Cameron and Travis Meyer set for city street showdown in national criterium championship

CAMERON Meyer has a fight on his hands to assert his big-brother influence over Travis in Thursday night's national criterium championship in Ballarat.

Cameron Meyer working hard during the 2013 Tour de France.

CAMERON Meyer has a fight on his hands to assert his big-brother influence over Travis who will be backed by an army of Drapac riders in Thursday night's national criterium championship in Ballarat.

Cameron, 25, goes in as the defending champion but younger brother Travis, 24, will be desperate to spoil the party now they're in opposition teams.

The pair have been teammates for the past four years at Garmin and Orica-GreenEDGE but Travis has joined Australia's new Pro Continental team Drapac Professional Cycling this season.

Cameron says tonight's 44km showdown through the city streets will be the first time the brothers have raced against each other since the 2007 Tour of Tasmania when he was with Jayco-AIS and Travis was in his first stint with Drapac. That year Cameron finished first and Travis was second.

Cameron stormed to victory in last year's national criterium championship when he launched a daring early attack and was able to ride solo to the finish 26 laps later.

"I might not be able to move as far as I did last year but it would be nice," Cameron said.

"I spoke to my brother who I'm now racing against and I don't think the red Drapac boys will let me get away easily."

Cameron, who last year made his Tour de France debut, was fifth overall at the Tour of California, won the Oceania road title and the time trial at the Tour de Suisse, said he was unsure of his form given he had tailored his pre-season to peak later than usual.

"It's a bit unknown myself so I don't really know what to expect," he said of his current form.

"My first tour is the Herald Sun Tour in February and my focus is a bit later in the season.

"I've got a few different goals and want to be a bit better conditioned for the Tour de Romandie and Giro in May."

Meyer would appear to be a logical choice to lead Orica-GreenEDGE in the Giro d'Italia but he said leadership in the season-opening Grand Tour had not yet been discussed.

What has been discussed is the team's focus on the 21km team time trial to open the race.

He also aims to ride two Grand Tours this year which would most likely mean missing the Tour de France and riding the Vuelta a Espana.

"It's my ambition to ride two Grand Tours which would be fantastic. I want to raise the bar and step up a level," he said.

"I probably won't be (riding the Tour de France) but I wasn't expecting to ride it last year and I did."

A stellar field will assemble for the men's criterium tonight including Steele von Hoff, Nathan Earle, Jay McCarthy, Will Clarke and Jonathan Cantwell.