The ProTour teams are all bringing their Australian riders to the upcoming Tour Down Under, the first ProTour race of the season. Team Milram will feature Brett Lancaster, while Heinrich Haussler will be with Team Gerolsteiner, and Team Astana has Aaron Kemps.
Haussler was born in Inverall, Australia, and lived there until he moved to Germany at age 13. He will be co-captain at the race, sharing duties with sprinter Robert Förster, who will turn 30 on the last day of the race.
Milram will face its first competition as a German team. Lancaster, of Shepparton, Australia, will be joined by former world champion Igor Astarloa, as well as Italian Elia Rigotto, who last year finished the race as 14th overall.
Sprinter Aaron Kemps will look for a stage win in his homeland tour. Chechu Ribiero will be the team captain, but the team is looking more to sprinters Kemps, Rene Haselbacher and Koen de Kort for results.
Gerolsteiner for Tour Down Under: Robert Förster, Thomas Fothen, Heinrich Haussler, Volker Ordowski, Matthias Russ, Carlo Westphal and Peter Wrolich.
Milram for Tour Down Under: Brett Lancaster, Igor Astarloa, Sergio Ghisalberti, Elia Rigotto, Martin Müller, Enrico Poitschke and Dennis Haueisen.
Astana for Tour Down Under: Koen de Kort, René Haselbacher, Benoit Joachim, Aaron Kemps, Julien Mazet, Steve Morabito, and Chechu Rubiera.
