The most interesting thing about today’s time trial was the absence of the favourites. With riders like Fabian Cancellara, Tony Martin and Sylvain Chavanel out, we got to see some of the riders who are usually only second-best stepping up to the plate on the second-last stage before the Tour reaches Paris.
A much-reduced field began Stage 19 from Bonneval to Chartres, only 153 men left in the race from the 198 who started in Liège. As always the lanterne rouge left the starting house first, Saur-Sojasun’s Jimmy Engoulvent once again holding the unenviable title. The next 44 riders started one minute apart, 45th-placed Rubén Plaza Molina (Movistar) the first rider to start after a two-minute interval. Argos-Shimano’s Patrick Gretsch claimed the early lead, leading through both time checks at the 14 kilometre and 30.5 kilometre marks to finish in a time of 1h06’41”.
Gretsch continued to lead after American time trial Dave Zabriskie finished, the man known as ‘Captain America’ coming in 44” behind Gretsch to claim second place. The German’s reign wouldn’t last much longer, though. Despite Gretsch having bested the American champion in Zabriskie, Spanish national time trial champion Luis Léon Sánchez posted a time three seconds better than that of Gretsch at the first time check, following this up with a time 16 seconds faster at the second time check. An average speed of 48.6km/h helped Sánchez to finish in the leading time of 1h06’03”.
Sánchez was destined to spend quite some time in the ‘hot seat’ of the time trial’s leading rider, none of those following quite able to dislodge the Spaniard. Peter Velits (Omega Pharma-Quickstep) finished just 12 seconds behind, and Team Sky’s Richie Porte also slotted into third place, just ahead of early leader Gretsch. The big guns were yet to come out to play, though, the day’s fastest times expected from the GC contenders who would be the last out of the blocks.
The final 14 riders of the day began their time trials three minutes apart. Young BMC rocket Tejay van Garderen had all eyes on him as he set out after his unexpected impressive fourth place performance in the Stage 9 time trial. The 23-year-old American was the first to knock Sánchez down to second place at the first time check, but the youngster had started too fast, three places down from Sánchez after 30 kilometres, finally finishing almost three minutes down from the Spaniard.
By this point the big names were out on the course, riders like Jurgen van den Broeck (Lotto Belisol) and Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas-Cannondale) making one last attempt to move up in the general classification. The weeks of racing seemed to have taken their toll, however, and in the end only two riders mattered – Bradley Wiggins and Chris Froome, Sky’s deadly duo.
Froome left the starting house first, topping the times at every checkpoint and finally displacing Sánchez from the hot seat by 34 seconds. History was repeating itself; thus far the stage mimicked the earlier time trial in Besancon, and that wasn’t about to change. Following the example set by his teammate, Wiggins became the first rider to pass inside 17’ at the first time check and 37’ at the second. It came as no surprise to anyone that he topped the leaderboard on his arrival in Chartres, 1’16” ahead of Froome in a time of 1h04’13”. The yellow jersey wearer showed the first signs of emotion in this year’s Tour, pumping his fist in the air as his Tour de France victory was assured.
Wiggins remains in the yellow jersey for tomorrow’s stage into Paris, his lead now 3’21” over Froome in the general classification, the stage set for the first British winner of the Tour de France. Thomas Voeckler will keep the King of the Mountains jersey in the absence of any more points in the classification, while Peter Sagan has an unassailable lead in the green jersey competition, regardless of the outcome of the Champs-Élysées sprint. Radioshack has also retained its lead over Sky in the teams classification, while Tejay van Garderen has a secure lead over Thibaut Pinot in the young riders’ classification that doesn’t look to be disturbed on Stage 20. Tomorrow, the final stage of the Tour, will arrive in Paris with a sprint finish. Mark Cavendish will be looking to claim a third victory for Sky, and Matt Goss will be seeking Orica-GreenEDGE’s elusive stage win one last time, while Andre Greipel and Peter Sagan will be hoping to add to their Tour stage totals as well. Whichever way the sprint goes, it’s guaranteed to be one worthy of the occasion of rounding out the 99th Tour de France.
Showing posts with label Richie Porte. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Richie Porte. Show all posts
Sunday, 22 July 2012
Saturday, 7 July 2012
Stage 6: Épernay – Metz
The Tour de France
ended today. For a lot of riders, it did, in one way or another.
