Should We Applaud?

It’s 30-something degrees in the Adelaide Hills. Two cyclists are battling their way to the top of a climb. The crowd is cheering both as they struggle to get the advantage, one rider just nudging the other out for the victory as they cross the line. Alejandro Valverde has just made a triumphant return from a two-year doping suspension.

The crowd certainly doesn’t seem to mind his history, applauding him as much as his Australian opponent, Simon Gerrans. The Spanish fans love him too, holding him with the likes of Luis Léon Sánchez and Alberto Contador. In truth, it hardly seems fair. After his actions, does Valverde actually deserve to be applauded? It’s hard to say. And this begs another, more serious question:

If we applaud after they cheat, are we applauding the cheating, too?

Are we unreasonable for wanting to applaud? Is it wrong to admire David Millar for his strict anti-doping stance, wrong to worship Dave Zabriskie for daring to be a vegan pro-cyclist when no-one thought he could? Is it wrong to esteem George Hincapie as one of the heads of state of the peloton, a loyal, capable rider? Or should we be shaking our heads and saying that everything that we love and believe about these guys has been washed away with the flood of guilt? That the moral high ground should take precedence over everything; that their right to be applauded was stripped the moment they admitted to doping?

I hold all of these riders among my favourites for these reasons, but I feel guilty in saying that now. I feel as though I should wash my hands of them to set a good example for other fans and riders; to show that we, the fans and the media, will not condone doping either. But I just can’t shake the desire to thank George Hincapie for being the capable lieutenant and road captain that led Cadel Evans to victory. I can’t shake that desire, and yet I can’t shake the question: does he still deserve our thanks? Or did he resign the right to that kind of admiration when he said yes to the drugs?

Should knowledge of redemption and the chance of returning to the fold form part of the doping culture in cycling? If riders admit, or repent, should their mistake be acknowledged and they be embraced upon their return? Or should complete ostracision by the cycling community and rescission of all respect and status be the unwavering punishment for doping? I’m not sure. I don’t think anyone is.

It’s not just the riders, either. Half of the support staff of the pro peloton is made up of former riders. Some are former dopers. What about Matt White, Bjaarne Riis, Jonathan Vaughters? Do we lump them in the same group as the riders, too – and what group is that, exactly? Can we admire their work as team managers and trainers without admiring their decision to dope? Is that even possible? I don’t know. It’s cycling’s version of a rock and a hard place – either we clap every good achievement, and provide no further disincentive from doping, or we draw a line and only clap clean riders and staff, and therefore clap far less often.

I really do feel guilty for saying it, but I think that, at least for now, I’m going to keep applauding. As much as I despise doping and think that desperate times call for desperate anti-doping measures, I still want to applaud these riders, even knowing their doping history. Despite everything they’ve done wrong, I keep finding that I can’t ignore everything they’ve done right, either. But I’d feel so much better if I could applaud them for their clean pasts as well. And I bet they feel that way, too.

Green Teams

When Team Sky first started in 2010, they had a bad run of it. Wet behind the ears, they struggled to achieve any note-worthy results in their first year as a pro team and finished 15th as a team. In their second year pro, Brad Wiggins stepped up as a serious GC contender in multiple races, with riders like Geraint Thomas and Edvald Boasson Hagen vying for Tour de France white and stage wins on the side. This year Wiggins looks set to become Cadel Evans' main rival for the Tour de France title, while Thomas and Boasson Hagen each look equally dangerous in their respective fields. So it's safe to say that the team had something of a slow but steady learning curve. Now there's another new team on the block, but the only thing green about this team is their name and their jersey.

GreenEDGE didn't exactly have the hopes of the world resting on its shoulders in this, its first season. The first big race of the year was the national championships, but with GreenEDGE having signed about half of the pro Australian riders it was unsurprising that GreenEDGE's Simon Gerrans took out the national road title, with young track star Luke Durbridge taking out the time trial crown. A few weeks later came the first of the UCI Tours for the year, the home race Tour Down Under, and there was not so much an expectation that the team would win as pressure to do so - which they did. Simon Gerrans, fresh from the nationals, pulled on the ochre jersey following the race's queen stage and held it throughout the final crit.

