Author: VeloHuman

Tyler Farrar on Classics Ambitions and Expectations for 2015: “I Think We All Evolve as Riders over the Course of Our Careers.”

After eight seasons riding for Garmin, Tyler Farrar found himself on the market for a new team last fall. Having just turned 30, and in the middle of a season that included a few strong results but no wins to that point, the American sprinter and Classics specialist was undoubtedly a different rider than he had been in years past. As it turned out, that rider was just what Pro Continental squad MTN-Qhubeka was looking for, as part of the team’s bold push to dramatically upgrade their roster for 2015. Adding to an air of growing excitement around the South African organization, Farrar signed on amid a flurry of other high-profile additions that included Edvald Boasson Hagen, Matt Goss, and Theo Bos.

A little over a month later, Tyler Farrar took on his final event in Garmin kit, the Tour of Beijing. On the third stage of the race, Farrar was the first man across the finish line in a high-speed battle with the likes of Luka Mezgec and Moreno Hofland, taking his first win of the season, and his first WorldTour victory since his Tour de France stage win on July 4th, 2011. With two other strong stage performances in Beijing, Farrar would go on to win the Points Classification in that race as well, adding a new jersey to his collection as he closed out his long tenure with Garmin. At the end of a year of near misses, Farrar’s Beijing performance was the best way to head into an offseason of transition on the right foot, and the Washington state native attributes his ability to close out 2014 with a bang to a rekindled enthusiasm after finding his place on a new team.

“I think it is always nice to finish a season on a high note,” Farrar told VeloHuman from Spain, where he has been racing in this week’s Ruta del Sol. “2014 was a good season for me as a whole, but I had always been close to victories without actually winning. Getting a win in Beijing was really good for the head going into the winter. I think a big part of it was having signed with MTN-Qhubeka p/b Samsung. I was so motivated for the new project that the results really came around at the end of the season.”

Notching a 2nd-place finish behind rising Australian sprinting star Caleb Ewan in this month’s Herald Sun Tour, Farrar seems to have maintained his enthusiasm and some form through the winter and into 2015, putting him in good shape for the early goings of the season.

“I had an incredibly smooth winter, I stayed healthy and was able to really focus in on my training without any major interruptions,” he said. “I am usually the kind of rider who needs a few races in the legs before I find top form, so to already be up in the mix at my first race of the year in Sun Tour was a really good sign that my work over the winter is paying off.”

He is now part of a somewhat crowded stable of proven sprinting talents on MTN-Qhubeka, but Farrar also has the strength to feature on the spring’s grueling Classics. As such, Farrar has directed his attention towards preparation for a campaign on the cobbles. “I did a ton of threshold and power work over the winter that I hope will really pay off in Belgium this spring,” he said.

Farrar’s main target races begin towards the end of March, with the more sprinter-friendly one-day events like Gent-Wevelgem, where he has had success in the past, getting particular focus, but he is on the lookout for results at every opportunity.

“My number one goal is to be at my best for the major cobbled Classics, starting with Dwars door Vlaanderen and carrying through to Paris-Roubaix,” he said. “I have built my entire winter around it. Of course any results before then will be a nice bonus though! I am not the kind of guy who likes to go to races just for training, so I will race for the win every opportunity I get this year.”

A roster loaded with high-speed talent will make MTN-Qhubeka particularly dangerous in the springtime races catering more to quick men, though the multiplicity of options makes the roles of each potential contender a bit unclear at the moment. Farrar sees this an asset, explaining that roles will be determined out on the road: “I think we have a super strong team for 2015, especially in the Classics. The most important thing in those races is to have good numbers in the final selection so that you have a few cards to play. Once we get into that situation it will come down to who has the best legs on the day.”

