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 - Stage 3

The rolling road blocks were certainly in effect today, as the peloton rode south-bound from Unley down to Victor Harbour.  As Mike Turtur waved the red flag at the end of the neutral zone outside Flinder's Hospital, hundreds of fans cheered the peloton onto the Southern Expressway to begin the journey south.  They were moving fast, too, as the traffic was completely stopped barely 25 minutes later as the riders made their way from the Expressway onto the main road southbound.

Following a few abortive attempts, the breakaway of the day had already formed, four riders already four minutes ahead of the peloton - Matt Brammeier, Omega Pharma - Quickstep; Eduard Vorganov, Katusha; Jan Bakelants, Radioshack Nissan Trek; and Thomas de Gendt, Vacansoleil.  The teams of sprinters and GC contenders didn't like that, Lotto-Belisol, Rabobank and GreenEDGE keeping and pace high and the time gap steady to ensure a catch before the finish.  The renegade four hit the second KOM together, De Gendt, Brammeier and Bakelants taking the top three allocations of points with Vorganov coming across fourth for two.  They were still four minutes ahead when they reached the first sprint point in Mt. Compass, De Gendt stepping up to maximum points in front of the crowd.

But despite the increase in speed, the time gap was dropping.  As the breakaway passed the feed station, restocking their jerseys with food and water bottles, the peloton was only a couple of minutes behind, bottles and bananas flying everywhere as they raced through in hot pursuit.  They were gaining, too, the gap barely one minute as Radioshack Nissan Trek drove the peloton to the second sprint point, just a kilometre behind the leaders.  De Gendt, Bakelants and Vorganov again raced up to take the sprint points, before sitting up and returning to the peloton, clearly having acheived their aims for the day.

Matt Brammeier, meanwhile, was still trying to stay away from the peloton 200 metres behind, but unsurprisingly Brammeier couldn't hold them off for long, the race coming back together with just under 43 kilometres left to ride.  The more ambitious ProTeams then took over the peloton, BMC and Sky picking up the pace and starting to string out the peloton, nine riders at the back managing to keep contact in the increasing crosswinds.

As the peloton hit 55k/h the attacks began again, as did the punctures.  The attackers reeled in and the flat tyres catching up, GreenEDGE began driving the reunited peloton towards the stage finish in Victor Harbour on the scenic Fleurieu Peninsula.  Although 10 minutes behind the predicted race times, the riders stormed down into the township on the descent, Rabobank doing the work out front for sprinters Michael Matthews and Mark Renshaw.  Other teams tried attacking as the finish line loomed, the blue and orange colours of Rabobank not letting anyone get away.

The race altogether as it reached the final metres, bar a few unfortunate punctures, it was down to a bunch sprint finish, Greipel edging out all other contenders to take his third victory in Adelaide and an impressive 10th TDU stage win.  FDJ-Big Mat's Yauheni Hutarovich also got up to claim second, with Sky's Edvald Boasson Hagen finally making the podium in third.  Rabobank's efforts let Renshaw in fourth, and GreenEDGE was happy with Robbie McEwen placing fifth on the stage, while Simon Gerrans moved into fifth overall in the GC.  Stage 3 over, the riders are now another day closer to their nemesis stage - Stage 5's long climb to the top of Old Willunga Hill.