A brief stop at the Tour of Qatar, where GreenEDGE managed a top-10 finish with Lithuanian Aidis Kruopis, and then it was off to Europe, where the Aussies really began turning heads. The team split up to ride the stage races of Paris-Nice and Tirreno-Adriatico, where Gerro opened the team's Europe account with a second place on stage three of Paris-Nice. The following day it was the Tirreno-Adriatico team's turn to hold the cycling world's attention. The boys blitzed the time trial - impressive when you consider they'd only trained for it together once - but more impressive was the 17-second lead they had to Garmin-Barracuda and Radioshack-Nissan-Trek and the 23-second lead over fourth-placed Team Sky, the three teams which, with BMC, dominated the Tour de France time trial last year. GreenEDGE was ecstatic. The neo team from one of Britain's colonies had made them look like they couldn't find their socks in time.

But it was about to get better. The defending champion of Italian monument Milano-San Remo was GreenEDGE's Matt Goss, and the team were wondering if Gossie could go one-two. Instead the team went one better. Not having the legs himself, Gossie handed his title over to teammate, Gerro of the impeccable form. The team car exploded with DS Matt White's excitement.

However even Milano-San Remo seemed to be nothing more than a high-class warmup for the neopro team. Eight riders, led by Allan Davis and Michael Albasini, headed off to Spain for the Volta a Catalunya, while the rest of the team headed off to train for other upcoming races such as E3-Harelbeke and Gent-Wevelgem. The GreenEDGE fans in the southern hemisphere woke to good news the next morning - Michael Albasini had grown some wings overnight and taken out the first stage of the Volta. Clearly one wasn't enough for him, because Albasini went back-to-back and took out the second stage as well. With a two-stage lead, the GC suddenly looked defensible, so the team went for it - and got it. +100 points in the team kitty. Then the team decided to up the ante a notch. Instead of a one-two win on stages, Daryl Impey and Allan Davis went one-two on the second stage of the Vuelta al Pais Vasco and left the other teams fighting for third place.

It isn't just the men's team either. GreenEDGE also established a women's team at the same time as building a ProTour men's team, and the girls have also made a name for themselves rather quickly too. For a new team they've certainly won their share of races, especially the WorldTour ones, and it's fair to say that GreenEDGE have shown their critics why they were awarded a ProTour licence in their first year out of the stables. They certainly haven't shown any signs of stopping, either.

Tour Down Under - Touring the Village

There is a red BMC jersey hanging out the window of the Hilton Hotel. The owner probably just wants to air it before tomorrow, but for those who notice it it’s a reminder that their heroes are not far away.

The Santos Tour Down Under Tour Village sits in the shadow of the Hilton in the late afternoon sun. Outside in the small grassy area, the sponsors are spruiking their wares, offering freebies and competitions to the hundreds of fans who pass by, while inside the main tent the team mechanics are preparing the bikes for the following day’s stage, the curious public watching as they clean the bikes, change wheels and lubricate chains. Across the road is the bike expo, all the bicycle, helmet and clothing sponsors showcasing their goods to the avid cyclists, as well as the GreenEDGE caravan where Robbie McEwen will hold a book-signing later.

The Tour Village is often one of the best places to meet the riders - the team buses and cars pull up into the field behind the village, the riders cutting through the village to the team-only gate leading to the pedestrian crossing outside the Hilton. As we wander the tents, Mark Renshaw walks past in his orange Rabobank jersey carrying a large bag of ice; he is evidently repeating his ice-bath recovery of the day before.

Nathan Haas also wanders past with a coffee in hand and stops for a chat. His day was not as good as he had hoped, his form just not what he needed it to be this early in the season. When we asked how it felt riding at a ProTour level for the first time, he also made the interesting comment the ProTour cyclists don’t necessarily ride at a higher level than the Continental teams, but they ride more days a year at that same level. We wish him luck for the Tour and the year and he heads back to the hotel.

Inside the village pavilion I stand and stare at the mechanics working on the bikes, picking the numbers on the frames to know it’s Gerro’s or Robbie McEwen’s or Blel Kadri’s ride they’re working on. They have a routine for each bike – first cleaning away the grit with a compressed air gun, then checking all the brakes and moving parts, preparing and attaching the wheels and finally lubricating the chain and gears to ensure maximum response on the road. It’s fascinating how intricate the work is – and how well the mechanics know the bikes.

