Angus Lyons is hoping to use one of Australia’s most prestigious road cycling tours as a springboard to Europe.
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The Ballarat 21-year-old has earned a ride in his third Herald Sun Tour.
Lyons will ride alongside Ararat and former Ballarat Clarendon College student Lucas Hamilton in the KordaMentha Australian national team in the five-day Victorian event, which starts next Wednesday.
The seven-man line up includes 2015 Herald Sun Tour and former Tour Down Under winner Cameron Meyer.
Nathan Earle is the only other “senior” rider, with the rest of the team all under-23, including national under-23 road champion Sam Jenner, Jai Hindley and Michael Storer.
Lyons is working on picking up a professional contract in Italy and knows a strong performance in the tour, in which he last year finished sixth in the young rider classification, would enhance his chances.
He is reasonably confident of being successful. “I have some good contacts.”
If he is successful is getting signed up, Lyons will focus on a strong under-23 circuit in Europe.
Lyons is pleased with his lead-up form. He finished fifth in the under-23 time trial at the national road titles at Buninyong and rounded out the top 10 in the under-23 road race.
Lyons said he had gone into the new year off a much stronger base than 12 months ago.
“I spent a lot of 2015 off the scene battling injury.”
He said in contrast he had had an uninterrupted 2016 and had focused working on top-end climbing.
He recalled in last year’s Herald Tour watching the elite end of peloton led by Tour de France champion Chris Froome disappearing into the distance.
While staying in touch with Froome and Giro d'Italia runner-up Esteban Chavez is likely to be beyond most of the field, Lyons feels much stronger this time around.