Farrar’s aim to prioritize the Classics is somewhat motivated by his own evaluation of his abilities. Though still capable of contending in the pure sprints, as he has shown with plenty of sprint stage Top 5s over the past few seasons, Farrar has not quite been able to muster the same sort of top-end velocity as he once could. However, the 30-year-old American sees his less potent finishing kick as a part of his inevitable evolution as a rider, which has at the same time left him feeling more confident in his ability to survive the tough terrain in Flanders, and which has also given him the sort of experience that might make him a valuable leadout man should his team request his services in that department, a possibility Farrar says he is “really looking forward to.” In short, Farrar, appears to be embracing the evolution as he rides into this new chapter of his career, wearing the stripes of a brand new kit.

“I think we all evolve as riders over the course of our careers,” Farrar said. “While I may not have quite the same raw speed I had a few years ago, I have gotten a lot stronger. That is one of the big reasons I have focused on the Classics this year. I am also really excited to be a part of the MTN-Qhubeka p/b Samsung project and to help it grow. I think we have the potential to win some big races this year and if I can help make that happen, whether I am the one crossing the line first or helping one of my teammates to do it, I will count 2015 as a success.”

Landing results in the big races is presumably exactly what MTN-Qhubeka was hoping for when they made the decision to bring in Farrar and the rest of their marquee offseason signings. With wildcard invites to Milano-Sanremo, all four WorldTour Cobbled Classics, and the Tour de France, the team will certainly have opportunities to notch those high-profile results, and the veteran presence of Tyler Farrar figures to be a major part of their campaign to achieve them this year.

-Dane Cash

Photo: MTN-Qhubeka p/b Samsung

February 22, 2015
VeloHuman Up-and-comer Q&A Series: Wanty-Groupe Gobert’s Roy Jans

For the latest installment of the Up-and-comer Q&A Series, VeloHuman talked to Wanty-Groupe Gobert’s Roy Jans. Now in his third year with the Belgian Pro Continental squad, Roy Jans is quickly coming into his own as a fast-finisher and potential contender for the one-day races. Despite being sidelined by mononucleosis early on in 2014 after a strong start to the year, Jans returned to racing midway through last season in the form of his life, picking up a victory in the Gooikse Pijl and nabbing Top 5s in the Belgian National Championship Road Race, Brussels Cycling Classic, and Paris-Tours, among other big races. His 2015 campaign opened with further success at the beginning of February when he took a stage victory in the Étoile de Bessèges. Now he sets his sights on the one-day Classics that are just around the corner, where he hopes to define himself a bit more clearly as a rider. Though still only 24 years old, Jans will have plenty of opportunities to make statements on the Belgian cobblestones and beyond, as Wanty-Groupe Gobert is already making him an integral part of the team plans for the season. Jans talked to VH about his development so far, his program for 2015, and his hopes for the future as a rider.

VH: You won a stage at the Étoile de Bessèges at the beginning of the month, so things seem to be going pretty well already here in 2015. How was your offseason?

RJ: The offseason was really good, with a good break and then starting my training, trying to get to good shape before the season, and everything worked well.

VH: You had a bout with mononucleosis last season. Are you feeling back to full health?

RJ: Yeah, I think so. When I started back racing last season, it was not 100% gone away, but enough to start racing again. Now, it’s completely out.

VH: How do you deal with something that difficult as you are trying to develop as a young pro?

RJ: I realized that it doesn’t need to play in my head. . . . You focus on coming back stronger, and that’s what I did.

VH: Did the results that you were able to land late last season help you return with confidence?

RJ: Yeah. After the disease, I came back stronger than before. With a 2nd place in nationals, that was good for that, and then the other good results, like in France where I beat Cavendish in the sprint [Jans notched a 2nd-place finish, ahead of Mark Cavendish in 3rd, in Stage 3 of the Tour du Poitou-Charentes], and then Paris-Tours, and all those other races, they were really good for the confidence and also for the team.

VH: Given what you were seeing in training during the offseason and the way you rode in Bessèges, do you have confidence in your chances to find further success in the early-season racing to come?

RJ: In the winter I felt really good, and all the training went well. I wasn’t sick during the winter months. So I really had a good winter and now, to win directly in Étoile de Bessèges, it was a good start for me for the confidence, and also for the team it’s really good to begin the season like that.