I talk to some of the GreenEDGE soigneurs and mechanics as I watch. Of all the mechanics, soigneurs and other helpers on the road, only one is close to home: all of them are European except for one New Zealander. While GreenEDGE ideally wants an Australian support team for their Australian riders, the quality of soigneurs and mechanics hasn’t yet reached that of the riders. Instead the two Basque mechanics methodically prepare all the team’s bikes in turn before refitting a few punctured wheels for tomorrow’s stage. Only one of these mechanics will be in the team car once the race starts, ready to assist riders with problems on the road.

Back outside the grass is full of seated people, watching a replay of the day’s stage up on the big screen. Many of those who watched the stage from the roadside haven’t seen anything else of the race. Up in the back corner in the radio station’s tent, 5AA are broadcasting their Santos Tour Down Under show live, the presenters giving me a smile as I stand and watch them for a while. At 7:30pm a live band steps onstage, entertaining the crowd while the Hilton’s food stall does a roaring trade in cones of chips and plastic cups of beer. We leave for the train station.

As we leave, we notice the figure of Lotto-Belisol’s injured rider Jürgen Roelandts talking to a couple of friends in one of the inside stalls. Apparently we are not the only ones, as a couple of other cyclists stop to say hello. As he leaves, we walk over and wish Jürgen all the best for his recovery and the coming season, and he thanks us in his lovely Belgian accent. We smile at each other, exit the pavilion and leave the village with all its noise and colour behind us.

We didn’t make the train.

Tour Down Under - Life at the Tour

The day starts at 8am with wake-up, then straight downstairs for a big breakfast. After that there’s a meeting to discuss tactics for the day ahead, then it’s everything into the car and off to the start of the day’s stage. Once there it’s time for individual preparations, as well as sunscreen and picking up some food for the day, before the stage begins at 11am.

According to Cameron Meyer, this is the beginning of a normal day for the GreenEDGE team at the Tour Down Under.

After a stage it’s all about the food and the recovery. Meyer says there’s a 30-minute window after a race in which cyclists need to replenish their energy levels before their body stops taking in as many nutrients from what they consume. Protein shakes and electrolyte drinks are therefore the order of the day, and in Adelaide’s summer heat the GreenEDGE riders also finish a race with cold slushies to help cool their core temperatures faster.

Then it’s back to the hotel and into the massage rooms for an hour, before it’s time for another meal involving rice, cereals or other high-carbohydrate foods in preparation for the next day’s racing. During the race the riders try and have some food or drink at least every half an hour, but the real nutritional preparation for a race starts the night before. In a mountain stage on one of the grand tours, a rider can use around 7,000 calories in a stage.

Sometimes the riders get a little bit of downtime in the afternoons, but especially at the Tour Down Under the team are eager to get out to the public, promote Australia’s new ProTour team and, of course, meet the fans. This is why Meyer is here with team manager Shayne Bannan at the 2XU store in Norwood tonight, talking races, team and preparation to a packed crowd.

Dinner is a team affair, followed by a debriefing of the stage just gone; tomorrow’s stage is left for tomorrow. Then it’s off to the shared rooms – Cam bunks with Simon Gerrans - by 10 or 10:30pm, ready to do it all again the next day.

And the worst roommate Cam’s ever had? “I wouldn’t say he was bad, but he was definitely different,” he says of his former Garmin-Cervélo teammate Dave Zabriskie. “He’s a unique character. He’s allergic to elastic, so all his clothes have no elastic in them, he loves singing. I won’t go into finer details,” Cam laughs. “There’s never a dull moment with Dave Zabriskie, that’s for sure."

Tour Down Under - Stage 2

You wouldn’t have thought we were in the same country.  In a complete contrast to the glaring heat of yesterday, Stage 2 of the Santos Tour Down Under began with a cold morning half the temperature of the day before.  Steele von Hoff (UniSA) was glad of his gloves as he lined up with the 130 other riders at the starting line – Jurgen Roelandts of Lotto-Belisol and Frédéric Guesdon of FDJ-Big Mat both pulled out of the race after yesterday’s crash.

