The thought of an Australian team taking part in the Tour de France has long been merely a mass dreamy-eyed case of wishful thinking as thousands of Australians sat well into the wee small hours of the morning watching the SBS coverage. From the early days of Phil Anderson, Scott Sunderland and Neil Stephens who paved the way for the likes of Stuart O’Grady, Bradley McGee, Henk Vogels, Baden Cooke, Robbie McEwen, Michael Rogers and Cadel Evans. The list has become a long one and is still growing.

The desire to form an Aussie team has lurked back there, occasionally slipping out in post-race musings by Mike Tomalaris – more in desperate hope than any real expectation.

The key missing factor, of course, was the sponsorship dollar (euro?…whatever). But today comes an announcement that has rekindled the hope that maybe there’s a chance. At least, someone’s actually proposing a stake in a chance.

Online tourism company Roamfree.com has announced a commitment of $20 million towards the formation of a Pro Cycling team based in Europe. Roamfree has established a company called Pro Cycling Australia appointing Dr Paul Varcoe its CEO. According to Varcoe the venture is dependent on two things happening before progressing any further with the plan. Firstly the Australian Government would have to commit to kicking in a sizable stake and secondly, a second major sponsor would also have to sign up.

There’s also the small matter of the UCI granting a licence to the newly-formed Down Under outfit. However, with Discovery Channel announcing their withdrawal from Professional Cycling and Astana’s future looking decidedly shaky, not to mention the trouble Unibet.com are having getting a Grand Tour start, the timing couldn’t be better with the door open just a tiny crack.

Speaking of Discovery Channel, too, it’s interesting how starkly this announcement flies in the face of the Tailwind Sports reluctance to sign a new sponsorship deal due to the instability within the sport. It just goes to show, when you’ve got the hunger of one standing on the outside looking in your perspective is markedly different.

We’ve all seen the speculation surrounding the prospects of Team Slipstream as they plan to place a team within the Pro Tour ranks in the next couple of years. They have the advantage of already being a part of the Pro Continental Tour with a base and infrastructure already in place. Given that the stated aim of the Roamfree consortium is to gain entry to the 2009 Tour de France, time is tight.

The good news is that according to Dr Varco top flight Australian cyclists Michael Rogers, Robbie McEwen, Stuart O’Grady and Cadel Evans are on record as supporting the project. One wonders to what extent they have lent that support.

Remember too that the Drapac Porsche Development Squad are already participating in the Continental Tour and the South Australia.com – AIS squad has secured an invite to the Tour of Britain next month.

So it remains to be seem whether the Roamfree.com bid has legs or whether it is simply a rich guy’s idle flight of fancy or is it a cagey attempt to make position in light of the rumoured concept of national teams contesting the Tour de France. Time will tell. One thing is for sure, there is no underestimating the impact of Cadel Evans’ 2nd placing at this year’s Tour de France on Australian Cycling.