Top Australian cycling team Orica-Scott are happy for the speculation to keep bubbling for a few weeks more about their Grand Tour plans.
Speaking ahead of Adelaide's Tour Down Under, team director Matt White said they would not confirm the race schedule for their three young guns until after the Australian summer of cycling.
Home front: Orica-Scott keeps quiet on Grand Tour plans with focus on Australian events.Credit:Josh Robenstone
The Tour Down Under, the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Rd Race and next month's Herald-Sun Tour are all key objectives for Orica-Scott.
The team is well aware that any confirmation of what Colombian Esteban Chaves and the British twins Adam and Simon Yates are doing will take attention away from the local races.
"Because of the Australian summer races, we're not going to talk about it," White said.
"We don't want to take publicity away from these races, do we?
"We're here to win, here.
"We owe it to these races, to be talking about these races."
Orica-Scott's evolution, and especially last year's breakthrough results at the three Grand Tours, mean there is plenty of interest in what they have planned for this season.
Chaves finished second overall at the Giro d'Italia and third at the Vuelta a Espana, before capping his best season by winning the Il Lombardia one-day classic.
Adam Yates was fourth at the Tour de France and won the young rider category, while his brother Simon was sixth at the Vuelta.
There has been talk that Chaves might make his Tour de France debut this year, rather than try to win the Giro.
"We're going to all three Grand Tours with a leader for general classification," was White's only confirmation.
"They know where they're going ... those guys have known for a while."
Chaves, a popular figure in Australian cycling, will open his 2017 race program at the Tour Down Under.
It starts with the one-day Down Under Classic on Sunday, followed by the Tour itself from next Tuesday to Sunday.
The course for the WorldTour opener continues to become harder each year, with stage two from Stirling to Paracombe in the Adelaide Hills particularly challenging.
White said it is the Queen stage this year, taking that status from the traditional decider on the second-last day at Willunga.
He added Chaves, BMC's Richie Porte and Sky's Sergeo Henao are the race favourites, ahead of Orica-Scott's four-time winner Simon Gerrans.
"We had the idea of bringing him out and when it was confirmed that there were two hilltop finishes, it was a no-brainer," White said of Chaves.
"Our fans want to see him out here ... and now with two hilltop finishes, it's a race where he can be in the mix."
AAP