Gerrans and Ewan lead Orica-GreenEdge at the Vuelta a Espana

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Team Orica GreenEdge in perfect formation.(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)

Orica-GreenEdge have confirmed that Simon Gerrans, Darryl Impey and talented young sprinter Caleb Ewan will all ride the Vuelta a Espana as the Australian team tries to shake off the bad luck and crashes that has struck their Grand Tour ambitions in 2015. The Australian team is arguably the favourite for the opening 7.4km team time trial stage in Puerto Banus.

“This is a natural progression for Caleb, going onto a Grand Tour,” directeur sportif Neil Stephens said in a statement from the team. “But as we do with all of our young guys, we will certainly support him and have high hopes, but any pressure will only come from himself. As a team we just want him to get out there for the experience. He will ride half of the race as a maximum, if not only a week to ten days.”

Orica-GreenEdge won the opening team time trial at the Giro d'Italia, with Gerrans wearing the leader's pink jersey. However, he crashed out of both the Giro d’Italia and the Tour de France and is hoping to finally shake off his bad luck in Spain. He fractured his wrist at the Tour de France during the high-speed crash on stage three. It his third major injury for Gerrans this season, after suffering a broken collarbone over the winter and a broken elbow at Strade Bianche. Impey fractured his collarbone in the Tour de France and will make his debut in the Vuelta.

“Simon and Daryl, two very important members of the team in general and of course at the Tour of Spain, are coming off crashes at the Tour de France – both with broken bones,” Stephens pointed out. “Realistically, we can’t expect too much out of them in the first week as they get back into racing but over the three week block I am sure they are going to be able to pick out their moments to shine for the team.”