VH: You have a strong finishing kick and you’ve also shown the sort of versatility necessary to get good results in the tougher one-day races. Is there a particular specialization as a rider that you are working towards?

RJ: For now it’s really to be very good in the final, in the sprints, and also when there is a little climb at the end of the race . . . that’s what I saw in Bessèges already, the stage that Gallopin won [Stage 4] . . . it was really a hard final and I managed 5th place and that was already an improvement in comparison with last season. So I think I think I’ve made a step up and I hope that the other results will follow during the season in some harder races.

VH: As a younger competitor, who did you look up to in the pro peloton as a rider that you enjoyed watching, or a rider you wanted to emulate?

RJ: Óscar Freire.

VH: You’re now in your third year riding at the Pro Continental level. What’s the biggest thing you’ve learned so far as a pro?

RJ: That you really need to do everything for it. And you need to listen to your body, when you are training, when you are home, you need to listen to your body. And if you can start a race with a fresh head and fresh legs, that’s the most important thing.

VH: You signed on for two more years with Wanty-Groupe Gobert at the end of last season. What is it about the team that appeals to you and makes you want to stay?

RJ: I could go to bigger teams but I choose to stay because they give me the opportunity to ride my own races. I can choose my whole program, and also the races that I start, they will ride for me. And that’s important for me, for getting stronger and seeing how far I can come in some races.

VH: You’ve been one of the most successful riders on the team in the past year. Has Wanty-Groupe Gobert told you that they have any particular expectations for you or the role that you’ll play in the near future?

RJ: Not yet. Just for me to win stages. That’s what I want and also what the team wants.

VH: Do you know what your program looks like for the next few months?

RJ: I know my program until the beginning of April. My first Belgian race [after taking on the Volta ao Algarve, which starts Wednesday] will be Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne, so that’s already a good race for me I think. I really want to make a good result in that race. And then you have Le Samyn, also a nice race. And then Gent-Wevelgem, also important, and then I don’t ride Flanders this year, because I should be fresh for Scheldeprijs. And then it’s possible that I will ride Roubaix, and then I’ll have a little break and start again in the Tour of Turkey.

VH: Do you have any personal objectives set for 2015?

RJ: Last season I didn’t get to do the spring Classics because of the disease. So now is actually the first time that I will do it in good shape. So just seeing how far I can come, and also for the next few years, if there are races that really suit me and if I can get a good result in some of those races, that’s good for the future. Because I’m still very young, and I’m not yet saying, “that race I want to win,” or, “that race I want to do a good result.” It’s every race I start, I want to give the best of me and then we’ll see what will come.

VH: That said, you’ve ridden in most of the big Classics so far already—which one have you enjoyed the most?

RJ: For me, and for a rider like me, Gent-Wevelgem is a really nice race. It’s also one of the goals of this year and we’ll do our best to come as far as possible.

Often coming down to a sprinters’ showdown, Gent-Wevelgem looks like a prime opportunity for Jans to put his finishing kick on display and notch a benchmark result for the future. Enjoying the support of Wanty-Groupe Gobert, who have invested in his development for a few years now, Jans is motivated to prove his ability this season even as he still learns more about his own strengths as a rider, making it all the more likely that he could feature sooner rather than later in the biggest races on the cycling calendar.

-Dane Cash

February 17, 2015
Thomas De Gendt Recalibrating Focus with New Team Lotto Soudal, Aiming for Breakaway and Time Trial Victories over GC Results for Now

Thomas De Gendt is sporting a new kit this season, riding in the red of Lotto Soudal after signing a two-year agreement with the squad at the end of his one-year deal with Omega Pharma-Quick Step last season. Joining a new organization two years in a row (De Gendt started with OPQS after Vacansoleil folded following the 2013 season) is never easy, but De Gendt knew that Lotto Soudal might be a place where he could be able to get comfortable with a new environment quickly. Finding his comfort zone will likely help De Gendt in his mission to return to winning ways after two years with fewer big results than he would have liked, and signing with a team based in and mostly staffed with riders from Belgium, a team that shares his own style, was one way for De Gendt to ensure that he’d be riding in his element this coming season.

