What will Australia's first pro cycling team deliver?

For once, the main point of interest at this month's Tour Down Under will not be an individual but a team.

GreenEDGE, backed by caravan tycoon Gerry Ryan, has won a spot on cycling's World Tour, guaranteeing entry into the sport's biggest races, including the Tour de France. It will debut in Adelaide as Australia's first top-level pro team, 98 years after Don Kirkham and Snowy Munro packed their bags in 1914 to become the country's first representatives at the Tour de France.

Seventeen of GreenEDGE's 30 riders are Australian, and the names on the roster are a good representation of the stars and future stars of road cycling in this country.

Stuart O'Grady, Robbie McEwen and Baden Cooke boast between them four green jerseys and 16 stage wins at the Tour de France alone, while O'Grady has also won the queen of the one-day classics, Paris-Roubaix. Although Cooke, 33, has time on his side, McEwen and O'Grady are the wrong side of 38 and have been signed to lend experience.

GreenEDGE's youngsters are primarily track stars in the early phases of their road careers. Cameron Meyer is a triple Commonwealth Games gold medallist who won his first race on tarmac at last year's Tour Down Under. Meyer will ride alongside his brother Travis, his long-time track partner Leigh Howard, and Jack Bobridge, who impressed Lance Armstrong by letting it fly at the 2009 Tour Down Under.

Cadel Evans is, of course, the big name missing. Evans sees himself saddling up for two more Tours de France, despite last year becoming the race's second oldest winner at 34. However, one week after stepping off the podium in Paris, he signed a new three-year deal with BMC Racing, making it likely he will ride out his remaining good years with the American team.

GreenEDGE has no Evans equivalent – no all-rounder capable of providing the focal point for an assault on one of cycling's three annual grand tours. Although general manager Shayne Bannan may not admit as much to potential sponsors, nobody on his team is going to be riding around the Champs Elysees wearing yellow this July.

Instead, GreenEDGE will target sprints and smaller races, with an eye on the spring classics.

Tasmanian Matt Goss is, for this reason, the team's most important rider. Goss is in the form of his life. Last year he won Milan-San Remo, becoming Australia's first winner of the iconic season opener. He won stages at Paris-Nice and the Tour of California, and finished behind Mark Cavendish to take silver in September's world championships. Should he be able to continue that rich vein of form, he could deliver a stage win or two in France, where he is also GreenEDGE's best bet as a green jersey contender.

Elsewhere, pickings will probably be slim. Simon Gerrans is a proven stage winner but has now had two lean years. Simon Clarke impressed in Australia's team at the worlds and could surprise if things fall for him in a classic. Multiple African champion Daniel Teklehaymanot is a star in his homeland who probably won't win races but should supply GreenEDGE with a new group of fans, thanks to Australia's substantial Eritrean community.

Regardless of how things work out for GreenEDGE in their debut year, fans would do well to remember how long it has taken for Australian road cycling to reach this point. It was 67 years after Munro and Kirkham's Tour de France debut before an Australian, Phil Anderson, wore the yellow jersey. And it was 30 years after Anderson's 1981 breakthrough that Evans rode that jersey into Paris. Only last year, the failed Pegasus group showed how hard it is to launch a pro team – going belly-up after the UCI denied top-tier and second-tier licenses on financial grounds.

This is a year to accept whatever results do come GreenEDGE's way, and to give thanks to the sport's fickle gods (and administrators) that as a road cycling nation Australia has finally come this far.

Next up: Are Australia's Olympic glory days over?

The views in this article are those of the author and not necessarily those of BigPond Sport.