar Pereiro will lead the Astana team, which will be completely focussed on helping the Australian take a second consecutive victory in the race. The squad will be directed by former top sprinter Guido Bontempi, who is a new signing to the management.
Many eyes will be on Armstrong, who has been training hard this winter in order to try to take an eighth Tour de France in July. He will want to test his legs on at least one stage, but RadioShack team leadership could in theory go to Gert Steegmans as the Tour Down Under can favour strong sprinters.
A huge amount of attention is also guaranteed for Australia’s road race champion Cadel Evans, who will compete in the distinctive rainbow jersey. That victory plus his recently-released biography have raised public awareness of him and, with Australians being passionate spectators, he will enjoy his time in the race. Hincapie is also part of the team and should ride well.
Evan’s fellow Australian and former team-mate Matthew Lloyd will be part of the Omega-Pharma Lotto squad, while another past Aussie champion Mick Rogers will join 2008 race victor Andre Greipel at the helm of the Columbia HTC team. Former world time trial champion Bert Grabsch will also be pounding along the roads, and will use the stay in Australia as a chance to see the circuit for next October’s world champs.
The new Team Sky will make its debut on the roads around Adelaide. Late last year the-then Garmin Slipstream rider Chris Sutton won three stages and finished second overall in Australia’s other big international stage race, the Herald Sun Tour. He’ll want to perform strongly on home soil, and Sky will be keen to rack up its first win. Ben Swift and Greg Henderson should, if they have good early-season form, also be in contention for a sprint stage victory.
Another former race winner Martin Elmiger leads the Ag2r La Mondiale team, while multiple Aussie champion Robbie McEwen will spearhead the Team Katusha challenge. The race will be the first major international event since his bad accident last year. McEwen feels that he has made a full recovery and will grab any opportunity to take a stage.
Saxo Bank has two strong home challengers in its ranks, namely inaugural Tour Down Under victor Stuart O’Grady and former Tour de France green jersey Baden Cooke. The ever-popular Jens Voigt will also be pinning on a race number and wants to prove that his horrendous Tour de France crash has had no lasting effects.
Strong Australians will compete with the Milram (Luke Roberts), Française des Jeux (Wesley Sulzberger) and Rabobank (Graeme Brown) squads, while Garmin Slipstream will have four: world under 23 champion Jack Bobridge, new national under 23 TT champ Cameron Meyer, Trent Lowe and Matt Wilson, as well as the strong South African sprinter Robbie Hunter.
Caisse d’Epargne features Vuelta winner Valverde and Paris-Nice champion Luis Leon Sanchez and Quick Step will be fronted by Kevin Van Impe, the nephew of the legendary climber and 1976 Tour de France champion Lucien Van Impe.
The announced line-up will be completed by the UNISA-Australia squad, which includes riders such as Simon Clarke, Jonathan Cantwell and Peter McDonald. However several more teams will be announced in the days ahead.
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Santos Tour Down Under provisional lineup:
ASTANA (KAZ)
1. DAVIS Allan AUS
2. PEREIRO Oscar ESP
3. DMITRIYEV Valeriy KAZ
