Jayco AlUla hunt Tour de France stage wins with O'Connor and Matthews, plus a few debutants

Jayco AlUla is the next team to announce its roster for the 2026 Tour de France. The Australian team is set to compete in its fifteenth Tour, featuring a number of familiar names as well as a few newcomers. With a balanced roster, the team hopes to achieve success in every aspect of the Tour de France.

The team’s top leaders are Michael Matthews and Ben O’Connor. O’Connor won a grueling mountain stage last year, just as he did in 2021, when he finished fourth in the general classification. Matthews has recently returned from a serious injury and is fit in time to start the Tour. This will be his ninth start.

The 35-year-old all-rounder has won a total of four stages in the Tour and claimed the green jersey in 2017. Now he’s returning with new ambitions after a tough year. “If you had told me three months ago that I’d be at the start of the Tour de France, I don’t think I would have believed you,” he says on his team’s website. “The team and I have worked very hard to be back in time for the Tour, and I’m really looking forward to being back.”

In 2025, he was unable to line up at the start in Lille due to a nasty virus. “After missing last year’s race because of my illness, and then my crash earlier this year, it gives me even more motivation and drive. The Tour is the biggest race of the year. Even though this is my ninth time starting, making the cut is always a huge deal for every rider.”

In addition to Matthews and O'Connor, Luke Plapp, Pascal Ackermann, and Mauro Schmid will be the other big names aiming for success. Ackermann finished fourth in the eighth stage last year and will once again be competing in the sprints. Plapp made his Tour debut last year and is hoping for a stage win this year. The Swiss rider Schmid narrowly lost to Jonas Abrahamsen (Uno-X Mobility) in the eleventh stage.

The team also includes veteran Luke Durbridge, who is set to compete in his twelfth Tour, and rookies Kelland O'Brien and Felix Engelhardt. O'Brien has mainly enjoyed success on the track, but will be lining up at the start of the Tour for the first time. Engelhardt is known as an all-rounder with excellent climbing ability: after four Grand Tours (two Giros and two Vueltas, ed.), he will now be competing in Barcelona.

"It's always tough to put a team together for the biggest race on the calendar, and you have to make some big decisions," says general manager Gene Bates. “But we believe we’ve been able to put together a very competitive team. As an Australian team, we’re proud that our eight-rider lineup features an Australian core for our fifteenth Tour de France.”