Tour de France stage winner Ben O’Connor will lead Team Jayco AlUla on home soil as the Australian outfit kicks-off the WorldTour calendar at the Santos Tour Down Under.
 
It will be the first time the 30-year-old has raced his ‘home’ tour since 2023, and the man from Perth will head up a strong Australian contingent in Adeliade in January.
 
Backing up O’Connor will be the last two Australian road race champions, Giro d’Italia stage winner Luke Plapp and team stalwart Luke Durbridge. New recruit Hamish McKenzie and the returning Rudy Porter add to the Aussie flavour alongside the powerful presence of Kell O’Brien.
 
Completing the squad will be the lone non-Australian, Mauro Schmid. Despite not being a native, the double Swiss champion endeared himself to the locals in 2025 with his stunning solo victory at the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race.

Ben O’Connor:
“Heading back to Perth for the summer has been an enormous pleasure. I love Australia, I miss its beaches and friendly, laid-back atmosphere. Training here is brutal and unforgiving sometimes, but it always gives big rewards. I can’t wait to get stuck in for the Aussie summer of racing and do our jersey proud.
 
Around the world we try to perform, showcase our talents and aim to throw the hands up in the air with a victory, but coming into Tour Down Under with Team Jayco AlUla will truly mean racing in our home race, bringing that extra dimension of significance. It’ll be great fun and honestly, it is one of the best times of the year.”
 
Mat Hayman (Sport Director):
“We’re returning to the Tour Down Under with a very strong team for what is a hard course next year. We have Ben O’Connor coming back who hasn’t raced here since 2023, Luke Plapp, who was right up there this year, and we’ve got Mauro Schmid, who won Cadel’s Great Ocean Road Race this year and he’s coming back to have a crack at Tour Down Under.
 
Those guys will be supported by Luke Durbridge, a stalwart of the team. It’s always great to have his knowledge and strength as road captain and a key rider for the team. We’ve pretty much got a full Australian line-up with couple of young guys, Rudy Porter returns to the team and I’m sure he’ll be ready to impress straight away, Hamish McKenzie steps up from the development team and right in the middle there you have Kell O’Brien, who must be eyeing up that prologue around the streets of Adelaide. We have a super strong squad, and we’re excited to take this them to Tour Down Under and with a team like that we’ve got to be expecting to get some results.”
 
2026 Tour Down Under – Race Details:
Tue, 20th Jan – Sun, 25th Jan (Prologue, +5 Stages) Adelaide