The more clement conditions meant that the attacks began almost as soon as the race did – Martin Kohler of Team BMC and Will Clarke riding for Team UniSA launched themselves off the peloton after barely a kilometre .  The pair continued expanding the gap out, reaching around seven minutes from the peloton after the first sprint point, which Kohler won with Clarke second.  The three-second time deduction for winning the sprint put Kohler just one second behind Andre Greipel’s overall lead, while three kilometres behind the riders began attacking off the front of the peloton in pursuit of sprint points.

Australian Michael Matthews of Rabobank claimed third in the sprints, but instead of the riders competing for third falling back to the peloton after the sprint point, a chase group of 12 riders formed, trailing six minutes behind the two leaders, with a few more riders 200 metres ahead of the peloton.  But their glory was short-lived, quickly reeled back into the peloton , still seven or eight minutes behind Clarke and Kohler.

But Kohler’s moment in the sun seemed to be short-lived, too.  As he and Clarke passed the second sprint point the gap went back down to 5:50, and Kohler began to drop back.  By the time they reached the finish line in Stirling to begin the first of three laps, Kohler had completely disappeared back into the peloton and Clarke had a 12-and-a-half minute lead on them.  He soloed through the finish line for the first time, attracting a huge cheer from the amassed crowd, which then stopped and stared incredulously for 11 minutes, waiting for the peloton.

The circuit took the riders a little longer than expected, around 40 minutes instead of the anticipated half an hour, but Will Clarke appeared to finish his first lap, albeit a little less comfortably than before.  The peloton rode by again 11 minutes later, having brought in an attempted break by Movistar rider Angel Madrazo during the lap.  It was a minute further back to the green lantern; AG2R La Mondiale’s Boris Shiplevskiy brought up the rear.

Between laps there was plenty to keep the eager public occupied – the Tour Parade, with its funny cars, waving drivers and  free giveaways kept the kids entertained, and the arrival of cycling legend Eddy Merckx caused great excitement among the fans.  The colourful jerseys of ProTeams and local clubs alike abounded, and every second person seemed to be pushing a bike.

But as Clarke came closer to the end of the race, his laps became slower...and the peloton became faster.  Coming round for the third time and receiving the warning bell as he began his last lap, Clarke had lost two to three minutes to the pursuing hordes on his second lap and was down to an eight-minute lead.  As the peloton raced past onto their final lap, closing in on their prey, the tension in the crowd became palpable.  They were loving the young Tasmanian underdog from the local team.

Except the prospects weren't looking good.  The commentators were counting down the gap between the leader and the peloton as they raced around the final circuit of Stirling, the crowd bellowing unheard encouragement for the 26-year-old to hold off his pursuers just a little longer.  The noise at the finish line increased dramatically as a lone rider in a convoy of motorbikes came into view just 300 metres from the finish line, the peloton held at bay long enough for Clarke to ride across the finish and claim his well-deserved stage win, along with the sprint classification jersey and the King of the Mountains jersey.

The peloton stormed by a minute later, sprinters like Edvald Boasson Hagen of Team Sky jostling for position.  But it was destined to be an all-Aussie peloton for the day - Michael Matthews sprinted up again for second place this time, while Australian National Road Race Champion Simon Gerrans of GreenEDGE rounded out the top three.  Justifiably, Martin Kohler's efforts earlier in the day put him two seconds ahead of Andre Greipel to claim the ochre leader's jersey.

On another note, a personal highlight of the day - as the riders began heading back out onto the road to ride back to the Tour village, the traffic being at a standstill, I found Jérémy Roy of Team FDJ-Big Mat, who kindly stopped to speak to me for a minute.  He even handed me his bidon (which was nice and cold, by the way) after I gave him a small toy koala for his daughter Julia.  Maybe I need an FDJ jersey as well now...

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.