“For a Belgian guy, it’s important to have a team where you can feel at home,” De Gendt told VeloHuman by phone while taking a day off from early-season training. “So for me, it’s nice to be in a team where they speak my own language. It’s not a problem to be in a foreign team, but in a Belgian team it’s nice. It feels more like home. And the team tactics of Lotto Soudal suit me more than the tactics that we had at Quick Step. It’s more of an attacking style that they have, which fits me more than other tactics.”

An offseason with the team seems to have given De Gendt a chance to settle in and enjoy the atmosphere.

“A lot of the teammates I have now, we already rode together in other teams in the younger categories, so a lot of guys I knew already from before. So, because we are a young group and we all speak the same language, it’s nice to be together and it feels a little bit like when I went to school, joking around; we are still serious about our job but besides the job we are joking around and sending messages to each other, so we are not only colleagues, we are also friends, and that’s important in a team,” De Gendt said.

The positive environment should prove beneficial to De Gendt’s continued development, especially as he has begun to recalibrate his own expectations and personal goals for this season and beyond. A talented all-rounder throughout his early years as a pro, in 2012 (at age 25), De Gendt stormed to 3rd overall in the Giro d’Italia, staying within range of the podium through the first two weeks and then nabbing a breakaway stage victory and a Top 5 ITT performance in the final two days of the race to clinch the deal. Such a strong result in one of the sport’s biggest events set him up for a world of GC expectations in the seasons to come, but De Gendt has not been able to replicate that success in the past two years. While he has put in a few nice performances in breakaways and time trials in major races since then, the General Classification results have not materialized. Now 28, De Gendt is adjusting his focus as a rider, tailoring his objectives to the skills in which he feels most confident, and planning accordingly for the future.

“I’m not going to try to do the GCs anymore for the moment, but it all depends on how you feel in the races. If you start the Giro and you have really good legs in the first week, then it’s stupid to throw it away with a long breakaway, but I know it’s very difficult to even be in the Top 10 after two weeks. It’s not so that I am one of the biggest climbers in the peloton, so maybe it’s better for me to not focus on the GC, but more on the stage wins,” De Gendt explained. “If I have a really good legs in one of the Grand Tours, then maybe I can do the GC again but it’s not in my goals for the moment.”

Instead, De Gendt has his sights set on finding opportunities to put his formidable solo engine on display.

“Breakaways, stage wins—if it’s possible to win a mountain stage, I will do my best to try to do it—but breakaways and the time trials are for me the most important thing at this moment. I can’t say what it will be in half a year, so I will try to do my best in training, and then I will see in half a year or next year how I’ve developed again,” he said.

With stage victories now at the forefront of his list of objectives, De Gendt aimed to improve a variety of skills during the offseason with his new squad and new teammates.

“We focused on my climbing skills, for as far as we can do it in Belgium. We tried to do the trainings on the climbs—not the same as you can do on the high altitude, but still, we tried. And we also tried to be more explosive. But now we do a lot more hours than the year before, and I think that’s the main thing we focused on, to do more hours,” he said.

De Gendt’s first race in Lotto Soudal kit was January’s Tour Down Under, where he spent a long day in a breakaway and notched a respectable performance on Willunga Hill as well. He did not land any major results in Australia, but De Gendt was able to find positives coming back from the offseason: “I’ve had worse years than this year in the Tour Down Under. It’s not that I have the super form at this moment but for January it’s okay. I’d hoped it would be a little bit better, but then the stage to Willunga Hill, I was still 19th, so for me that’s a good result generally.”

De Gendt’s racing calendar for 2015 is still up-in-the-air, with further clarity likely to come as springtime racing gets underway.

