It's not the most Aussies that have ever lined up at a Tour de France (12 in 2012), but the quality of the riders flying the Aussie flag at the 2021 edition of the French Grand Tour has the potential to surpass the collective achievements of those trailblazers of the past.
Fans watching from down under are accustomed to seeing success and arguably the high watermark came in the 2006 Tour, where Robbie McEwen won three stages and the green jersey, while Cadel Evans and Michael Rogers both finished in the top 10 overall, fourth and ninth respectively. That double appearance in the top 10 is the only time that it's been done in Tour history by an Australian pair... this year we could see four Aussies in the top 10.
It may sound outlandish, but this generation of Australian climbing talent has been a long time coming. Lucas Hamilton (Team BikeExchange), Jack Haig (Bahrain Victorious) and Ben O'Connor (AG2R-Citroen) are the real deal, and alongside Richie Porte (INEOS Grenadiers) who was third last year and seemingly in much better form heading into the race this time round, Australia has the best collection of climbers ever to attack the Tour.
I'm not going to go into the results that back up the claims here, those are covered exhaustively elsewhere in links around this article. But the character of each GC contender coming into this race really inspires confidence and should mean that they find a welcome home in the hearts of the watching public on the three-week journey around France.
Arguably the man who benefits the most from reduced coverage and lessened press commitments is Richie Porte. He's said that he doesn't really enjoy it at all, and doesn't enjoy the pressure of leadership. 2020 and 2021 have been perfect for him in that regard, and he gets to come in as one of many favourites in the INEOS squad, rather than the sole leader with the expectation of converting his Dauphine win into a Tour de France one. He's been flying all year, hopefully he gets a chance to show his best.
Hamilton has long dreamed of this moment, and gets his shot leading an Australian WorldTour squad, Team BikeExchange, for the general classification at the Tour de France. It's a realisation of the aims of the GreenEdge project instituted by owner Gerry Ryan all those years ago back in 2012 and should be a proud moment for many. He's been the most consistent of the Aussies outside Porte, finishing in the top 10 three times in WorldTour races. He would have finished there again at the Tour de Suisse, but got gastroenteritis and couldn't finish the race. He's under the radar, but he really shouldn't be.
O'Connor is laid-back, refreshingly open and appears in a great frame of mind at the moment as he enters the Tour as a leader of a French team. He's signed a new three-year deal, the results are coming and he's talking about attacking and winning stages. After years of flashes of brilliance interspersed by barren stretches, the consistency has arrived as O'Connor has matured and he's ready to show he's one of the best climbers around.
Haig has been marked for stardom for a long time, and it's amazing that it's taken until now to get him a big leadership role. The 27-year-old served a long apprenticeship watching the likes of the Yates brothers and Esteban Chaves excel at the Grand Tours, and he's ready to put that experience into practice. Tall, red-headed and always ready to crack a smile, he's an easy rider to pick out in the race, and even easier to like. His fifth at the Dauphine was impressive, but what was most telling was how his competitors spoke of him with admiration after the race.
Caleb Ewan (Lotto Soudal) is Australia's mainstay for stage wins despite the talented riders mentioned above. He'll be backed up by young Aussie debutant Harry Sweeny, and he's coming into the race with good form. Well, his personal form has been good to my eye all year, but now his sprint train is getting him to the right places in the finale more often. Crunching the numbers on the green jersey competition shows that he could be in with a red-hot shot at that as well.
Sweeny will be an early member of Ewan's leadout, he'll likely slot in as the third last man in front of Roger Kluge and Jasper de Buyst.
Miles Scotson (Groupama-FDJ) will be part of the main competition for Ewan, leading out Arnaud Demare. Scotson grabbed headlines with his Volta a Valenciana stage win earlier this year, crashing then remounting and still having the time to win. He'll likely be the third or second last man for Demare, with Jacopo Guarnieri generally the final man in the French leadout. He may be allowed to personally go hard for the time trials, where he's building on his reputation after being an Under 23 star in the discipline.
Michael Matthews (Team BikeExchange) will be one to watch in the first few stages, those uphill finishes are his bread and butter, though he comes up against the best in the world in terms of his competition and will have to battle Mathieu van der Poel, Wout van Aert, Julian Alaphilippe and Sonny Colbrelli for wins. His days as a pure sprinter and a green jersey contender after his victory in 2017 are probably not going to be replicated at this Tour, but there's plenty of other ways for him to win and be effective. He's won a Tour de France stage from the break in the past, and he's very capable of adding to his tally of three Tour stages this year.
Luke Durbridge (Team BikeExchange) will be a rider that will get plenty of air time, riding in the wind to protect his team leaders as they head into the finals of each stage. There wouldn't be many riders more accomplished at this role, the West Australian is powerhouse, particularly on the flat. If the other Aussies, or potentially Esteban Chaves, are doing well then Durbridge likely won't get too many of his own chances, but that doesn't mean it won't be crucially important work.
Simon Clarke (Qhubeka-NextHash) doesn't deserve to be last on this list and he'll be one to watch if he can latch himself onto the right breakaway. At 34, and with his experience and tactical nous, he will take on the role of road captain for Qhubeka-ASSOS. The team lack an outright leader and I would expect Clarke to be one of the more aggressive riders on an already very attacking team. He's won the climber's jersey in the past at the Vuelta a Espana after many stages and raids from the breaks, he could be in the mix just as regularly from the early escapes this year.
Every rider has a key role to play, and each should be visible in their different roles through the Tour de France. From an Australian fan's perspective, it should make for great viewing and the results could match the entertainment levels. I think we'll have four Aussies in the top 10, a green jersey winner, three stage wins and someone on the overall podium... it's hard to be much more excited at this stage for what should be a great Tour de France.
Every moment of the 2021 Tour de France will be live on SBS, with the ŠKODA Tour Tracker app, SBS TV and the SBS Cycling Central the place to be to catch all the pulsating action from France from June 26 to July 18.
