Nick White has given notice he is ready to again make a mark on the Tour Down Under in South Australia.
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The Ballarat 22-year-old claimed the sprint classification in the warm-up to the tour - the Tour Down Under Classic on the streets on Adelaide on Sunday.
He won two of four sprints in the 51km event to finish on top of the points table.
Riding for the composite Cycling Australia team UniSA-Australia, White was part of a five-man breakaway from the outside in the WorldTour field,
White finished third in the national road criterium championship in Ballarat earlier this month and again showed his liking for circuit racing by taking out the first and third sprints.
With that category in his keep, White dropped back to the peloton to assist team sprinting specialist and reigning national road criterium champion Sam Welsford over the closing 10 laps.
Caleb Ewan took the victory, with White drifting back into the second half of the field to preserve energy ahead of the opening stage of the TDU on Tuesday.
White also rode with UniSA-Australia last year and figured in a couple of breakaways over the six stages.
This allowed him to finish 10th in the king of the mountain, 19th in the youth classification and 23 in the points category, for 58th overall.
White is riding with Tyler Lindorff, Sam Jenner, Jarrad Drizners, Sam Welsford, Kelland O'Brien and Cameron Scott this year.
The opening stage is over 150km at Tanunda.
White is coming off a huge year in which he was named Victorian cyclist of the year after taking out the national under-23 road title, Melbourne to Warrnambool, Victorian under-23 criterium title, two Tour of East Gippsland stages and Fred Icke Road Race at Creswick, as well as representing Australia in the world under-23 road championships and Tour de l'Avenir in
MEANWHILE, Ballarat's Liam White has led the way for the Oliver's Real Food team in New Zealand Cycle Classic.
Following hot on the heels of the Cycling Australia Road National Championships, White finished 22nd in his first stage event for the team.
He was two minutes, 24 seconds behind classic winner Rylee Field from Australian team Bridgelane.
White on the same time as stage winners in bunch finishes in three of the five stages.
The tour featured 108 riders from Australia, France, Japan, Great Britain, Netherlands, Italy, Romania, Malta, Guam, Malaysia, Sweden, Taiwan and New Zealand.
