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Team UniSA 2005

 

Russell van Hout

After an impressive ride in the Tour of Italy this year and in other races in Europe and Australia, Team UniSA's very own King of the Mountain, Russell van Hout, returns home to ride for Team UniSA for the fifth time. A seasoned, professional cyclist, Russell has been racing with pro team Selle-Italia, a Columbian team based in Italy, and he says his ride in this year's Tour of Italy is at the top of this list of his all time cycling highlights. And after placing well in other races in Europe and Australia he says there's every chance he'll be racing again in Italy's version of the the Tour de France in May 2005. Already back in steady training after taking a month off, Russell had clocked up around 800km in the week we spoke to him. And he says he'll hit 1000km a weeks in another seven days... read full profile
 

Gene Bates

Gene Bates is looking forward to his fifth Jacob's Creek Tour Down Under. After a top ten overall finish in 2004, he’s hungry to do better and has his sights set on stage wins this year. Racing since age 14 and rising through the ranks with a Junior World Title in 1999 and Australian Under 23’s title in 2002, he’s spent the last couple of seasons based in Europe and racing in Italy against the world’s best. You can expect to see the boy from Stirling help spearhead Team UniSA’s quest for another Jacob's Creek Tour Down Under title... read full profile
 

Corey Sweet

Given that pro rider Corey Sweet began riding in BMX competitions when he was just four-years-old, one wonders just how many kilometres he's clocked up since the first time he jumped into the seat of a tredley. And after racing professionally in the European competitions for the last eight years, it is quite possible this 28-year-old is gearing up for a stellar season, kicking it off with the Jacob's Creek Tour Down Under which he says is one of the best races of the year, describing how the crowds in South Australia are a lot bigger than a lot of the races he enters in Europe and telling us about the buzz he gets when he first steps onto the road at the beginning of the first stage, in front of his family and friends... read full profile
 

Stephen Cunningham

Citing last year's win in the Jacob’s Creek Tour Down Under with Patrick Jonker as his number one cycling highlight, Stephen Cunningham is back again in 2005 to ride for Team UniSA. And like his superhero Batfink, Stephen has his own secret weapon to making his mark on this year’s race. He’s been training under a program written especially by Patrick Jonker. So, with hard work, ability and experience on his side (2005 will be his fifth year riding with Team UniSA), Cunningham is gearing up to make this year’s tour another one to remember. And he says he’s looking forward to being there at the start of all the stages where the crowds and the atmosphere is electric: “I love the atmosphere before the stages, getting to meet the people and all the activities that go on around it."... read full profile
 

Adrian Laidler

Adrian Laidler fell into cycling by accident. A serious back injury while part of the junior Australian cricket team led him to hop on a bike as a means of strengthening his back through cross training and he hasn’t looked back ever since. Riding competitively for the last eight years, Adrian is a veteran of Team UniSA having been part of the squad since they first entered the Jacob's Creek Tour Down Under in 2001. He’s spent six years in Italy and the US riding professionally and is relishing a return to Adelaide for this year's event so he can strut his stuff in front of his home crowd... read full profile
 

Matt Rex

Thrown into the deep end for last year's Jacob's Creek Tour Down Under, Matt Rex only found out that he was in the event two weeks before the opening stage after the withdrawal of another cyclist. And while he found his debut Down Under tour daunting, he still managed to hold his own in amongst a world-class field and is back once again this year with Team UniSA. At 19 Matt is the youngest member of the squad, but age doesn’t get in the way of determination and Matt has his sights set on racking up some stage podiums in front of family and friends... read full profile
 

James Hannam

After his first full season riding for a professional team in Europe, James Hannam, is back home to ride in the Jacob’s Creek Tour Down Under for the second time. As one of the key workers that helped Team UniSA become the winning team in 2004 and made Patrick Jonkers’ last race one to remember, Hannam says he is eager to put the Team UniSA jersey back on again, especially given he is studying a Bachelor of Finance at UniSA as well. And he says that while last year was a gruelling introduction to riding in the Jacob's Creek Tour Down Under, where he had to go flat chat the entire time to be at the front of the race to try to control it, he also says it was the best bit riding past all his friends and family at the front of the pack... read full profile
 

Chris Jongewaard

Chris Jongewaard first rode competitively on a BMX bike at age three, twenty years later he was ranked in the top five BMX riders in the world and looking for a new challenge, so he went mountain biking. With runners-up positions on a Mountain bike for the 2004 Australian and Oceanic championships and a strong showing in the Word Cup, Chris has made up for the disappointment of having his Athens Olympic team selection overturned by tribunal. Making his first start in the Jacob's Creek Tour Down Under, Chris acknowledges he’s up against it in what will be his longest and toughest endurance road ride yet, but he’s been logging three to four hours every day on the bike to ensure he’s up there in contention from the opening stage... read full profile

 

 

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