Tour reward for top team
TOUR Down Under wildcard team UniSA-Australia is set for a shake-up with five of the seven spots on its roster going to Australia’s leading domestic team IsoWhey Sports SwissWellness.
Cycling Australia last month announced changes to the national road series would mean the top-ranked domestic team each year would be rewarded with a significant presence in the seasonopening WorldTour event in Adelaide.
That means IsoWhey Sports Swiss Wellness — to be known next year as Bennelong Swiss Wellness — will nominate five riders to compete against the world’s best. The remaining two spots will be chosen by national selectors who have previously had control over the line up.
Under UCI rules, continental ranked teams are not allowed to take part in WorldTour events, but Bennelong SwissWellness will have its branding on the UniSAAustralia jersey or knicks.
Team director Andrew Christie-Johnston said he would form a list but would not make a final decision until after the national road titles in Ballarat in January.
“It’s an open plan and will be based off nationals, if we have a sprinter or a climber who is going really well then we will build a team around that,” Christie-Johnson said.
“You can see training but it’s hard to judge how they are going, so being the first race of the season and such an important one to us, it’s really important we get it right.
“Nationals bring out the best in the riders and we’ll have a long list but it will come down to the under-23 and sen- ior races across that weekend.”
Neil van der Ploeg (racing in the UK) and Jesse Kerrison (retired) have left the team but it has announced the signing of several riders.
Tim Roe, Scott Sunderland, Anthony Giacoppo, Sean Lake, Michael Frieberg, Scott Bowden — who raced at the 2016 Rio Olympics — two-time reigning Melbourne to Warrnambool champion Nathan Elliot and Cameron Bayly are all still with the team in 2018 and in contention for the TDU.
From next year the topranked NRS team will be rewarded with a place in the TDU, the second-ranked team in the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race and the third to fifth ranked teams can ride the Herald Sun Tour.
Christie-Johnston is confident his team can be competitive but knows it will be a challenge.
“Every time you step up and to a race like this, it’s a money game,” he said.
“We’ve got a few hundred thousand dollars in our budget and they have millions.
“But our guys don’t mind that, they see it as a challenge.”