Stage 6 from Épernay to Metz takes the Drama Award for the Tour de
France so far – and maybe the Decisive Stage Award as well, mixing up
the race in a way that really wasn’t expected and could be telling in
the days to come.
The day started before it started, so to speak. A crash in the neutral zone took out Lotto Belisol’s Jurgen van den Broeck and Sky’s Richie Porte. With no serious injuries, everyone was soon back on their bikes and heading towards the official start of the stage. Today’s ‘eager beaver’, hovering off the front of the peloton, was the American David Zabriskie, famously the first man to ride the Tour de France on a vegan diet. He was soon joined David Malacarne (Europcar), Romain Zingle (Cofidis) and Karsten Kroon (Saxobank-Tinkoff Bank), the quartet making slow but steady progress into the distance.
The peloton was not destined to have a good day. Though the time of the breakaway only seemed to concern the leading Radioshack-Nissan-Trek team, the four-minute lead of the escapees putting Malacarne in virtual yellow, what concerned the other riders far more was the crash at 35 kilometres from the start. André Greipel headlined a short list of names that hit the tarmac at the very beginning of the stage, none too damaged to continue riding, though the race doctor was forced to ply his trade on a few bleeding knees and elbows. The crash took the pressure off the chase for a while, allowing the breakaway to stretch their gap to a peak of 6’50”.
The weather seemed content to play along as the peloton rode along at a leisurely 42km/h, no sun, but only a few spots of rain to disturb the day’s ride. Lotto Belisol and Orica-GreenEDGE were leading the chase, promising another exciting showdown between Lotto Belisol’s sprinter Greipel and the Australian, Matthew Goss. The average pace of the peloton slowly increased as they passed through the feed zone, the approach of the intermediate sprint clearly enforcing that they wanted to catch the breakaway before the final kilometre this time.
For once the intermediate sprint brought some surprises. The teams set up as usual, Sky providing a small train for Mark Cavendish. As the final Sky leadout man swung off, Matt Goss launched himself into the sprint from behind Cavendish. The green colours of Liquigas-Cannondale’s Peter Sagan were visible behind the pair, but the real battle was just between Goss and Cavendish, Goss holding half a wheel’s advantage on Cavendish as they crossed the line.
Today’s King of the Mountain point passed without incident, ‘Captain America’ of the time trial, Dave Zabriskie, taking the single point on offer as they rode under the trees. It wasn’t so uneventful for the peloton, who seemed to have learnt nothing from the crashes of the past few days. Another crash sent André Greipel to the ground for the second time today, along with Garmin-Sharp sprinter Tyler Farrar. As a result of his injuries, Lotto Belisol team manager Herman Frison said Greipel wouldn’t sprint for the stage race, as the German was still trying to rejoin the peloton. Things were definitely looking up for Matt Goss, itching for the stage win.
The focus was on a few riders beginning to drop off the back of the peloton, notably Katusha fastman Oscar Freire, when the big drama of the day occurred. Yet another crash rocked the peloton, but this one looked to be a lot more decisive than the previous ones. Only 50 or so riders escaped the carnage just 26 kilometres from the end of the stage, and if you weren’t part of Orica-GreenEDGE, BMC Racing Team, Euskaltel-Euskadi or Team Sky then chances were you weren’t one of the lucky ones. A number of the big names faltered, including Frank Schleck (Radioshack-Nissan-Trek), Ryder Hesjedal (Garmin-Sharp), Robert Gesink (Rabobank), Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) and Mark Cavendish, and ended up losing between two and eight minutes to the front peloton. Some riders were destined never to see the front peloton again, riders like Tom Danielson of Garmin-Sharp, Davide Viganò of Lampre-ISD and Mikel Astarloza of Euskaltel-Euskadi pulling out of the race for good.
Meanwhile the front group were oblivious to the drama they’d avoided, all concentration on catching the renegades ahead of them in time for the sprint finish. Simon Gerrans, pulling for GreenEDGE on the front, was having a hard time recouping those last 15 seconds as the breakaway and its chasers raced under the banner of 10 kilometres to go. As soon as Lotto Belisol stepped up to help the pacemaking, however, the numbers began ticking down and heartrates began ticking up. Was Lotto Belisol lining up for Greipel’s leadout man Greg Henderson to take a shot at the victory, or was the effort for Greipel himself?
