The 21-year-old is coming off a general classification win in the Tour Alsaceas as well as a second place finish in the Giro d’Italia in recent months.

The Ararat cyclist said he was very happy with his form in the early part of the European season. "I think if you asked me at the start of the year if I would be happy in the position with where I am, I would say yes,” he said.

"It has been a bit of a surprise to rise so rapidly but when you train hard, you obviously hope it pays off and its been nice to get the results.”

It is the first season of the Mitchelton Scott team and Hamilton said the team’s chemistry is growing.

"We all gelled really well, you can see that just from the results with the team being a big part of my success and the others,” he said.

"We have got the Tour de l’Avenir coming up.

"They change the course, this year there is a fair few more sprint punches but there are always some climbing stages.”

Hamilton finished second in the final stage of the 2016 event and claimed the overall mountains classification jersey.

"I am really looking forward towards the last three stages of that in particular which are more favoured to me and my climbing style,” Hamilton said.

“I think I will go in with general classification goals to try and finish high up in there, then obviously if it does not all go well, I will start looking for some stage wins.”

Hamilton said his body feeling good. “The body is holding up really well, I have not been sick or anything which is good,” he said.

“My ability to maintain and consistently perform each day at a high level, not missing splits and avoiding crashes is a big part of a successful event.

“But the biggest thing is recovering right, getting to bed early enough is important and little things like that makes that bit of difference.”