Egan Bernal will lead the general classification challenge for Team Sky at next week's Santos Tour Down Under, while his fellow new arrival Kristoffer Halvorsen will look to pick up an early success in the sprints.
Halvorsen is joined in the team by his fellow neo-professional Chris Lawless, and the seven-man line-up also features Jon Dibben, Owain Doull, Salvatore Puccio and Lukasz Wisniowski.
Bernal is making his debut for Team Sky after impressing over the past two seasons at Professional Continental level with Androni Giocattoli. The Colombian, who turns 21 next week, won the Tour de l'Avenir last season and will look to be among the best on the summit finish at Willunga Hill on stage 5 of the Tour Down Under.
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"Egan has already raced in a lot of big races. He's no longer a neo-pro but he's very young still. It's going to be a really good chance to see where he is at, especially against the Australian riders who are in a home race and adapted already," said Team Sky directeur sportif Brett Lancaster. "We'll see what happens come Willunga Hill and we'll look to put him in a good position."
Halvorsen was under-23 world champion in Doha in 2016, but opted to spend an additional season at Continental level before stepping up to the top flight with Team Sky this season. The Norwegian is a powerful sprinter and will look to test himself against a field of fast men that will includes Caleb Ewan (Mitchelton-Scott), Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe) and Elia Viviani (Quick-Step Floors).
"I've never been in Australia before so I think it will be really nice. The weather is really good and the stages are not too long, so it suits me well as a first ever World Tour race. Hopefully it will be really good," said Halvorsen.
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