In the past two seasons, an Australian has finished second overall at the Tour de l'Avenir and gone on to sign with the Orica-BikeExchange team. Rob Power became the first Australian to finish on the podium at the 'U23 Tour de France' in 2014, with Jack Haig matching his result 12-months later.
First year neo-pro Haig is about to line out for his first grand tour at the Vuelta a Espana, while Power will make his debut with the team after a rare bone marrow disease delayed his professional debut.
Both riders were introduced to European racing in the Jayco-AIS World Tour Academy team that has also provided a pathway to the WorldTour ranks for the likes of Caleb Ewan and Alex Edmondson in recent seasons.
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Lucas Hamilton is aiming to become the third Australian in as many years to make his mark at Tour de l'Avenir in his first season in the U23 ranks. The 20-year-old narrowly lost the Australian U23 road title to Chris Hamilton, of no relation, before making his WorldTour debut at the Tour Down Under in January.
On the queen stage up Willunga Hill, Hamilton attacked from the select group before finishing 14th in what would be a sign of things to come. He unfortunately crashed out of the Jayco Herald Sun Tour before heading to Europe where his first race was the Gent-Wevelgem nations cup.
"I think racing against WorldTour blokes was a big experience with how they go about things and then coming into and using that experience for rest of the season will be a massive advantage because you can do things the way a professional does things and see where they conserve energy and use their energy and all that sort of stuff," Hamilton told Cyclingnews of his early-season racing and benefits of racing the Australian WorldTour event. "I think that can be a big benefit for some of the races across the season."
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