Team Caisse d'Epargne's Ivan Gutierrez on Sunday participated in the Cancer Helpline Council Classic raced in the Adelaide, Australia. His first race of the year. Gutierrez, who expects a lot from the 2010 season, told Roadcycling.com he was delighted to make part of the team that travelled to Australia.

"This year our team, in addition to making the Santos Tour Down Under one of the objectives of the beginning of the season, took advantage of this trip to realize our first training camp in Australia," Ivan explained. "The riders who are here are riders who will have a great responsibility most of all in the beginning of the season and also with us is our team leader Alejandro Valverde who .. is able to win races during the whole year. We therefore considered it was very important to have the possibility to start working and training the whole team together."

"After almost three days of travel and because it was really cold in Europe, we took advantage of our stay in a country which is a real paradise for cyclists to train very well, advised by our director, Neil Stephens. We kept on progressing everyday without being in a hurry. It is indeed very important not to tire our bodies and we therefore had short and not too intensive training sessions."

"Apart from training we also have some spare time and we are trying to (get to) know the country better. We saw many things European people are not used to see. Koalas, emus and kangaroos. We even tasted these last ones."

"Sunday's race was very special one for me. It was indeed my brother David's first race in the pro category. Considering (that) eight years separate us, I saw him growing and as a result I always instinctively protect him. Yesterday I was a little bit worried during the race, because I was afraid something bad could happen to him. Cycling is a risky sport and more in such a short race on an urban circuit. Fortunately everything was great, I won an intermediate sprint and I was really happy to compete again, which is the most important thing considering my chances to win were really tiny in a race which was expected to finish in a massive sprint."

"The Santos Tour Down Under starts tomorrow and I will try to take advantage of a possible opportunity to get a result even if to win here is not an objective. I will indeed be satisfied if I leave Australia with my condition keeping on being every day better, but you never know. Many things can happen in a race and nothing is impossible."