The Australians racing the 2022 Tour de France
NATSettle in and get comfortable - it's going to be a massive July for cycling.
Start lists for the 2022 Tour de France have been officially released ahead of Stage 1 departing Copenhagen on July 1 and there are nine Australians expected to feature prominently over the 21 stages, find out who below.
A similar list will also be provided for the inaugural Tour de France Femmes, starting July 24.
Jack Haig (Bahrain Victorious)
Jack Haig heads into his third Tour de France with serious podium ambitions, as does his team Bahrain Victorious, who have handed the Bendigo product co-leadership of the squad alongside Italian Damiano Caruso.
The 28-year-old already has one Grand Tour podium to his name courtesy of a third place at the 2021 Vuelta a España and has provided consistent general classification results in one-week tours in 2022.
"I’m feeling really good coming into Le Tour and maybe a little more relaxed this year than last year," Haig said in a team media release.
"Last year I went into the race with a lot of pressure on myself and to prove to my new team that I could perform.
"This year I feel much more comfortable in the team alongside the group of riders we have going into the Tour, so I’ve not got much to be nervous about.
"As I said, we’ve got a strong line-up going into the race with really good flat support, which will be important for the first seven to eight days, which will be about minimising the risk of any bad luck.
"For my personal ambitions, I want to go well in the GC, and if I get a top-five finish by the end of the tour, I’d be quite happy.
"For the team’s ambitions, we will look for some stage results, with the strong guys who will have opportunities to look for some results themselves."
Michael Matthews (Team BikeExchange-Jayco)
Michael Matthews headlines Team BikeExchange-Jayco's Tour de France squad in a one-two sprint punch with Dutchman Dylan Groenewegen.
Matthews starts his seventh Le Tour off the back of claiming the points classification at the recent Tour de Suisse and also claimed his first UCI WorldTour win since the 2020 season in March at the Volta a Catalunya.
The former green jersey winner will hope to add to his three Le Tour stage wins in July, with BikeExchange-Jayco returning to an opportunistic stage hunting approach for 2022 rather than targeting general classification.
Luke Durbridge (Team BikeExchange-Jayco)
A veteran of the Tour de France, Durbridge will start his eighth Le Tour in Copenhagen on July 1.
The Western Australian will play a key role in what BikeExchange-Jayco have dubbed the support team for Groenewegen and Matthews.
Durbridge is a four-time national time trial champion and won the national road race championship back in 2013.
Nick Schultz (Team BikeExchange-Jayco)
Sunshine Coast's Nick Schultz will start his debut Tour de France in Copenhagen.
The 27-year-old showed good climbing form at the recent Critérium du Dauphiné, finishing sixth on Stage 3 and 18th on Stage 7 which traversed over the famous Col du Galibier.
Despite being a debutant at Le Tour, Schultz is 100 per cent stocked with plenty of Grand Tour experience, finishing the last five editions of the Vuelta a España, with a best overall finish of 25th in 2020.
Ben O'Connor (AG2R Citröen)
Ben O'Connor returns to the Tour de France in 2022 as the outright leader for AG2R Citröen after a stage win and fourth overall finish in 2021.
O'Connor has been a consistent threat in races he has taken part in thus far this season, winning a stage of the Volta a Catalunya in the Pyrenees in March and finishing third in the traditional Le Tour preparation race, Critérium du Dauphiné, behind expected Le Tour rivals Primož Roglič and Jonas Vingegaard (both Jumbo-Visma) earlier this month.
The 26-year-old from Subiaco in Perth will start the opening time trial in Copenhagen with legitimate overall podium aspirations for three weeks later in Paris.
Learn more about O'Connor and how he became one of the world's best climbers from humble beginnings in Western to Australia and the National Road Series (NRS) here.
Chris Hamilton (Team DSM)
One of Bendigo's favourite sons will get his first crack at the Tour de France in 2022 with Team DSM.
Le Tour will be Chris Hamilton's second Grand Tour of the year and will no doubt play a key role in Team DSM's stage winning goals in the mountains.
The 27-year-old put in an impressive domestique shift in service of Romain Bardet at the Giro d'Italia before the Frenchman withdrew with illness on Stage 13.
Hamilton is in his sixth year with the Team DSM program, a team he joined after a stellar 2016 that saw him win the national under-23 road race championship and animate the National Road Series (NRS) with Avanti IsoWhey Sports.
Hamilton's cycling roots can be traced back to the mountain bike world, with the climber having represented Australia at junior cross-country world championships and raced numerous UCI Mountain Bike World Cup rounds as a junior and under-23 rider.
Michael Storer (Groupama-FDJ)
Rising star Michael Storer will unsurprisingly race his first Tour de France in 2022 with French team Groupama-FDJ.
The 25-year-old starting grabbing mainstream attention at the 2021 Vuelta a España, winning two stages en route to taking home the King of the Mountains jersey.
Storer is in his first season with Groupama-FDJ and the team has hinted he will enjoy some leadership status alongside headline riders David Gaudu and Thibaut Pinot.
Perth-raised Storer developed his talents at Midland Cycle Club alongside Jai Hindley before joining the Jayco-AIS World Tour Academy program in 2016 after winning the 2015 junior men road race national championship.
Storer then progressed to the former UCI Continental Mitchelton-Scott development team in 2017, before breaking through to the UCI WorldTour with Team Sunweb a year later.
Simon Clarke (Israel-Premier Tech)
Simon Clarke's road to his seventh Tour de France start has been arguably the most unique of his long career.
The 35-year-old began the year uncontracted after his former employer Team Qhubeka NextHash were refused a UCI WorldTour license for 2022.
Clarke stayed active during the Australian summer of cycling, racing the Lexus of Blackburn Bay Crits before departing for Israel-Premier Tech's pre-season camp in Girona on the eve of the AusCycling 2022 Federation University Road National Championships.
Clarke's form has been impressive through the first half of the year, amassing eight top-10 finishes across WorldTour, 1.Pro, 2.Pro and 1.1 races.
Israel-Premier Tech has made it clear they will be hunting stage wins at this year's edition of Le Tour.
Caleb Ewan (Lotto Soudal)
Five-time Tour de France stage winner Caleb Ewan will once again be the leading act for Belgian team Lotto Soudal at the Tour de France.
Ewan will be supported in his hunt for sprint victories by Reinardt Janse van Rensburg, Frederik Frison, Florian Vermeersch and Brent Van Moer.
The 27-year-old has had an up and down first half of the season, falling short of winning a stage of the Giro d'Italia in May and was also forced to withdraw from one of his major targets for the year in Milan-San Remo back in March due to illness.
Despite the setbacks, Ewan has enjoyed five wins already in 2022, with the most notable being Stage 3 of Tirreno-Adriatico.
Ewan will also line-up at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham a fortnight after the Tour de France.
Main picture: ASO/Pauline Ballet
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