“I think I’ll do Paris-Nice, but then after that it’s difficult to say because we don’t have a big program. They took out some races so I think they’ll wait until Paris-Nice so they can see from the other riders on the team who is the best, and then they’ll send the best riders to the WorldTour races and the other riders to the smaller races,” De Gendt said. “I hope I can do a Grand Tour. For me, I don’t have a favorite, so for me it’s the same, whichever one I can go to.”

With Lotto Soudal making startlist decisions based on how their riders are performing compared to expectations, De Gendt clarified that for him, the hope is that he can a return to a level of performance and a style of riding that he exhibited earlier in his career.

“I think they want me to be the same rider as I was in 2011, the more aggressive rider that attacked a lot and took the stage wins in this way. So that’s I think the way they see me riding again, and I hope to do like they expect me to do. Attacking and being aggressive in the races, I think that is the way to race again,” De Gendt said.

On a new squad and making changes to his approach as a rider, De Gendt is hesitant to set any concrete personal goals for 2015 this early in the season, but picking up a result or two to build his confidence appears to top his list.

“I will be very happy if I can win a race again. But if I have twenty 2nd places and no victories then I will also be happy after this year. So it’s still difficult to say but I hope I can get a victory, a big victory, and then it’s a good step on the way to being the rider again that I was before,” De Gendt said.

De Gendt’s chances of finding those results at Paris-Nice, where he is likely to ride next, seem as good as they’ll be at any event all season: he has won two stages there in the past, and this year’s edition will feature a pair of days racing against the clock and multiple stages with the sorts of bumpy profiles friendly to the breakaway specialists. Given his skillset and particular focus on just those types of challenges, Paris-Nice should present a prime opportunity for Thomas De Gendt to get on track for 2015 with his new team.

-Dane Cash

Photo by Photo News/Lotto Soudal.

February 16, 2015
Tour Down Under 2015 Post-race Impressions: Australian Youth Movement Takes Charge

2015’s first WorldTour race is in the books, with Rohan Dennis emerging as the surprise winner of the Tour Down Under just ahead of a very strong Richie Porte. With plenty of great performances across the six days of racing, especially from up-and-coming talents, the TDU offered a few big takeaways to start the season.

Rising Stars Lead the Way

As mentioned in VeloHuman’s various pre-race publications, the Tour Down Under is often a coming-out-party for young and developing talents. This was especially true in 2015. Rohan Dennis was already a well-known rider in the pro peloton in 2014, but his Stage 3 victory in the 2015 TDU marked his first WorldTour win, and his overall victory made this an all-the-more impressive trip home for the 24-year-old Australian. Making Dennis’s emergence even more exciting was the generational battle within his own team: Cadel Evans entered the race as the nominal leader, but with a powerful (and quite surprising) attack in the final kilometer of Stage 3, Dennis muscled his way into the driver’s seat within the BMC ranks, and then held on to the overall lead. With a Tour of California mountain stage victory last year and now this win built on both climbing prowess and and explosive kick, Rohan Dennis has shown serious progression as a more complete rider recently.

But Dennis was not alone among the younger riders in the race: Steele Von Hoff, Juan Jose Lobato, and Wouter Wippert all beat out big names in the sprints to pick up their first WorldTour-level wins, and Jack Bobridge picked up his second (along the way to the King of the Mountains jersey to boot) by escaping those fast men in the opening stage. There were plenty of familiar faces near the head of affairs in the 2015 Tour Down Under, but the young guns showed up in force and put on the show. Niccolo Bonifazio, Ruben Fernandez, and George Bennett were other members of the up-and-coming crowd to make emphatic statements in this race, while 24-year-old Tom Dumoulin, 4th overall, continued what has been an impressive growth pattern over the past few years, climbing (and sprinting for bonus seconds) at a very high level all week. 3rd in the Worlds ITT last year, Dumoulin is clearly a lot more than just a time trial specialist, and the future is very bright for the Dutch all-rounder.