Lampre-ISD also jumped on the front and lent a hand with the pulling, hauling in two of the three riders, Zingle having dropped off long ago after a flat tyre. Zabriskie, on the other hand, apparently wanted to be the hero of the day, and with two kilometres to go he was attempting a solo time trial 150 metres ahead of the bunch. A racing peloton, however, is as inevitable as karma, and Zabriskie was caught with a kilometre left for the sprinters. Lotto Belisol were powering down the straight as usual, Peter Sagan’s green jersey on Greipel’s wheel and Goss on the end of his own train. For a moment or two it looked like it was between Goss and Greipel, but just as Goss fell behind Greipel’s wheel, a green bullet shot up the side and across the line before anybody could say ‘Sagan’, leaving Greipel with another second and Goss with another third.
The rest of the riders filtered through over the next hour, in varying spirits and states of shabbiness with assorted amounts of skin still attached to elbows and backsides. The jersey wearers remain the same, with Zabriskie claiming the red number for Fighting Spirit, but the GC has certainly received a shake-up today, one which will likely decide the Tour de France. As for tomorrow, we’ve left the sprinters’ stages behind, but with Stage 7 finishing on the never-before-seen climb to La Planche des Belles Filles, we’ve entered the stages of medium mountains, where breakaways have the chance to succeed. Orica-GreenEDGE are becoming desperate for a stage win, so keep an eye out for Simon Gerrans or Michael Albasini, who’ll be looking to join any moves that form, as well as climbers like Alejandro Valverde, who lost a lot of time today that he’ll be looking to get back.
The day started before it started, so to speak. A crash in the neutral zone took out Lotto Belisol’s Jurgen van den Broeck and Sky’s Richie Porte. With no serious injuries, everyone was soon back on their bikes and heading towards the official start of the stage. Today’s ‘eager beaver’, hovering off the front of the peloton, was the American David Zabriskie, famously the first man to ride the Tour de France on a vegan diet. He was soon joined David Malacarne (Europcar), Romain Zingle (Cofidis) and Karsten Kroon (Saxobank-Tinkoff Bank), the quartet making slow but steady progress into the distance.
The peloton was not destined to have a good day. Though the time of the breakaway only seemed to concern the leading Radioshack-Nissan-Trek team, the four-minute lead of the escapees putting Malacarne in virtual yellow, what concerned the other riders far more was the crash at 35 kilometres from the start. André Greipel headlined a short list of names that hit the tarmac at the very beginning of the stage, none too damaged to continue riding, though the race doctor was forced to ply his trade on a few bleeding knees and elbows. The crash took the pressure off the chase for a while, allowing the breakaway to stretch their gap to a peak of 6’50”.
The weather seemed content to play along as the peloton rode along at a leisurely 42km/h, no sun, but only a few spots of rain to disturb the day’s ride. Lotto Belisol and Orica-GreenEDGE were leading the chase, promising another exciting showdown between Lotto Belisol’s sprinter Greipel and the Australian, Matthew Goss. The average pace of the peloton slowly increased as they passed through the feed zone, the approach of the intermediate sprint clearly enforcing that they wanted to catch the breakaway before the final kilometre this time.
For once the intermediate sprint brought some surprises. The teams set up as usual, Sky providing a small train for Mark Cavendish. As the final Sky leadout man swung off, Matt Goss launched himself into the sprint from behind Cavendish. The green colours of Liquigas-Cannondale’s Peter Sagan were visible behind the pair, but the real battle was just between Goss and Cavendish, Goss holding half a wheel’s advantage on Cavendish as they crossed the line.
Today’s King of the Mountain point passed without incident, ‘Captain America’ of the time trial, Dave Zabriskie, taking the single point on offer as they rode under the trees. It wasn’t so uneventful for the peloton, who seemed to have learnt nothing from the crashes of the past few days. Another crash sent André Greipel to the ground for the second time today, along with Garmin-Sharp sprinter Tyler Farrar. As a result of his injuries, Lotto Belisol team manager Herman Frison said Greipel wouldn’t sprint for the stage race, as the German was still trying to rejoin the peloton. Things were definitely looking up for Matt Goss, itching for the stage win.
