rgmerk said:
The last couple of times this event ran Saxo Bank, then Sky, dragged the rest of the peloton (a couple of American teams, the rest Aussie continental) round Victoria.
Might be a very hard race for the local guns with half a dozen international teams here.
Not completely - yes Saxo with Stuey O'Grady in 2008 but Wiggo was still with Garmin Slipstream when he won in 2009 (albeit his last race before he went to Sky). In each case their respective teams were the only Pro Tour level teams in the race.
And yes the locals will be run ragged - whilst there have pretty much always been a number of international teams in the last few years there were certainly not 4 Pro Tour teams plus a 5th likely to be there in 2012 in Skil Shimano (which boasts one of the top 3-4 sprinters in the world and a strong team otherwise). There is even a ghost 6th 2012 Pro Tour team present but spread over a few teams i.e. GreenEdge (Bobridge, Cooke, Docker, Lloyd (?), Meyer, Meyer, Wilson - I am sure I have missed someone but it is hard to get teams info in any one place)!
Dark horse Docker to slip away in an early break and hold it to the end.