Bonus Seconds Decisive Again

For yet another year, bonus seconds decided the race, for better or worse, depending on your opinion of bonus seconds. For yet another year, the winner on Willunga Hill did not achieve enough of a gap to overcome the time bonuses picked up by a GC rival in prior stages; in fact, that makes two straight years for Richie Porte. Porte came into this race on excellent form and proved it in the final stage, but it was not enough to offset his deficit in the bonus seconds game. For having been in this exact position before, Sky’s tactics were questionable throughout the race: they did a whole lot of work on the front of the pack in the earlier stages, which only made it easier for rivals like Dennis, Evans, and Daryl Impey to get bonus seconds, and then in the queen stage at Willunga Hill, Porte waited until roughly the final kilometer to launch his devastating attack. He blew everyone off his wheel with sheer strength and won the day, but it was clear when Dennis rolled across the line nine seconds later that Porte had left it too late. Expecting to take enough seconds to close the entirety of his gap in the final kilometer of a not-all-that-steep climb proved tactically costly, and Porte paid for it; Dennis even thanked him for going so late in his post-race interview. In short, time bonuses don’t simply add an extra layer of excitement to this race; they have been critical to victory here time and time again, and Dennis showed once more in 2015 that potential race-winners would be wise to build their TDU gameplans with the battle for bonus seconds in mind.

Australians Dominate the Race

For the fourth time in five years, the Tour Down Under was won by an Australian rider. For the first time in several years, the podium was swept by Australians. Four of the six stage winners were also Australian, and a fifth rides for an Australian Pro Continental Team. On the one hand, and at first glance, perhaps the proper response is simply to be impressed at the consistent performances of home riders in this race. Plenty of international riders made the start, but Australian veterans and up-and-comers alike rode brilliantly on a variety of terrains to showcase their talents, suggesting that the state of affairs for Australian cycling looks brilliant right now, and that is without Simon Gerrans or Michael Matthews, among the biggest stars Oz has to offer, even on the startlist.

However, another conclusion to be drawn from all this Australian dominance is that it may just be time to find a way to bring the Tour Down Under a bit closer to the big races of the rest of the season. Domenico Pozzovivo was on the startlist and he rode well (finishing 6th), but if this race were just a bit closer to his main targets of 2015, one has to imagine he might have been in better form to challenge for the climber’s stage at Willunga Hill. Marcel Kittel, Giacomo Nizzolo, and Gianni Meersman were among the best-known fast men in attendance, and none of them cracked a Top 5 in a stage. And beyond these few non-Australian stars and the handful of authors active in this race, the big-name talents from the rest of the world were a bit scarce, with many top riders electing to start their seasons elsewhere. The event itself was a roller coaster ride all week long, but with a few scheduling changes, things might be made even better, with a few more global stars likely to not only make the journey, but to make it in form and ready to challenge for results.

-Dane Cash

Photo by Charles Wong.

January 26, 2015
The Recon Ride Podcast: Tour Down Under 2015 Pre-race Show

Episode 1: Tour Down Under 2015 Pre-race Show
The Recon Ride delves into the route and the startlist for the first WorldTour race of the year.
[powerpress]

VeloHuman is teaming up with Cosmo Catalano, the man behind How the Race Was Won and The Week in Bike, to present The Recon Ride, a pre-race podcast show. Our inaugural episode previews the 2015 Tour Down Under, delving into the route and the startlist, with a bit of Heinrich Haussler interview audio from a piece VH did for CyclingTips that you should absolutely check out, and even a few predictions at the end. Give it a listen!

January 18, 2015
Tour Down Under 2015 Preview

The wait is over! The long WorldTour offseason is finally coming to an end as things get kicked off this week in Australia with the 17th edition of the Tour Down Under. A six-day stage race in and around Adelaide, the race has grown bigger and bigger in the past few years, and the parcours has developed as well: heavyweight sprinters have won the overall here in the past, but these days, a hillier route favors the more capable climbers in the peloton. Those hills tend to make for an exciting return to WorldTour racing, and also welcome return to race preview season here at VeloHuman.

Note: a shorter version of this preview can be seen at VeloNews.

