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Marcel Kittel thundering over the line to take out the People’s Choice Classic signifies that the first race of the cycling year is about to begin.
So just who will threaten to take out this year’s Ochre jersey at the 2014 Tour Down Under, which sprint king will take the points and who will conquer the mountains?
The man nicknamed ‘The Gorilla’ has arrived down under and will be a big chance of taking home his third title. Greipel has a strong team around him and with very little climbing in this year’s race the big sprinter could easily take both the overall and points jerseys.
Challenging him will be a couple of hometown heroes. Cadel Evans and Richie Porte headline the Australian contingent in their national race and not far behind is the newly-crowned Australian National champion, Simon Gerrans.
Evans tends to use the earlier season races as a tune up for his big shot at one of the Grand Tours later in the year. He’s a competitor by nature and has a strong team behind him, but this early on in the season I don’t think we’ll see Evans in Ochre on Australia Day.
Richie Porte will also use the race to get some kilometres into the legs and will once more have a brilliant Sky Team around him. But he will have to make do without key man Chris Sutton who broke his wrist in the Classic.
Gerrans has won this race twice before and will be carrying the green and gold hopes on his shoulders. His ability to both climb and sprint will push Greipel in the general classification, and picking up time bonuses on the climbs will be crucial for the Aussie.
Don’t count out Caleb Ewan. The impressive young rider is on the roster of UniSA and won the Bay Classic earlier in the year. Heavily supported by Cadel Evans and Matt White, Ewan may well be the dark horse this year.
For the points it will be a big battle between Greipel, Kittel, Mark Renshaw and Matthew Goss. Should Goss come to grief, Michael Matthews will be up to the task. Renshaw is known more for his lead-out work but is an admirable sprinter.
Greipel, Kittel and Goss will more than likely face off in France later this year with the added pace of Mark Cavendish and Peter Sagan making those three weeks even more interesting. But here in South Australia I believe Goss has what it takes to win the points.
He has Robbie McEwen-like ability to sprint off both a train and a solo effort, and the hometown support will give him that extra bit of adrenalin.
Up against Kittel and Goss, the points will be a hard-fought affair.
While the King of the Mountains isn’t really pursued heavily, Australia having more hills than mountains, the jersey will still be on offer. Simon Clarke appears to be Australia’s best chance given his love for the breakaway but there are Spaniards lining up for that gong too, with Movistar fielding the likes of Javier Moreno, JJ Rojas and Jose Ivan Gutierrez.
Garmin-Sharp, Lampre-Merida and Belkin will also be interested in any breakaways without having a clear overall contender.
A special mention also goes to the man of 1000 faces, Thomas Voeckler, who has had to withdraw following an accident with a car only hours after landing in Australia. The Frenchman sustained a broken collarbone in the collision.
And where would professional cycling be without Jens Voigt? The incredibly popular German will be starting what seems to be his final season, and it will hopefully see a few more highlights from big Jens.
Bring on the Tour Down Under and the cycling season I say.
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