Tour Down Under 2016: Team Tinkoff prepping Aussie Jay McCarthy for big upset

TINKOFF’S Australian gem Jay McCarthy may have relinquished his ochre Santos Tour Down Under jersey to Simon Gerrans but his team’s backroom men are planning a major upset.

TOUR DOWN UNDER - STAGE 3 - Glenelg to Campbelltown. The Ochre Jersey of Jay McCarthy goes over a bridge in Clarendon. Photo Sarah Reed

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TINKOFF’S Australian gem Jay McCarthy may have relinquished his ochre Santos Tour Down Under jersey to Simon Gerrans Thursday but his team’s backroom men are planning a major upset.

The team of Oleg Tinkov, the Russian billionaire, has brought two directors to Australia, which is unusual for this UCI WorldTour race.

However, it could be the key to the 23-year-old Queenslander steam-rolling the star favourites at the 18th edition of the race with three stages remaining.

Sean Yates — one of the most astute tacticians in road cycling who led Britain’s gun Bradley Wiggins to wins at the Paris-Nice, Tour de France and an Olympic time trial when the pair were at Sky — has joined the team’s other esteemed sports director, Denmark’s Lars Michaelsen, in Adelaide.

McCarthy believes he is now in the right headspace with belief now coming in spades after the biggest win of his career — stage two of the Tour Down Under — inspired not only him but his team.

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“This is helping a lot with me and I always work with confidence and even last year I was coming back to my old self,’’ said McCarthy, after finishing fourth on stage three at Campbelltown.

“In the race, I’m starting to think about how I could do well, instead of just trying to finish, instead of thinking, ‘these guys are just too good’.

“But now I know that I have always had the capabilities but to finally start showing it, I think it will help me progress.

“I’m close enough (to GC),

“I did all the right things and went with Gerro (Gerrans) over the top of the Corkscrew, we got back to the two leaders over the top (of the climb).

“It was maybe just a little bit of a tactical error in the sprint by me, but Gerro had my wheel and I opened up and had a few guys in front.

“I should have been in front but I never got to see daylight.

“I was behind and with a fast finish like that there wasn’t enough time for me to come back up.”

But McCarthy believes this tour is looming to be a positive pointer to the future, signalling his arrival as an emerging professional who is about to reach his peak.

Originally published as Tour Down Under 2016: Team Tinkoff prepping Aussie Jay McCarthy for big upset