The focus was on a few riders beginning to drop off the back of the peloton, notably Katusha fastman Oscar Freire, when the big drama of the day occurred. Yet another crash rocked the peloton, but this one looked to be a lot more decisive than the previous ones. Only 50 or so riders escaped the carnage just 26 kilometres from the end of the stage, and if you weren’t part of Orica-GreenEDGE, BMC Racing Team, Euskaltel-Euskadi or Team Sky then chances were you weren’t one of the lucky ones. A number of the big names faltered, including Frank Schleck (Radioshack-Nissan-Trek), Ryder Hesjedal (Garmin-Sharp), Robert Gesink (Rabobank), Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) and Mark Cavendish, and ended up losing between two and eight minutes to the front peloton. Some riders were destined never to see the front peloton again, riders like Tom Danielson of Garmin-Sharp, Davide Viganò of Lampre-ISD and Mikel Astarloza of Euskaltel-Euskadi pulling out of the race for good.
Meanwhile the front group were oblivious to the drama they’d avoided, all concentration on catching the renegades ahead of them in time for the sprint finish. Simon Gerrans, pulling for GreenEDGE on the front, was having a hard time recouping those last 15 seconds as the breakaway and its chasers raced under the banner of 10 kilometres to go. As soon as Lotto Belisol stepped up to help the pacemaking, however, the numbers began ticking down and heartrates began ticking up. Was Lotto Belisol lining up for Greipel’s leadout man Greg Henderson to take a shot at the victory, or was the effort for Greipel himself?
Lampre-ISD also jumped on the front and lent a hand with the pulling, hauling in two of the three riders, Zingle having dropped off long ago after a flat tyre. Zabriskie, on the other hand, apparently wanted to be the hero of the day, and with two kilometres to go he was attempting a solo time trial 150 metres ahead of the bunch. A racing peloton, however, is as inevitable as karma, and Zabriskie was caught with a kilometre left for the sprinters. Lotto Belisol were powering down the straight as usual, Peter Sagan’s green jersey on Greipel’s wheel and Goss on the end of his own train. For a moment or two it looked like it was between Goss and Greipel, but just as Goss fell behind Greipel’s wheel, a green bullet shot up the side and across the line before anybody could say ‘Sagan’, leaving Greipel with another second and Goss with another third.
The rest of the riders filtered through over the next hour, in varying spirits and states of shabbiness with assorted amounts of skin still attached to elbows and backsides. The jersey wearers remain the same, with Zabriskie claiming the red number for Fighting Spirit, but the GC has certainly received a shake-up today, one which will likely decide the Tour de France. As for tomorrow, we’ve left the sprinters’ stages behind, but with Stage 7 finishing on the never-before-seen climb to La Planche des Belles Filles, we’ve entered the stages of medium mountains, where breakaways have the chance to succeed. Orica-GreenEDGE are becoming desperate for a stage win, so keep an eye out for Simon Gerrans or Michael Albasini, who’ll be looking to join any moves that form, as well as climbers like Alejandro Valverde, who lost a lot of time today that he’ll be looking to get back.
Sunday, 8 January 2012
The 2012 Australian National Championships - Elite Men's Road Race
Warm sun, a hint of rain and bagpipers under gum trees. It was classically Ballarat, and we couldn’t have had a better day for the Elite Men’s Road Race at the Australian National Road Race Championships.
The day’s action began long before the race. Riders began registering and signing on from around 11am, and astute fans packed the area by the start line to meet their heroes. GreenEDGE stars Stuart O’Grady and Matt Goss were heralded with cameras and autograph pens before making a graceful escape onto the track for their warm-ups, DS Matt White watching attentively nearby.
The journalists were also gearing up for the day. With a live broadcast of the race in the afternoon, the SBS broadcast van was already setting up for a busy Sunday, the day’s commentators, Phil Liggett and Matt Keenan, drifting quietly around the course.
It was extraordinarily exciting to see the peloton take off at the firing of the Sovereign Hill redcoat’s musket, ProTour team jerseys mixed in with local colours and the ever-present green of Australia’s own ProTour team of GreenEDGE. They raced away up the hill and around the corner towards the King of the Mountain banner, full of an enthusiasm that was destined to wane some time later.
