Underdog team Drapac Professional Cycling relishes wildcard entry in Santos Tour Down Under

IT'S taken Drapac Professional Cycling six years to earn a wildcard entry to the Tour Down Under, says directeur sportif Agostino Giramondo.

Drapac Professional Cycling team, from left, Lachlan Norris, Darren Lapthorne and Floris Goesinnen.

IT'S taken Drapac Professional Cycling six years to earn a wildcard entry to the Santos Tour Down Under, says directeur sportif Agostino Giramondo.

But now the ProContinental tour team's time has arrived given Drapac is part of the UCI's second tier but it has a long-term goal of claiming first class WorldTour status by 2017.

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After Drapac was continually rejected as a Tour Down Under competitor, the all Australian team of seven riders will take on the big budgeted guns of WorldTour racing in Adelaide from Sunday.

"We've been knocked back for the last six years because they thought we weren't good enough,'' Giramondo said.

"But it's not the case because we've always had riders over the last six years representing UniSA.

"But now we've got the wildcard and we're going to take it with both hands.

"And going by the results of last weekend (Darren Lapthorne finished sixth at the Australian road nationals last weekend) we have chances of winning stages.

"Jonathan Cantwell is a pretty handy sprinter if he can get on the podium we'll be happy with that and we've also picked a team that's very aggressive."

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Drapac was born in 2004 when passionate cycling enthusiast Michael Drapac - managing director of the Drapac Group - started a team before the Victorian-based outfit earned Continental status in 2007.

Michael Drapac has ploughed about $10 million of his own funds into the team since inception.

"For him (Michael Drapac) over the past years he hasn't made a return,'' Giramondo said.

"He just loves the sport, we're up against it and we know and this year our budget has gone up a little bit from what it was because we had to but we're still trying to compete with UCI WorldTour teams that are $15 or $20 million per season teams."

Drapac arrives in Adelaide on Friday.