Green Team, Seasoned Riders

So yes, it's about time for another GreenEDGE update.  No matter how hard I try to keep up, they're always one step ahead of me, signing up every rider they can find, particularly the Aussies.  There are, quite literally, only three Aussies in the ProTour peloton not riding for GreenEDGE, and about 10 or 12 who are!  Because it's simply easier in the sheer numbers with which I'm now working (credit to Shayne Bannan and Andrew Ryan for getting my fingers this run down), I'll list the riders joining Australia's new national team:

AUSTRALIANS

Jack Bobridge                                                 (Garmin-Cervelo)

Simon Clarke                                                  (Astana) 

Baden Cooke                                                   (Saxobank-Sungard)

Allan Davis                                                      (Astana)

Simon Gerrans                                               (Sky)

Matt Goss                                                       (HTC-Highroad)

Leigh Howard                                                 (HTC-Highroad)

Brett Lancaster                                              (Garmin-Cervelo)
Robbie McEwen                                             (Radioshack)

Cameron Meyer                                             (Garmin-Cervelo)

Travis Meyer                                                  (Garmin-Cervelo)

Stuart O'Grady                                               (Leopard Trek)

Wes Sulzberger                                               (FDJ)

Matt Wilson                                                     (Garmin-Cervelo)

OVERSEAS

Michael Albasini                                              (HTC-Highroad - Switzerland)

Fumiyuki Beppu                                             (Radioshack - Japan)

Jens Keukeleire                                              (Cofidis - Belgium)

Sebastian Langeveld                                      (Rabobank - Holland)

Jens Mouris                                                     (Vacansoleil - Holland)

Daniel Teklehaymanot                                   (neo - Eritrea)

Svein Tuft                                                        (Spidertech-C10 - Canada)

Tomas Vaitkus                                               (Astana - Lithuania)

Pieter Weening                                               (Rabobank - Holland)

The updates are coming in from GreenEDGE HQ thick and fast - every couple of days now.  There are even mock-ups of the team jersey floating around the ether, though it's unlikely to remain unchanged.  The big news on which everyone is now waiting is the announcement of whether GreenEDGE has a corporate sponsor in the wider community.  It's almost surprising, given how ready this team is looking, that someone hasn't already snaffled up the opportunity to put Oz well and truly on the world cycling map.

The Team with the EDGE

The more I hear, the more I'm convinced: this is certainly Australia's year in cycling.  Despite being all the way "Down Under", we're following up a maiden Tour de France win with our own first-ever ProTour cycling team - and what a bloody good team it's shaping up to be!

Despite the transfer season still not having opened, news is filtering through the cognoscenti of the line-up of the new Aussie team, which since the last update seems to include every Australian rider on the ProTour circuit.

Rumours were floating about the two big Aussie names the team was looking to sign - Robbie McEwen and Stuey O'Grady.  While not a peep has been heard from the Radioshack sprinter, Leopard Trek's O'Grady has indeed signed to GreenEDGE and is probably looking forward to riding in his national team for the first time ever.  As suspected, young Tassie rider Richie Porte has re-signed with Team Saxobank Sungard, and as expected BMC's Cadel Evans has also renewed his contract there.

But almost every other Aussie in the professional peloton seems to be jumping on board.  Two of my three top picks of the young Aussies were announced as being headhunted by GreenEDGE, and to my utter delight all three of them have been signed!  Jack Bobridge and brother team Cameron and Travis Meyer, who have more world titles between them than I can remember anymore (four, I think - two to Cameron and one to each of the others) have all jumped ship from Team Garmin-Cervelo to GreenEDGE, where I'm hopeful at least one of them will be given the chance to make their debut in a grand tour.

While all these signings were foreshadowed if not expected, a new name has appeared on the radar - Simon Gerrans!  Team Sky's 'Gerro' is returning to home soil with his national team.  As for the other Aussies, Mark Renshaw has left the folding HTC-Highroad team to join Dutch team Rabobank but there is no word on the rest, meaning riders like Matty Goss are still up for grabs.

There are of course a few international riders who've also been signed.  Promising young Eritrean neo Daniel Teklehaymanot was the very first rider to join the team, while Dutch talents Pieter Weening and Sebastian Langeveld have both left their national team to help boost GreenEDGE's Spring Classics profile.

Ironically enough, in their guide to rider transfers for this season, Cycling News had to retrospectively add GreenEDGE to the list of teams signing riders due to the large number of riders they were pinching from the other teams.  All bar one of these teams are ProTour teams who rode the Tour de France this year.  Is it just me, or is this a very promising omen for EDGE?