Tour Down Under
Team UniSA-Australia Supporters Club
Team UniSA-Australia Supporters Club
26 October 2005
James Hannam and Stuart Clement |
If you know a great deal about cycling, right down to the length
of road races, what prizes are offered and how the winning times and
teams are calculated, you will probably know exactly what a Hors
Classe 2 rating is.
If you don’t all you need to know is that it is good.
For the Jacobs Creek Tour Down Under, being named a Hors Classe 2
event is an elevation in the status of the race – the highest rating
on offer outside key European events such as the Tour de France and
the Giro d’Italia.
It does however mean there are changes – while the TDU will still run over six days, only five stages of the race will count towards victory and the traditional opening night street sprint will run as an opening exhibition circuit – The Jacobs Creek TDU Classic.
There are changes afoot for Team UniSA too. Running as the official Australian team in the event, our jersey has changed. It is also likely that some long standing team members will not ride this year making way instead for higher ranked Australian road riders – exciting and at the same time a bit poignant for us and them. But if we know the Team UniSA boys of old they will be out and about soaking up the atmosphere and giving us some tips on what to expect around the circuits.
The new Team UniSA-Australia is yet to be announced, but there could be some top riding talent to choose from.. Stuart O’Grady, Cadel Evans, Gene Bates, Baden Cooke, Luke Roberts, Brad McGee, Allan Davis, Robbie McEwen, Matthew Hayman and many more. Many of the top riders are signed up to leading international teams but if their team is not taking part in the TDU, they may be available to ride for Australia and UniSA – so its all edge of the seat stuff as far as team composition goes.
According to the 2004 Elite Men’s Road rankings from the
International Cycling Union Australia ranks fourth in the world which is
not bad at all. So we are in for a thrilling new race format – and when
you support Team UniSA this year you will be supporting Australia. We
will let you know who we have on board as soon as we know!