The Route

There are no Alpine inclines to overcome in the Tour Down Under, but the hills that feature in a few of the race’s six stages are more than enough of a challenge to keep things interesting. The first WorldTour race of the year opens with a short (132.6 km) and mostly flat trip from Tanunda to Campbelltown, ending with a long straightaway that should give the sprinters an opportunity to pick up a victory. Stage 2 concludes with an uphill finish that has featured in previous editions of the Tour Down Under, probably not steep enough to make any serious separation likely, but potentially a place for the punchier GC contenders to make a bid for precious bonus seconds. Stage 3 features a new climb near the finish line in Paracombe, a short but steep affair that will almost certainly see gaps appearing in the bunch. The uphill specialists with GC aspirations cannot hesitate to launch for glory on Stage 3, as it is one of the few opportunities they will have to get clear of the peloton in the Tour Down Under.

Stage 4 will take the peloton on an undulating journey from Glenelg to Mt. Barker, where a flat finish will likely deter anyone from engaging in GC action. Stage 5, on the other hand, is the traditional queen stage of the Tour Down Under, 151.5 kilometers from McLaren Vale to classic TDU climb Willunga Hill, which will be climbed twice. 3 km at an average gradient over 7%, Old Willunga will inevitably see a showdown among the top climbers of the race. Richie Porte won here in 2014 with a 10 second gap, though as has often been the case in the TDU, his margin was not enough to overcome the GC bid of Simon Gerrans, whose propensity to collect bonus seconds put him in the driver’s seat in last year’s race. In other words, it is crucial to finish well on Willunga Hill, but consistent performance on the other five stages of the race is also crucial.

Stage 6 closes out the 2015 Tour Down Under with a 90 kilometer circuit race in the heart of Adelaide, essentially a very long criterium that almost invariably favors the pure sprinters.

Looking at the big picture, Stages 2, 3, and 5 are those likeliest to see the GC contenders trying to position themselves for a showdown. Regardless of whether serious gaps open up there or on any of the TDU’s six stages, however, it is important to be near the front at every finish line, as the dearth of long mountain climbs makes the battle for bonus seconds critical to the General Classification fight.

The GC Contenders

Sifting through the startlist to pick out the major favorites for the overall in the TDU can be difficult because the position of the race on the cycling calendar (in January) makes form and motivation a major unknown for a number of the riders in attendance, especially for those non-Australians who are not coming off of Nationals week like the home riders are. The absence of last year’s winner Simon Gerrans (who is out with a broken collarbone) will only add to that unpredictability. Still, plenty of big names, Australian and otherwise, stand out as likely GC contenders.

Having taken an impressive victory over several talented chrono stars in the Australian ITT National Championship, Richie Porte has proven to be in blazing form this January. There is no time trial in the TDU, and Porte isn’t known for his finishing kick, which will make it difficult for him to play the bonus seconds game, but with his ability to climb at an elite level, that might not matter. Given his display of fitness at Nationals, he looks ready to put it on the line here and it will be hard for his rivals to keep him in check when the road goes up. Geraint Thomas was 8th here last year even while riding in a support role for Porte, and he was 3rd in 2013. His powerful engine and not-insignificant sprinting ability will come in handy here, making him an excellent potential alternative for Sky.

Cadel Evans leads a BMC team that will hope to take on the Sky roster. This will be Evans’s last WorldTour event before he retires in a few weeks, and he’s never won this race, so he should be motivated to give it his all (especially after missing out on the victory here last year by one second). Even at age 37, he’s still got a nice finishing kick to pick up all-important time bonuses, and will be dangerous on several stages. In up-and-coming Australian talent Rohan Dennis, BMC has a strong second card to play. Dennis is known as a time-trialist but he climbed with the very best in last year’s Tour of California, and he is continuing to get better and better as an all-round talent.

Despite the absence of Simon Gerrans, Orica-GreenEdge will take on their home race with several potential GC men, with Daryl Impey looking like the best option. Impey is deadly in a reduced sprint, and if he can gain an early advantage of bonus seconds, he might have what it takes to hold on over the harder climbs. Simon Clarke’s penchant for aggressive riding could come in handy, especially in a race where one strong stage performance can be enough for an overall victory. Past winner Cameron Meyer will be more of an outsider this year, but a rider worth watching at the very least.

