Every January, the rolling party begins again when the WorldTour season kicks off in Australia with the Tour Down Under. Although there are other early non-WorldTour events that attract just as many big name riders (such as Qatar), let's speculate on what tech we may or may not see at the first WorldTour race of 2016.
Tour Down Under is notorious for its excessive logistical expenses for the teams. No WorldTour has a service course on that side of the earth and so near everything must go by plane. And what a trip it is. With this, teams typically travel light and bring only the essentials. The TT bikes are left behind, as are the luxury team buses.
On the other hand, it's certainly less of a media circus and teams don't need to travel between stages, they just relax at the same hotel every night. Add in that the stages aren't as long or tortuous on equipment, and it begins to look like TDU has its perks if you're going to showcase some unproven gear.
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Related reading: Look back at the pro gear from the 2015 Tour Down Under
Frame styles
With such logistic issues, all but the biggest name sprinters typically stick to the same bike for the week-long race. Such an example was seen with Andre Greipel last year who had both his Ridley Noah Fast and Helium SL where the rest of the team just had the Helium SL.
While some will seek aero to tackle the faster stages, most will likely err on the side of comfort to kick off their season. This was obvious with Trek Factory all racing the comfort-focused Domane last season, stating that the Australian roads aren’t the nicest going.
Brakes
Shifting
Rolling stock
Shoes and helmets
Are you naked?
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