Jack Hague will lead Mitchelton Scott in the Vuelta a Andalucía "Ruta del Sol" stage race, February 19-23.

"After racing in Valencia, I go into Ruta del Sol with great confidence.

"The course is a lot harder than Valencia and every day is pretty tricky. Even on the first day the finish is downhill, but before the last downhill you have to cross a big mountain.

"The time trial on the last day looks very technical on the map, so I would like to see it in action. It looks interesting because it's not a straightforward TT."

The 26-year-old Australian will be supported in the mountains by veteran climber Mikkel Nieve. Meanwhile, another experienced newcomer, Andrei Zeitz, will be racing for the team for the first time after 12 seasons in Astana. [Brent Bookwalter, former Australian road race champion Alex Edmondson, Alexander Konicev, and Edoardo Affini are among the experienced riders.

"The first goal is to perform well, both individually and as a team," said Edmundson. The team performed incredibly well in Valencia."

"For me, a top-five finish would be really, really good for the next stage race in March.

Sport director Lorenzo Lapage added: "We're really looking forward to the next stage race in March. "If you look at the Ruta del Sol course and what Haig showed in Valencia, he has everything around him if he wants to win the overall. The first stage is hard and has a lot of uphill finishes.

"It's a good race to work together. We have some new guys on the team like Zeitz, so it's a good opportunity to show him how we work as a team and it's good preparation for the races to come.

"We'll have to see how things go after the first stage, but we'll probably see a time difference early on and after the tough final climb (of stage 1) we'll see the final overall standings. Also, there could be a sprint finish on stage 2, so there are some strong riders like Edmondson.

Mitchelton Scott in the 2020 Vuelta a Andalucía "Ruta del Sol": Edoardo Affini, Brent Bookwalter, Alex Edmondson, Jack Hague, Alexander Konicev, Mikel Nieve, Andrei Zeitz