ABU DHABI 16 January 2020: The 2020 UCI WorldTour gets underway with the Tour Down Under in less than a week’s time. The UAE Team Emirates riders will face just over 900km of racing and more than 12,000km of climbing.
Key general classification stages include stage 2 to Stirling, with its uphill finish, an even stiffer uphill finish in Paracombe on stage 3, and then the final finish atop Willunga Hill. Philipsen won stage 5 last year in unique circumstances so could be the man to watch this time around.
Sports Director Allan Peiper will lead the following riders: Philipsen Jasper (Belgium), ULISSI Diego (Italy), Bjerg Mikkel (Denmark), Riabushenko Aleksandr (Belarus), Marcato Marco (Italy), Laengen Vegard Stake (Norway), and Bystrom Sven Erik (Norway), said Wam.
Allan Peiper said, “UAE Team Emirates is really looking forward to the start of the season. We come with multiple objectives having Diego Ulissi for the hilly stage finishes and GC and stage winner from last year Jasper Philipsen for the sprint stages. We have a great support team with Bjerg, Bystrom, Laengen, Marcato and Riabushenko.”
Philipsen said, “I’m looking forward to starting the season early in Australia. We started really well there last year with a win, so we will be hoping to build on that this year. It’s always nice to get the season going well and off on the right foot.”
