The WorldTour season kicks off next week with the Tour Down Under in Australia – read RoadCyclingUK’s preview here – and many of the 19 teams set to compete in the six-stage race have been arriving in Adelaide this week. Who’s been spotted about town?
This is Team Sky’s third outing at the Tour Down Under, with Edvald Boasson Hagen, Geraint Thomas, Chris Sutton, Alex Dowsett, Michael Rogers, Danny Pate and Mathew Hayman selected for the first race of the season
Former Sky rider Simon Gerrans, now with GreenEDGE, began his 2012 campaign with victory in the Australian National Championships. The Tour Down Under is GreenEDGE’s first WorldTour race
GreenEDGE have named an all-Aussie line-up for their home race, including defending champion Cameron Meyer, who won the Tour Down Under as a Garmin-Cervelo rider in 2011
Alejandro Valverde returns to the pro peloton with Movistar after a two-year doping ban
The race gives fans the chance to check out any new kit, with SaxoBank’s updated get-up a stark move away from their previous gear
Alessandro Petacchi spearheads Lampre-ISD’s seven-man line-up
Petacchi’s Wilier Cento Uno has the sprinter’s nickname emblazoned along the top tube
Bianchi are back in the WorldTour peloton for 2012, with Vacansoleil-DCM riding the Italian manufacturer’s top-of-the-range Oltre model
Three-time world champion Oscar Freire, riding for Katusha, has confirmed this will be his final season as a professional
Germany’s Linus Gerdemann shows off new superteam Radioshack-Nissan-Trek’s kit
All photos © Fotoreporter Sirotti