4. GRIVKO Andriy UKR
5. JUFRE POU Josep ESP
6. HERNANDEZ BLAZQUEZ Jess ESP
7. STANGELJ Gorazd SLO
Team Manager: BONTEMPI Guido ITA
TEAM RADIOSHACK (USA)
11. ARMSTRONG Lance USA
12. IMPEY Daryl RSA
13. MCCARTNEY Jason USA
14. POPOVYCH Yaroslav UKR
15. ROSSELER Sebastien BEL
16. VAITKUS Tomas LTU
17. STEEGMANS Gert BEL
Team Manager: AZEVEDO Jose POR
BMC RACING TEAM (USA)
21. EVANS Cadel AUS
22. HINCAPIE George USA
23. KROON Karsten NED
24. WYSS Danilo SUI
25. KRISTOFF Alexander NOR
26. SANTAMBROGIO Mauro ITA
27. FREI Thomas SUI
Team Manager: LELANGUE John BEL
OMEGA PHARMA LOTTO (BEL)
31. DELAGE Mickal FRA
32. KAISEN Olivier BEL
33. LJUNGBLAD Jonas SWE
34. LLOYD Matthew AUS
35. ROELANDTS Jurgen BEL
36. LOWIK Gerben NED
37. VAN GOOLEN Jurgen BEL
Team Manager: REDANT Hendrik BEL
TEAM HTC - COLUMBIA (USA)
41. GREIPEL Andre GER
42. ROGERS Michael AUS
43. GRABSCH Bert GER
44. EISEL Bernhard AUT
45. SIEBERG Marcel GER
46. GOSS Matthew AUS
47. ROULSTON Hayden NZL
Team Manager: PEIPER Allan AUS
TEAM SKY (GBR)
51. SUTTON Christopher AUS
52. VIGANO Davide ITA
53. SWIFT Ben GBR
54. HAYMAN Mathew AUS
55. DOWNING Russell GBR
56. FROOME Christopher GBR
57. HENDERSON Greg NZL
Team Manager: YATES Sean GBR
Ag2r La Mondiale (FRA)
61. ELMIGER Martin SUI
62. DESSEL Cyril FRA
63. KADRI Blel FRA
64. KRIVTSOV Yuriy UKR
65. MANDRI Ren EST
66. RAVARD Anthony FRA
67. TURPIN Ludovic FRA
Team Manager: BIONDI Laurent FRA
TEAM KATUSHA (RUS)
71. McEWEN Robbie AUS
72. PLIUSCHIN Alexander MDA
73. VORGANOV Eduard RUS
74. RIPOLL HORRACH Juan ESP
75. GALIMZYANOV Denis RUS
76. VANDENBERGH Stijn BEL
77. KLIMOV Sergey RUS
Team Manager: KONYCHEV Dmitri RUS
TEAM SAXO BANK (DEN)
81. OGRADY Stuart AUS
82. VOIGT Jens GER
83. KLOSTERGAARD Kasper DEN
84. COOKE Baden AUS
85. HOJ Frank DEN
86. HAEDO Juan Jose AGR
87. LUND Anders DEN
Team Manager: McGEE Bradley AUS
MILRAM (GER)
91. FORSTER Robert GER
92. FOTHEN Markus GER
93. ROELS Dominik GER
94. ROHREGGER Thomas GER
95. STROETINGA Wim NED
96. ROBERTS Luke AUS
97. SCHRODER Bjorn GER
Team Manager: ALGERI Vittorio ITA
FRANCAISE DES JEUX (FRA)
101. CHEREL Mikael FRA
102. PINOT Thibaut FRA
103. HUTAROVICH Yauheni BLR
104. ROUX Anthony FRA
105. SULZBERGER Wesley AUS
106. CAZAUX Pierre FRA
107. VICHOT Arthur FRA
Team Manager: BRICAUD Thierry FRA
CAISSE D'EPARGNE (ESP)
111. VALVERDE Alejandro ESP
112. SANCHEZ Luis Leon ESP
113. ROJAS Jose ESP
114. GUTIERREZ Ivan ESP
115. GARCIA Jose ESP
116. DRUJON Mathieu FRA
117. PERGET Mathieu FRA
Team Manager: STEPHENS Neil AUS
RABOBANK (NED)
131. BROWN Graeme AUS
132. CLEMENT Stef NED
133. FLENS Rick NED
134. LEEZER Tom NED
135. MOERENHOUT Koos NED
136. VAN EMDEN Jos NED
137. WEENING Pieter NED
Team Manager: MAASSEN Frans NED
GARMIN TRANSITIONS (USA)
151. BOBRIDGE Jack AUS
152. DEAN Julian NZL
153. MEYER Cameron AUS
154. MEIER Christian CAN
155. LOWE Trent AUS
156. HUNTER Robbie RSA
157. WILSON Matthew AUS
Team Manager: WHITE Matthew AUS
QUICK STEP (BEL)
171. VAN IMPE Kevin BEL
172. FACCI Mauro ITA
173. KVIST Thomas Vedel DEN
174. MAES Nikolas BEL
175. ENGELS Addy NED
176. VAN DE WALLE Jurgen BEL
177. STAUFF Andreas GER
Team Manager: SLYCKE Rik Van BEL
UNISA - AUSTRALIA (AUS)
181. MATTHEWS Michael ACT
182. DENNIS Rohan SA
183. CLARKE Simon VIC
184. ROE Timothy SA
185. CANTWELL Jonathan QLD
186. McDONALD Peter NSW
187. Australia open road champion (TBC)
Team Manager: SANDERS Dave (AUS)
More teams will be announced soon.