Chris Froome has announced he is going to line up at Saturday’s Melbourne to Warrnambool, with the Israel-Premier Tech embracing an opportunity to fit in more racing while in Australia with a last minute entry to the long-running 267 kilometre event.
The gruelling race, which started in 1895, kicks off the season for Australia’s National Road Series and while it may not be on the UCI calendar it has such deep roots in the nation’s cycling history that it carries a weight in the prestige stakes that transcends its ranking. The 11th hour addition of the four-time Tour de France winner to the start list will now amplify that even further.
“It’s going to be an epic day out on the bike. It’s a very historic event, one of the oldest cycling events that exists actually and it’s also one of the longest cycling events that exists,” said Froome in a video announcing his participation at the race.
“Part of my reason of being here out in Australia is to get a big workload in before I head back to the European racing season and take advantage of the good weather out here so it was a great opportunity for me to add this race in and get that racing in the legs before I head over to Europe.”
More to come ….
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