Australian cycling star Richie Porte is prepared to work with Cadel Evans to break the power of the two dominant teams at the national championships.
Porte, Evans and Simon Gerrans are the three leading lights in an outstanding field for the 183.6km elite men's road race on Sunday at Buninyong, near Ballarat.
But of those three Tour de France luminaries, only Gerrans has strong team support.
He will lead the Orica-GreenEDGE squad in the race and much of the pre-race chatter has focused on the expected duel between them and the Drapac team.
Orica-GreenEDGE and Drapac will try to use their weight of numbers to put rivals out of the frame.
Nothing would delight them more to see Evans (BMC) and Porte (Sky) miss the key break.
But Porte will start Sunday's race confident in his form and optimistic about how the race might pan out.
"There are a million different scenarios," he said.
"Tactically, so long as the early break doesn't stay away, then it's really just going to come down to the legs on the day.
"There might be a bit of an alliance with some of the other WorldTour riders, who are also outgunned."
Porte was then asked if one of those scenarios might involve him working with Evans for a mutual benefit.
"We're professionals - for me, it wouldn't be bad for me and it would be good for cycling in Australia if Cadel was to get up for the win," Porte told AAP.
"Certainly I'm not going to be going out of my way to help him.
"But if it's a numbers game, me being there and Cadel being there, (we) could help each other."
Porte has proven form at Buninyong, having finished third two years ago behind Gerrans and Matt Lloyd, who was second.
Orica-GreenEDGE Luke Durbridge is reigning champion, but the time trial specialist won on a slightly different course that had flatter sections added.
This year, organisers have reverted to the hillier 10.2km circuit that was used for the 2012 race.
While Durbridge is racing again, the Orica-GreenEDGE riders more likely to go for the win are Gerrans and Simon Clarke.
Porte's only guaranteed support will come from Nathan Earle, who is a new signing for the Sky team.
"Buninyong - it's never a dull race," Porte said.
"I'm looking forward to it, it's one of the best fields with two big dominant teams."
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