Audrey Cordon-Lago has had a tumultuous and difficult few years, including two team collapses, as she attempts to recover from a stroke, but this Frenchwoman has stabilized at Human Powered Health and is looking ahead to the Paris Olympics in the summer while looking ahead to the 2024 Tour Down Under, she will start the season in good spirits.

Cordon Rago returns to racing after a six-year absence, and the 34-year-old will begin her 17th season in the peloton with her sights set on the big goal of the Olympics in her home country in August.

At a pre-race press conference, she contrasted her current situation with that of a year ago, when she "still doubted if I could get back on the bike" before a string of good results.

"A year ago, I wasn't very good; a year ago, I wasn't very good. I was still doubting if I could get back on the bike and what would happen," Cordón Lagotte said. In the end, I had the best early season of my career. [The] last few years have been a roller coaster. Obviously, I'm really happy and proud to be here. Now I want to focus on the Olympics. [I've been thinking about the Olympics as my goal. I'm coming back because I want to be on the start line in Paris. Without that, I don't have the confidence to be here."

In recent years, Cordon Lago endured the same scenario as the Zarf team when the B&B Hotels project collapsed in late 2022, a few months into the 2023 season.

He also suffered a career-threatening stroke on the eve of the World Championships in Australia in late 2022, but recovered and returned to racing last season.

In preparation for this trip to Australia, she has been training on rollers in her bathroom at home with the heat on high.

"This is my second time here. I've been to Australia before. I suffered very much from the heat. It was very, very warm. This year is going to be better," Cordon-Lagotte said.

"So I can't come here in my best condition. I came here because I also want to train in the heat. I am already looking forward to the summer and the Olympics. It will probably be really warm in Paris

"For me, the warm training blocks are very nice and I can improve my condition for the summer. It's also very nice to come here. I like the atmosphere and I like the racing."

Cordon-Lago suggested that Human Powered Health will look to her American teammate Ruth Edwards for results in the three-day race, and the 30-year-old hopes to replicate her success at GC in 2020.

"I was a little surprised by today's press conference," she said. 'But the team has Ruth Edwards, who won this race. She is ready. She's coming back. She's really motivated. So I'm going to work hard for her so that we can get her on the podium and enjoy the festivities here."

Cordón-Lago also noted that the race represents a good distance in warm weather ahead of the European season, as well as a few days away from the glare of the European media spotlight.

"To be honest, I don't think the French really want this race. 'At the moment, I think French cycling is cyclo-cross-centric. We have less pressure, and that's a good thing too."

"French journalists have no pressure to see how fit you are or what shape you are in. Frankly, they are waiting for the classics in Belgium. But that's why we came here. I just want to train calmly, quietly, in good shape, and then go back to Europe to start the real season. "

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