Greig Leach

I always look forward to mid January and the start of the Tour Down Under. It is a treat to see new kit, new teams, and who has moved to which teams. The big switch for the season is the demise of BMC, which has been replaced by CCC. The new team had been a contential level squad but took the chance to move up to the Pro Tour level for 2019. This trio of Jason Lea (UniSA-Australia), Patrick Bevin (CCC) and Michael Storer (Sunweb) lead the peloton over the first climb and through the first to intermediate sprints. Lea will be pulling on the first King of the Mountains jersey of the season, but the other two will be swamped in the end by the sprinters' teams. As I sit in the mid-Atlantic of the USA covered in ice and snow, it was fun to listen to the talk of just how hot it was today in Adelaide, South Australia.