Saxo Bank team roster for 2012 Santos Tour Down Under

The rider rosters for Saxo Bank and Garmin-Cervelo at the 2012 Santos Tour Down Under were confirmed Friday. The race will be held in South Australia from January 15 to 22, 2012.

Australians Luke Roberts and Jonathan Cantwell will ride the 2012 Santos Tour Down Under with the Saxo Bank team after competing in the race in 2011 with the UniSA-Australia national team.

“Being a South Australian, it is always something special to watch Roberts in the peloton competing for victory in his hometown,” said Santos Tour Down Under Race Director Mike Turtur.

“It will be great to see Cantwell make his debut with Saxo Bank at our race. With 37 victories in his career, most in Australia and the US, it will be interesting to see the impression he can make on the WorldTour stage in 2012,” Turtur continued.

Olympic silver medalist and grand tour veteran Sergio Paulinho will also join Saxo Bank at the Tour Down Under. The two-time Portuguese national champion has won two stages in the Tour de France, a stage in the Vuelta a España.
The team will also include Japanese Takashi Miyazawa, new to Saxo Bank, who will become the firs ever Japanese rider to participate in the race.

The final three riders on Saxo Bank will be Danish Anders Lund, Jaroslaw Marycz from Poland and Danish Jonas Jorgensen. Team manager, Australian Bradley McGee, will lead the team at the race in 2011.

The 2012 Santos Tour Down Under Garmin-Cervelo team has already been announced. It will include Ryder Hesjedal of Canada, Jack Bauer of New Zealand, Robbie Hunter of Russia, Nathan Haas of Australia, Heinrich Haussler of Australia, Andreas Klier of Germany and Marijn Maaskant of the Netherlands. the Garmin-Cervelo team will be led by team manager, Allan Peiper.