The 38-year-old has targeted the tough 162.3km road race.

Apart from being a key team leader for the new GreenEDGE squad, reports of O’Grady’s solid training form have made him a race favourite as well.

Two years ago, O’Grady was recovering from pneumonia at this time and last year, he was nursing fractured ribs.

Despite a solid training base this time, tomorrow will still be his first race of the season.

“I’ve been working pretty hard, (I’ve) definitely done the most work in December for many, many years,” he said.

“I’ve had a pretty good build-up, (but) I have no idea where I stand.

“It’s going to be a bit hit and miss.”

O’Grady had a slight disruption when he fell ill, but is confident he will be right for the weekend.

“I was going really well, things were probably going above board, then the family came down a bit crook,” he said.

“I’ve been on the receiving end of that for the last few days, which has been pretty frustrating, but I haven’t hit the panic buttons yet.

“There’s still time to recover from that, we’ll see what happens on Sunday.”

O’Grady won the road race title in 2003 and wants another national champion’s jersey as he enters the last few years of his stellar career.

But he is well aware that this early in the season, anything can happen.

“We have to remember it will be January 8 – the head’s saying one thing and the legs and heart are saying another,” he said.

Another potential problem is that while O’Grady and other top European-based professionals are just starting their seasons, locally-based riders have been racing and training for several months.

“There are other guys out there, who we haven’t even raced against before, who have probably been going since the (October) Herald Sun Tour,” he said.

GreenEDGE have made it clear they want to win the national champion’s jersey and O’Grady said the expectations from outside the team are also intense.

“There’s probably more stress on this weekend than there (will be) building into the Tour de France,” he said.

“We’re not at the Tour to win the Tour – if we win a stage, it will be historic.

“Here, everyone just goes ‘oh, it’s the first WorldTour team, first big race – if you don’t win, you’re going to get hung’.

“We have to be realistic about it – of course we’re to win, of course we’re going to give 100 per cent ... if it happens, it happens.”