Australia's bid to have a team in the Tour de France next year is quickly building momentum. The GreenEDGE project is making plenty of noise behind the scenes as general manager Shayne Bannan goes about signing riders for the 2012 season.

Although UCI rules forbid riders from talking to opposition teams until 1 August, Bannan has stated he has already signed "about 70 per cent" of their allocated 28 riders for next season.

Bannan left his role of Cycling Australia's high performance manager to lead the GreenEDGE team. It is expected up to 15 Australian riders will reunite with the man responsible for the current health and depth of Australian cycling.

Australia topped the national rankings last year, on the back of Cadel Evans' world championship victory. But it is Bannan who is responsible for building the careers of junior world champions Michael Matthews, Jack Bobridge, Cameron and Travis Meyer and Luke Durbridge. All of them are unique talents and have given a glimpse of a very promising future.

Last year a consortium called Pegasus Sports unveiled an audacious bid to launch an Australian team on the professional cycling tour. That bid failed to secure guaranteed funding and was also unable to sign a big name rider, other than ageing sprinter Robbie McEwen, and was ultimately unsuccessful.

The chief architect of the GreenEDGE project is Gerry Ryan, the owner of Jayco caravans. A proven supporter of Australian sport, particularly cycling, Ryan was determined to see an Australian team at the Tour de France, and instantly took over the challenge once Pegasus disbanded.

He immediately sought about securing the finest sporting directors, and has managed to convince Bannan, chief executive and Oarsome Foursome member Michael McKay and former professional riders Neil Stephens and Will Walker. Matt White, the former sporting director of Thor Hushovd's Garmin-Cervelo, is expected to join after the 1 August deadline.

Clearly, the foundations for a strong management have been laid. And with Jayco as the major sponsor, GreenEDGE will have no problems securing the running budget of at least 15 million Euros per year required to compete at the Tour de France and on the professional circuit.

Now Bannan just has to sign the riders, and that is precisely why he has been creating a name for himself in and around Paris. McEwen, Bobridge and the Meyer brothers are all believed to have sign with GreenEDGE already, but what Bannan needs to do is land the real big fish.

The last three teams to be granted fresh licences all had world champions and high-profile riders on their inaugural team roster, including Evans and Alessandro Ballan (BMC), Lance Armstrong (RadioShack) and Fabian Cancellara and Frank and Andy Schleck (Leopard-Trek). These are the level of riders GreenEDGE need to sign to be guaranteed a Tour de France start.

Hushovd is said to be entertaining offers from other teams, as is Philippe Gilbert, the winner of the opening stage in this year's Tour. Mark Cavendish is being linked with Team Sky, but could potentially be lured to GreenEDGE if they happened to sign his Australian lead-out man Mark Renshaw. Unfortunately, Evans has recommitted to BMC, as he would have obviously been ideal.