Nothing less than top 10 for Belgian

WORLD champion Philippe Gilbert will accept nothing less than a top-10 finish in this week's Santos Tour Down Under.

WORLD champion Philippe Gilbert will accept nothing less than a top-10 finish in this week's Santos Tour Down Under as he builds towards his major goals in the Spring Classics.

The Belgian superstar is desperate to put BMC on top of the UCI teams rankings after the season-opening WorldTour race in Adelaide, which determines the convoy order of team cars when racing returns to Europe.

Riders who have their team car at the front of the convoy can rely on quicker assistance if they have a mechanical problem during the one-day Classics.

Gilbert, who is a Classics specialist, is targeting Milan-San Remo and Tour of Flanders in March, which is motivation enough to perform in Adelaide this week.

"When you see the importance of the points, especially for me, I'm going with big ambitions to Milan-San Remo and (Tour of) Flanders," Gilbert said.

"And the car position there is very important so I will try to take points with stages or the GC (at Tour Down Under).

"I hope to be top-10 at least at the end of the week and there is my ambition.

"It's hard to know where you are compared to the others and it's a big difference to the Australian riders, they've been riding even just small races, it makes a big difference at the first (WorldTour) race (of the season)."

Gilbert has raced the TDU twice in 2004 and 2008 and said changes to this year's course made it more attractive for him to return.

"When I did the race last time it was much easier than now, so it's a bigger opportunity for me this year," Gilbert said.

"I'm motivated with the (rainbow) jersey and we'll try to do our best.

"You don't have many choices at this time of year. You've got Qatar, which is completely flat, Argentina or here. The last time I was here was five years ago so why not?"

The race's other big name, Andy Schleck, has declared he will not be targeting the overall win this week but simply enjoy returning to racing after an injury-riddled 2012.

His team, RadioShack Leopard Trek, is expected to be led by talented Portuguese climber Tiago Machado who was third overall in last year's TDU.

"We have some good (riders) in the team who I believe can podium or win here," Schleck said.

"I'm not the leader of this race in the team so I hope to help them out, if there's an opportunity for a stage or if I feel good then I can go with the 10 best over the climb then I will take it. But I don't have great expectations."

While racing started last night with an hour-long criterium, the People's Choice Classic, the TDU officially begins with Stage 1 from Prospect to Lobethal on Tuesday.

"I'm excited but I'm quite nervous also because it's been a long time since I raced," said Schleck, the 2010 Tour de France champion.

"I did Tour of Beijing (in October) but I didn't really do it, I was there.

"It's going to be special to be in the peloton again. I think I need a few days to be used to it again."

Defending TDU champion Simon Gerrans said while he was racing to win, the pressure was not as great as last year when new team Orica-GreenEDGE was making its debut.

"This year the pressure is probably a little bit less because we really proved ourselves last year.

"I'm motivated being defending champion, but the Tour Down Under is one of many goals we have and the pressure is spread a little more evenly across the season."