For the past two editions of the Tour Down Under, Australian Pro Continental team Drapac have been wild card entrants at the WorldTour race alongside the UniSA-Australia national team. In 2017, the UniSA-Australia team are likely to be the sole wild card team following the Drapac and Cannondale team merger from January 1.
As a WorldTour race, the Tour Down Under cannot invite Continental teams, and as there is currently no Australian Pro Continental teams, the 18 WorldTour teams will be joined by UniSA-Australia for the January 17-22 race.
"It is unlikely at this stage because there are a number of things that will determine a wildcard for our race," Tour Down Under race director Mike Turtur told Cyclingnews of the possibility the race would be inviting Pro Continental teams for 2017.
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"If you look at our history, we decided as an organisation to support Australian cycling in another way. We do a lot in the way we support and implement the national team sponsored by UniSA and give them the opportunity to many young cyclists to be exposed to this level of racing. Previous to that, we always ran a U23 national team. We have done a lot for the development of Australian cycling with this race."
In recent editions of the race, Will Clarke, Jack Bobridge, Steele von Hoff, Rohan Dennis and Jack Haig have won stages and classifications. In 2004, Patrick Jonker won the race overall for UniSA-Australia.
Prior to Drapac being awarded a wildcard entry to the race, BMC in 2010 was the only other occasion a Pro Continental team has been invited to Adelaide. The exception was made on that occasion as Cadel Evans had become the world champion in 2009 and otherwise would not have been able to race on home soil in the rainbow jersey.
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