Team Sky reveal Great Ocean Road Race line-up

Chris Froome makes his 2017 racing debut at the one-day Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race in Australia on Sunday, January 29

Chris Froome at the 2016 Tour de France
(Image credit: Watson)

Team Sky have confirmed that Tour de France champion Chris Froome will make his season debut at the 2017 Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race in Australia on Sunday (January 29).

Froome is part of the British WorldTour team's seven-man selection for the race, which takes place over 147 kilometres of rolling terrain around Geelong.

>>> Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race 2017 start list

Joining Froome are fellow British riders Luke Rowe and Ian Stannard, both of whom are warming up for the Classics season ahead in northern Europe.

Also going into the race from the previous week's Tour Down Under, Colombian cousins Sebastian and Sergio Henao, newly-signed Frenchman Kenny Elissonde and Dutch sprinter Danny van Poppel complete the line-up.

The only rider absent from Sky's line-up from the TDU is Geraint Thomas.

Between the seven riders, there's pretty much every eventuality covered – whether any moves happen on the race's climbs, or whether it comes together for a bunch sprint.

Last year's edition of the race was won by the team's Peter Kennaugh after he went solo from an escape group. Kennaugh is not part of the line-up this year.

Tour Down Under winner Richie Porte (BMC Racing), Esteban Chaves, Simon Gerrans (both Orica-Scott) and Nathan Haas (Dimension Data) are among those on the provisional start list.

The Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race was one of 10 new additions to the UCI's WorldTour calendar for 2017. It forms part of a strong selection of early-season races in Australia, that also includes the Tour Down Under (January 17-22) and Herald Sun Tour (February 1-5). Froome won the latter race last season.

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