Cycling news - Sam Bennett to lead Deceuninck-Quickstep in Australia on debut for new team

Bennett, 29, joined Deceuninck-Quickstep over the offseason from Bora-Hansgrohe as a replacement for Elia Viviani.

The three-time Giro d’Italia stage winner will be the leader for his new team for the Tour Down Under which gets underway towards the end of January as the traditional curtain-raiser for the new season.

"We are looking forward to starting the new season again at the Tour Down Under, where it is always a pleasure to be present, as it’s such a well-organised race with amazing fans," Deceuninck-QuickStep directeur sportif Rik Van Slycke said in a team statement.

"We go there with a strong team and a motivated Sam Bennett, who will try to get his first victory in the Deceuninck-QuickStep jersey.

“He’ll have experienced men around him, so we are confident he can achieve this goal.

“We can also think about getting a good GC result, but we’ll take it day by day, see how things go and how our riders cope with the heat."

The rest of the seven man-team contains Shane Archbold, who followed Bennett from Bora, as well as Iljo Keisse, Michael Morkov, Joao Almeida, Mattia Cattaneo and Dries Devenyns.