Within a couple of laps the peloton had shrunk considerably, many of the local riders falling back on the hills. The European pros certainly weren’t being idle, with GreenEDGE’s Jack Bobridge launching an attack on the very first climb. Teammate Luke Durbridge and Garmin-Cervelo’s new recruit Nathan Haas were game to join, and they held off for a lap or two before the peloton came back. Then GreenEDGE team leader Stuart O’Grady decided to stretch his legs, and took former Leopard Trek teammate Will Clarke with him. Local boy Patrick Shaw put on a show for the hometown crowd and soon joined them. Garmin’s Heinrich Haussler didn’t like this scenario much, and put in the work that saw the break rejoined to the peloton.
By the fifth or sixth lap Mt. Buninyong, small though it was, had sorted the men from the boys and reduced the ‘peloton’ to a handful of riders chasing 20 or so big names that had gone off the front, never to return. Two or three laps later all the riders who would finish the race had migrated forward to join them, and soon enough the games began. Pat Shaw, Will Clarke (now riding for Team Champion System) and Luke Durbridge went on the attack again with new Rabobank sprinter Mark Renshaw and GreenEDGE’s Wes Sulzberger and Matt Wilson, and the six were soon joined by 2010 National Champion Cameron Meyer. Wilson and Meyer attacked and built themselves a lead of over a minute on their pursuers, before Wilson tired and dropped back after a lap. Then began the time trial that held the spectators spellbound.
Cam Meyer launched himself into a solo ride that lasted for 40 or 50 kilometres, building a gap of over two minutes back to the poursuivants of Heinrich Haussler and Luke Durbridge, and three minutes back to the main peloton. Back at the GreenEDGE tent, directeur sportif Matt White was instructing his riders in the peloton to keep the pace low to give Meyer’s stunning breakaway the best chance of success.
Of course, solo rides were not limited to the pro peloton. One of the spectators leaning on his bike near the King of the Mountain point had ridden from the eastern suburbs of Melbourne yesterday all the way to Ballarat just to watch today’s race. “It was hard,” he said with a grin of his 120-kilometre ride. But he immediately agreed that the effort was worth it to watch the top cyclists in Australia compete. “Oh, yes,” he said appreciatively as a few more riders made their way up Mt. Buninyong.
Back on the road, Meyer had an ‘explosion’, as he later described it, and was caught and later dropped by the peloton riding through. Simon Gerrans immediately took over the attack, Lampre-ISD’s Matt Lloyd and Sky’s Richie Porte following. Next it was the turn of Baden Cooke (GreenEDGE) and Will Clarke again, Richie Porte chasing that attack too. The attacks fading, the peloton regrouped as it hit the final two laps, but GreenEDGE was soon on the aggressive again, Stuey O’Grady leaping out the front, trailed by Sky’s Mathew Hayman. After the pair was pulled back into the fold on the climb, Matt Lloyd went again, Simon Gerrans following closely. The two pulled away, soon caught by the chasers of Porte and Bernie Sulzberger, while Baden Cooke and Garmin-Chipotle’s Steele von Hoff bridged the gap. It was another short-lived breakaway, and the 18 leading riders were back in a bunch as they began the crucial final 10-kilometre lap.
Team Sky’s four Australian riders appeared at the head of the peloton, suddenly looking very organised and very dangerous despite their small numbers. Though GreenEDGE started the race with 16, a number of those pulled out around halfway, including defending champion Jack Bobridge. The numbers were beginning to even up, but in the end neither of the big teams made the move. Matty Lloyd attacked on the final climb, Gerrans following him, and Porte chasing them both. Lloyd and Gerrans managed to keep around 30 seconds between themselves and Porte as they scooted around the final half of the course, the tension in the air palpable as 20,000 people watched to see how it would play out.
Ever a good time-trialler, Porte closed the gap on the leading pair and joined them with barely a kilometre left in the race. The three played coy with each other all the way down the final 500 metres, eyeing each other as they danced on their pedals, until Gerrans, tipped as the best sprinter of the trio, shot out from behind Lloyd and bolted across the line to win his first elite national title. The crowd, cheering ecstatically as Gerrans rode triumphantly past chased by a scrum of journalists, offered the same acclamation to the handful of riders trickling over the line to finish the race shortly after, including silver medallist Lloyd and bronze medallist Porte.
