Omega Pharma-QuickStep make wet start to Tour preparations

UNSEASONABLE wet weather made Omega Pharma-QuickStep's decision to ditch the bikes for the gym yesterday an easy one.

UNSEASONABLE wet weather made Omega Pharma-QuickStep's decision to ditch the bikes for the gym yesterday an easy one.

Riders from the Belgian team headed to a city gym where they used mats, elastic ropes, weights and exercise balls to work on core strength and power.

Director Rik van Slycke said it was also helpful for riders still shaking jet lag.

"So we thought it was better today to have a gym session rather than going in the rain on the bike,'' he said.

"It doesn't make sense to get wet, it's not necessary because there are a few more days left before the competition starts so we still have time for the training sessions we want to do.''

The team arrived in Adelaide on Friday expecting a heatwave but were instead met by 20C temperatures and, yesterday, rain.

"At home we heard about the bushfires so expected some really hot days,'' van Slycke said. ``But I think within a couple of days it will be good and feel like summer again.''

Omega Pharma-QuickStep is the new home of former world champion Mark Cavendish but the world's best sprinter has opted to start his season at the Tour de San Luis in Argentina rather than return to Adelaide.

The team will instead look to sprinters Gert Steegmans and Andrew Fenn for stage wins while van Slycke is confident Jerome Pineau and Peter Velits can stay with the leaders over the climbs to be in overall contention.

"The spirit of the team is we always want to win ... a stage or even general classification,'' van Slycke said.

"We are realistic enough to know it isn't possible everywhere, but we try to come to races with a competitive group and it's the first race of the year ... so we will see what the race brings us.

"We have Gert Steegmans who proved (himself) by winning stages at the Tour de France and he was (the) lead out man for Tom Boonen, so he knows what to do.''

"And we have a young sprinter with us, Andrew Fenn, who won two stages of the Tour of Mallorca last year so he's a coming-up man and we have to support him as much as possible and we will see how close he can go in the sprints (against Andre) Greipel and (Matt) Goss.''

Steegmans and Fenn are both in the team's Classics group to help Boonen with his major goals during March and April.