Two Australian cycling names could join the ranks of winners at the Tour de France this year. One is Michael Matthews, now favourite for the prestigious green jersey for the race's top sprinter.
The other name is more unusual: property investor Michael Drapac.
As co-owner of the Cannondale-Drapac professional cycling team, Drapac is on the the verge of a rare achievement for an Australian business identity in having his name on the podium when the gruelling three-week Tour finishes in Paris on Sunday night.
Ahead of the 18th stage on Thursday night Australian time, Cannondale-Drapac's Colombian rider Rigoberto Uran was second only to race favourite Chris Froome of Team Sky.
Drapac, who has made a fortune from betting on a recovery in the US housing market, has delighted in watching his team - which has one of the smallest budgets on the global tour - surge to the front of the most famous race in the world and surpassing most expectations.
"I'm in Paris waiting for the finish now, but I've watched every stage microscopically and it has been an amazing Tour for us," Drapac told The Australian Financial Review.
Matthews meanwhile is poised to become just the third Australian in history to win the green jersey, following Baden Cooke's triumph in 2003 and Robbie McEwen's three victories between 2002 and 2006.
Cadel Evans, now retired but host of the annual Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road race, remains the only Australian to win the Tour, having taken the yellow jersey in 2011, while Phil Anderson won the white jersey for best young rider in 2002. Richie Porte was considered a good chance to win the overall race this year but spectacularly crashed out in early stages.
Canberran Matthews has won two stages this year and assumed the green jersey leadership on Thursday after previous leader Marcel Kittel withdrew from the race following a crash in a tough mountainous stage.
Australian Simon Clarke has also provided valuable support for Uran at Cannondale-Drapac. "He's been very influential and brought a lot of experience to the team," said his agent Jason Bakker.
The race has also been a winner for broadcaster SBS with average nights audiences of 271,000, up 7.1 per cent from last year. Online, daily video views are up 61.2 per cent from 2016, and so far there have been 2.2 million video streams across all SBS platforms.
Drapac said his team's success has been good for business but also in his quest for professional athletes to be assisted in planning for retirement and other off field or course pursuits.
"The brand recognition for us has been out of this world. We've got a track record of delivering profits [in property] and people know us for that, but now they say 'oh, you're in that team that is doing well in the Tour de France too.' So it is validation in a way.
"I'm hoping we can leverage this to promote the idea of athlete wellbeing. We have shown we have have well-rounded athletes that can be successful as well."