Gerrans' national title becomes the first victory on the GreenEDGE men’s team; the women opened their championships account on Thursday with two golds and a silver. With any luck this will be a propitious start to the season for Australia’s first home-grown ProTour team.
The day’s action began long before the race. Riders began registering and signing on from around 11am, and astute fans packed the area by the start line to meet their heroes. GreenEDGE stars Stuart O’Grady and Matt Goss were heralded with cameras and autograph pens before making a graceful escape onto the track for their warm-ups, DS Matt White watching attentively nearby.
The journalists were also gearing up for the day. With a live broadcast of the race in the afternoon, the SBS broadcast van was already setting up for a busy Sunday, the day’s commentators, Phil Liggett and Matt Keenan, drifting quietly around the course.
It was extraordinarily exciting to see the peloton take off at the firing of the Sovereign Hill redcoat’s musket, ProTour team jerseys mixed in with local colours and the ever-present green of Australia’s own ProTour team of GreenEDGE. They raced away up the hill and around the corner towards the King of the Mountain banner, full of an enthusiasm that was destined to wane some time later.
Within a couple of laps the peloton had shrunk considerably, many of the local riders falling back on the hills. The European pros certainly weren’t being idle, with GreenEDGE’s Jack Bobridge launching an attack on the very first climb. Teammate Luke Durbridge and Garmin-Cervelo’s new recruit Nathan Haas were game to join, and they held off for a lap or two before the peloton came back. Then GreenEDGE team leader Stuart O’Grady decided to stretch his legs, and took former Leopard Trek teammate Will Clarke with him. Local boy Patrick Shaw put on a show for the hometown crowd and soon joined them. Garmin’s Heinrich Haussler didn’t like this scenario much, and put in the work that saw the break rejoined to the peloton.
By the fifth or sixth lap Mt. Buninyong, small though it was, had sorted the men from the boys and reduced the ‘peloton’ to a handful of riders chasing 20 or so big names that had gone off the front, never to return. Two or three laps later all the riders who would finish the race had migrated forward to join them, and soon enough the games began. Pat Shaw, Will Clarke (now riding for Team Champion System) and Luke Durbridge went on the attack again with new Rabobank sprinter Mark Renshaw and GreenEDGE’s Wes Sulzberger and Matt Wilson, and the six were soon joined by 2010 National Champion Cameron Meyer. Wilson and Meyer attacked and built themselves a lead of over a minute on their pursuers, before Wilson tired and dropped back after a lap. Then began the time trial that held the spectators spellbound.
Cam Meyer launched himself into a solo ride that lasted for 40 or 50 kilometres, building a gap of over two minutes back to the poursuivants of Heinrich Haussler and Luke Durbridge, and three minutes back to the main peloton. Back at the GreenEDGE tent, directeur sportif Matt White was instructing his riders in the peloton to keep the pace low to give Meyer’s stunning breakaway the best chance of success.
Of course, solo rides were not limited to the pro peloton. One of the spectators leaning on his bike near the King of the Mountain point had ridden from the eastern suburbs of Melbourne yesterday all the way to Ballarat just to watch today’s race. “It was hard,” he said with a grin of his 120-kilometre ride. But he immediately agreed that the effort was worth it to watch the top cyclists in Australia compete. “Oh, yes,” he said appreciatively as a few more riders made their way up Mt. Buninyong.
Back on the road, Meyer had an ‘explosion’, as he later described it, and was caught and later dropped by the peloton riding through. Simon Gerrans immediately took over the attack, Lampre-ISD’s Matt Lloyd and Sky’s Richie Porte following. Next it was the turn of Baden Cooke (GreenEDGE) and Will Clarke again, Richie Porte chasing that attack too. The attacks fading, the peloton regrouped as it hit the final two laps, but GreenEDGE was soon on the aggressive again, Stuey O’Grady leaping out the front, trailed by Sky’s Mathew Hayman. After the pair was pulled back into the fold on the climb, Matt Lloyd went again, Simon Gerrans following closely. The two pulled away, soon caught by the chasers of Porte and Bernie Sulzberger, while Baden Cooke and Garmin-Chipotle’s Steele von Hoff bridged the gap. It was another short-lived breakaway, and the 18 leading riders were back in a bunch as they began the crucial final 10-kilometre lap.
