Cyclists aim Sky high in preparation for Santos Tour Down Under

RIDERS from the world's biggest cycling team, Team Sky, are calling Glenelg home for the next three weeks as they prepare for the TDU.

Sky Procycling team, from left, Bernard Eisel, Luke Rowe, Geraint Thomas, Ian Stannard and Philip Deignan at Glenelg. Picture...

RIDERS from the biggest cycling team in the world, Team Sky, are calling Glenelg home for the next three weeks as they prepare for the Santos Tour Down Under.

Five riders, including two who helped guide Chris Froome to victory in last year's Tour de France, arrived in Adelaide on New Year's Eve and are training on Adelaide's roads.

Geraint Thomas, Ian Stannard, Luke Rowe, Bernard Eisel and Philip Deignan are the first international riders to arrive in Adelaide for the January 19-26 WorldTour race, and will be joined by Aussie teammates Richie Porte and CJ Sutton next week.

It is the earliest Team Sky has ever sent riders to Australia as they prepare to unleash a two-pronged attack led by Porte and Thomas in world cycling's season opener.

Austrian Eisel has lost count of how many times he's raced the TDU but says it could be eight or more, and for a man who has ridden the Tour de France nine times, he rates the TDU the best in the world.

"Not just the race itself and how it's organised, but South Australia and Adelaide, it's summer here, people live cycling and they accept us on the roads," Eisel said.

"At the same time the team of Tour Down Under puts in so much effort to organise the race for the riders. It's the best race in the world by far.

"Every (other) race you go to, they organise it for sponsors and themselves, but here you always feel like this race is organised for the riders and it makes it so special."

Thomas led last year's TDU going into Old Willunga Hill after a stirring stage victory up Corkscrew Rd, and said he was more relaxed this time around.

"I'd just come back from the track last year and wanted to start the year off with a bang and I'm a bit more relaxed now and obviously Richie is here as well, we've got a strong team and any of us could get up there on any day," he said.

"In this race it's always good to have options and with time bonuses, if one of us runs top three in a stage and pick up some bonuses, it's all down to Willunga anyway.

"Ideally we'll race aggressively and go into Willunga with both of us there or thereabouts.

"Strength in numbers and trying to be a bit more clever with it and not race on the front all the time, use the other teams.

"It's going to be a completely different race to last year, GreenEDGE look like they've got a really strong team and all the Aussies who are here - (Rohan) Dennis and people like that will be really strong."

The Welshman had a crash-marred classics campaign last year and crashed again in the Tour de France but managed to make it to Paris with a fractured pelvis.

"I like to think 2013 wasn't lucky for me so hopefully that's over for me now," he said.

"It feels like ages since I've raced properly so I'm looking forward to getting back into it."

Luke Rowe said he was keen to start his season in Adelaide and build towards the spring classics.

"It's always a nice race to start with, get away from the crap weather back home and here you get in a good, solid, block of training and racing under the sun," he said.

"I think we've got a really strong team here and a team that can realistically come here and win it, we've got a couple of options.

"Personally I think I'm where I need to be at this time of year and hopefully I can play a good supporting role for the boys.

"I want to go well in the cobbled classics, whether it's me going well on a personal note or just doing as good a job as I can for the boys, being in the best shape possible."

Brit Ian Stannard has just signed a new two-year deal with Sky and hopes to target Paris-Roubaix and return to the Tour de France to support Froome again this year.

"It was a really awesome experience to be part of that (Froome's victory) and I learnt so much from it, and moving on again this year hopefully I'll be there with it starting in the UK," he said.

The last time the Tour started in the UK was in 2007 when huge crowds turned out for the prologue in London. Spectators swamped the road race during the 2012 London Olympics and the Tour of Britain's popularity continues to boom. So what is it about British cycling at the moment?

"Sky," Stannard says with a grin.

"Froomey, Brad (Wiggins) winning. Olympics. It's just gone boom, it's fantastic."

One of the team's new signings for 2014 is Philip Deignan who becomes the first Irishman to ride for Sky and is on his first trip to Australia.

He started last season in Argentina and said he was excited about experiencing his first Australian summer.

"I have so many friends and Irish people who have emigrated here, there's a big Irish community, so I've heard a lot of good things from them about the area and training," Deignan said.

"I had a pretty solid winter without any real disruptions so I got some good work in, I think I can play a good support role in the team and do my job.

"The Tour of Italy will be a big goal (for me), it starts in Ireland and we go there with Richie as one of the main GC contenders so I'm really looking forward to that."