Cannondale-Garmin is another team with options. Ryder Hesjedal, Moreno Moser, and Alex Howes are all well-rounded talents with the potential to mix it up on a variety of stages, but Nathan Haas could be the best man on the squad for this Tour Down Under. He is another rider who will hope to win the bonus seconds game, and he showed off his strong finishing kick in last year’s race on his way to 5th overall. He has a propensity to perform very well outside of Europe, with two Japan Cup victories and results in the Jayco Herald Sun Tour and Tour de Langkawi as well.

Giant-Alpecin’s dual threat of Tom Dumoulin and Simon Geschke will be dangerous if both riders are in good enough form to mix it up with the favorites in this race. Dumoulin has an underrated sprint to match his elite soloing ability, while Geschke’s fast finish is a known commodity that will make him a contender for time bonuses on the 2nd and 4th stages. Katusha has Tiago Machado, an excellent climber, and Giampaolo Caruso, who is more explosive than many realize. That makes them another team with a dual threat worth keeping an eye on. AG2R brings a stable of climbers as well, with Domenico Pozzovivo the most prominent name but with Christophe Riblon and Blel Kadri, typically very strong on hillier days like the ones that could decide this race, making the start as well.

Tinkoff-Saxo’s Michael Rogers will look to get clear of the peloton at any opportunity. The same is true for Lotto Soudal’s Adam Hansen; the Belgian squad also Thomas De Gendt as a potential contender. Astana’s Luis Leon Sanchez won here way back in 2005, and having returned to the WorldTour level with Astana after a year with Caja Rural, he will hope to kick the year off in style; his combination of strong soloing ability, decent climbing ability, and a nice sprint make him a dangerous outsider here. Movistar’s Jose Herrada and Gorka Izagirre and LottoNL’s George Bennett are other outsiders with a chance.

The Stagehunters

On the list of fast men who are making the start with clear stage-winning goals in mind, sprinting superstar Marcel Kittel tops the list, but his objectives and his readiness to take on a WorldTour-level race are a big question mark. He won the 2014 People’s Choice Classic but was afterward a non-factor in this race. Obviously, if he is in good shape, he will be the man to beat here in 2015, but that’s a big if. Form is also an unknown for talented Italians Giacomo Nizzolo and Roberto Ferrari, but there are stages to suit both if they are here to race. Nizzolo has great top-end speed and the opening stage to Campbelltown could suit him. Typically Mark Renshaw might have trouble hanging with the aforementioned big names, but on his home turf, anything is possible. Etixx – Quick-Step will hope to start the year off with a stage win from either Renshaw or the versatile Gianni Meersman, who could feature in Stages 2 or 4.

Heinrich Haussler is another rider with the potential to shine on those somewhat bumpier days. He was on excellent form in the Australian National Championship Road Race, getting into the day’s early breakaway at first, and then, after that was reeled in, jumping right back into another move off the front, the move that won the race. With that form, he should be able to do pick up some results in the Tour Down Under.

Steele Von Hoff, Barry Markus, Gregory Henderson, and JJ Lobato are other fast men to keep an eye on here.

VeloHuman Top 10 Race Favorites

General Classification Winner: Richie Porte
GC Podium: Cadel Evans, Daryl Impey
Other Top GC Contenders: Nathan Haas, Tom Dumoulin, Geraint Thomas, Michael Rogers, Luis Leon Sanchez, Domenico Pozzovivo, Tiago Machado

VeloHuman was so excited about the return of racing season that in addition to writing this preview, VH teamed up with Cosmo Catalano to present The Recon Ride Podcast, a pre-race show. Give it a listen! And as usual, VH will be tweeting plenty of live analysis during the race, so follow @VeloHuman on Twitter for more!

-Dane Cash

Photo by Kym Della-Torre.

January 17, 2015