Team Sky’s four Australian riders appeared at the head of the peloton, suddenly looking very organised and very dangerous despite their small numbers. Though GreenEDGE started the race with 16, a number of those pulled out around halfway, including defending champion Jack Bobridge. The numbers were beginning to even up, but in the end neither of the big teams made the move. Matty Lloyd attacked on the final climb, Gerrans following him, and Porte chasing them both. Lloyd and Gerrans managed to keep around 30 seconds between themselves and Porte as they scooted around the final half of the course, the tension in the air palpable as 20,000 people watched to see how it would play out.
Ever a good time-trialler, Porte closed the gap on the leading pair and joined them with barely a kilometre left in the race. The three played coy with each other all the way down the final 500 metres, eyeing each other as they danced on their pedals, until Gerrans, tipped as the best sprinter of the trio, shot out from behind Lloyd and bolted across the line to win his first elite national title. The crowd, cheering ecstatically as Gerrans rode triumphantly past chased by a scrum of journalists, offered the same acclamation to the handful of riders trickling over the line to finish the race shortly after, including silver medallist Lloyd and bronze medallist Porte.Gerrans' national title becomes the first victory on the GreenEDGE men’s team; the women opened their championships account on Thursday with two golds and a silver. With any luck this will be a propitious start to the season for Australia’s first home-grown ProTour team.
Thursday, 4 August 2011
The Edge of News: GreenEDGE Cycling
Though the transfer season doesn't officially start until September 1st, most riders have their contracts for the following year sussed by the end of the Tour de France, as do most teams with their roster. This year there was another team on the hunt in France - GreenEDGE, the ambitious Australian cycling team looking to get off the ground for next year.
The project's management team were scouting all the Aussie talent on the WorldTour circuit at this year's Tour, with the intention that Australians make up 80% of the team's cyclists. Much to the delight of eager fans, word is already beginning to leak of the potential team roster prior to the official announcements in September.
The biggest win for the Aussie team is the signing of the Luxembourg team Leopard Trek's 2011 Tour road captain, Stuey O'Grady. Acknowledged as one of the smartest and most experienced heads in the peloton, the Tour de France and WorldTour veteran has been named as the head of the Australian National Team for the London 2012 Olympics and will likely be team leader or road captain at GreenEDGE.
The other big name tipped to be lining up in green in Australia's own triple-green jersey. Though having denied it for the past few days, Robbie McEwen of American team Radioshack is said to be switching to the Australian team as well. McEwen is more likely to join in a management role, having announced 2011 to be his final professional season.
A disappointing hit and miss for the team has been young Tasmanian Richie Porte. The 26-year-old, who made his Tour de France debut this year, has shown increasing skill in the individual time trial, coming fourth to World Time Trial Champion Fabian Cancellara in last year's Road World Championships, and bettering that in this year's Tour de France individiual time trial stage by coming 5th ahead of Cancellara's 8th. Alas for GreenEDGE, Porte has renewed his contract with Danish team Saxobank-Sungard.
Word is also spreading of the untested young blood that GreenEDGE is seeking. Of the number of Australians signed to WorldTour teams, not all are racing at the highest level yet, and of these GreenEDGE has two of my top three young Aussie picks in their sights. Jack Bobridge is a former under-23 world champion and Cameron Meyer is Australian national time trial champion, while his younger brother Travis, despite not being in GreenEDGE's radar, is the former national road race champion. All three ride for Team Garmin-Cervelo, and none have yet made their debut at a grand tour. There has also been mention of Garmin's Australian directeur sportif, Matt White, who could be persuaded to follow his young countrymen across to their new national team.
The closer we get to the beginning of the transfer season and a new season of cycling, the more exciting and real it becomes that Australia is finally beginning to ruffle its feathers on the world stage of this beautiful sport. A Tour de France winner and a potential national team all in one year - who would have thought?
The closer we get to the beginning of the transfer season and a new season of cycling, the more exciting and real it becomes that Australia is finally beginning to ruffle its feathers on the world stage of this beautiful sport. A Tour de France winner and a potential national team all in one year - who would have thought?
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