Marco Haller, one of the newest additions to the Bahrain McLaren lineup this year, including Mark Cavendish, Mikel Landa, and Wout Poels, is part of a new era for 2020 with McLaren's increased involvement and Rod Ellingworth as team principal. He is part of the team that started the project.

Haller joins the team after eight years with Katusha. Katusha will merge with the Israel Cycling Academy, a professional continental team, in 2019 and become the Israel Startup Nation team in 2020.

"It's a big change, but I feel it's just the right change at the right time, as I've been with the same team for eight years. The partnership between Bahrain and McLaren feels like an incredible driving force for this team and it's quite unique. I think it shows how smart they are going in the right direction by having other teams emulate this partnership," Haller said, noting that Team Ineos is partnering with the Mercedes F1 team and that the Israel Startup Nation recently announced that it will partner with the Williams F1 team this season He mentioned that.

"I feel very proud to have found this team.

Haller will kick off the new Bahrain McLaren season with the Schwalbe Classic Circuit race on Sunday night in Adelaide, South Australia.

"You wouldn't call me a sprinter," smiled Haller, "but Sunday's Schwalbe Classic might suit me best of all the teams."

The 28-year-old is far too modest to be understated. Haller has very fast finishes and Australian fans will remember him for his win from the break in the opening round of the 2019 Bay Crit. His joy was considerably lessened at last year's Tour Down Under when he fell on the second stage at Angaston, a bloody and bruised victim, but he recovered to finish in the top group the next day and finished last year.

He will be hoping for a safer passage in what is said to be one of the toughest races in Tour Down Under history.

"It's certainly going to be a very tough course," Haller told Cycling News on Sunday morning. 'In Raphael Valls we have a rider who has twice finished in the top 10 overall here (8th in 2016 and 7th in 2017). So we want to protect him, but he's obviously in a different position than a team like Trek Segafredo with Richie Porte or Mitchelton Scott with Darryl Impey.

"Paracombe on stage 3 and Willunga Hill on stage 6 are the kind of "queen stages" that can win the Tour Down Under this year, but the stage to Murray Bridge (stage 4) loses the race because it goes through an open area with potentially strong wind at the end. It is a stage with a lot of potential.

Haller said the team has done most of the stages this year and that everyone on the team is motivated to start a good season as part of a team that is reforming for 2020.

In addition to the new structure, the team has a new orange and black kit for the new season.

"Obviously we want to start the season well, and as a team we certainly have big goals for this season.

"For me personally, I'm looking first at the spring classics, then I want to make the long list and hopefully be selected for the Tour de France. Of course, the team has big goals for the race, so getting into the Tour is our ultimate goal this year."