With the black cloud of the Lance Armstrong saga hanging over the sport, GreenEdge’s entry into the sport on January 1st this year was timely. It wasn’t till May that GreenEdge announced a naming sponsor in Orica after failing to attract a sponsor at the beginning of the season. With Rabobank announcing their withdrawal of sponsorship for a new team looking to enter the professional peloton and attract a sponsor, it would be a hard ask indeed in a tumultuous industry. With endless drug scandals rocking the sport what incentives exist for big business to invest in professional cycling?
There are plenty of voices who bemoan the length of time which elapsed from Anderson’s Tour de France exploits and the halcyon days of the 2000s when Australians regularly fought over the maillot vert and spent time in the leaders’ jerseys of the Grand Tours. Although a team could have existed and attempts were made, the GreenEdge project has always been about longevity and ensuring this would not just be a team but one or two seasons but would lay down building blocks for the next generation of Australian cyclists and importantly both male and female. The Pegasus experiment left many cyclists burned and looked like it would set back the process by several years. Instead from the flames rose the Andrew Ryan and Shayne Bannan GreenEdge project.
The end of the 2011 season the first official signings for the team were announced and with the announcements the intentions of the team became a little clearer. With the disbanding of the HTC-Highroad team, GreenEdge was in a good position to attract riders who may have otherwise preferred to stay within a winning environment and continue with what was one of the most organised teams around. However for the Australians on HTC there was the attraction of riding for a national team surrounded by fellow Australians united by the team jersey in the peloton rather than by their nationality. From HTC and Garmin the team attracted some of the brightest Australian talent but also added experience and riders who would guarantee wins. The riders were suited to one day races, punchy hilly races, sprints and ITT’s with no standout GC riders brought in.
Matt Goss had a breakout 2011 which began at the Tour Down Under where he won Stage 1 and the Sprinters Classification after pulling on the first Ochre jersey of the race. January proved to a successful building block for the 2011 season where Goss started the year with two stage wins at the Bay Classic Series and the Cancer Council Helpline Classic precursor to the Tour Down Under. His win at Milan-San Remo was a sign of his sprinting prowess in longer 250km races and proved that Goss should be seen as one of the top sprinters in the peloton. Goss backed up the win with stage wins at Paris-Nice, Tour of California and the Tour of Oman. There was no repeat Grand Tour win after he opened his account at the 2011 Giro d’Italia and added a TTT victory at the Vuelta de España but the late season silver medal at the World Championships was a sign that Goss’s form across the season had been consistent. The expectations upon Goss in 2012 was therefore then going to be quite high after two successful seasons with HTC and extra support at GreenEdge where he was the number one sprinter.
Matt Goss’s only individual win in 2012 was Stage 3 at the Giro as his season was a story of second and third places. He was part of the squad who won the Tirreno-Adriatico TTT and he took home the points classification at the Presidential Tour of Turkey but 2012 was a disappointing and lean year for the Tasmanian. Where Goss failed to fire, there were plenty of other riders who put their hands up and take home the goods. The lowlight for Goss would have to be his relegation in the sprint following a Stage 12 tussle with Peter Sagan which all but ended his green jersey aspirations. Some of these riders performances were a little unexpected but nevertheless appreciated and welcomed such as Luke Durbridge who exceeded expectations in first year as a professional.
The Tour Down Under was the first opportunity for the team to show itself off on a world stage which the recently crowned Australian Champion Simon Gerrans front and centre. The Bay Classic Series was the first race the team participated in beginning on January 1st but it would be the South Australian tour where the team could judge itself against fellow World Tour teams. At the nationals which were held a week before the Tour Down Under the team had 16 riders in the men’s road race which all but assured one of them would be spending the inaugural season in the yellow and green stripes of the Australian national champion. Surely enough GreenEdge dominated and had a perfect start to its season.
Just as the British championships have become dominated by the Sky team with the jersey changing hands within the team over the last three years, GreenEdge will hope to dominate Buniyong in the same manner. The team had the objective to win the nationals and put on a strong showing around Adelaide the next week. Stuart O’Grady, Robbie McEwen, Travis Meyer, Jack Bobridge and Matt Wilson (?) are all ex-champions but it would be a new champion in Gerrans who continued his winning ways throughout the season after a successful January. To top off Gerrans’ ride, Luke Durbridge took out the ITT to make it 2 out of 2 for GreenEdge. There was no metaphorical banana skin and the team would now be racing its debut season with the Australian road and ITT champion on its books.
Gerrans 2012 season highlight was his Milan-San Remo win for which he was criticised but nevertheless was a deserving champion. He led the way for GreenEdge as he racked up wins in Australia, Italy and Canada in a season which more than justified his move from Sky to the new team. He and Durbridge were the standout riders in the debut season and have both set a precedent for the level of success that the team will now demand. The win at La Primavera was unexpected as Gerrans rode to the finish alongside Vincenzo Nibali and Fabian Cancellara before coming around and crossing the line in his now customary salute of both hands in the air.
Although there were no stage wins at the Tour Down Under, Gerrans overall win was a perfect start to 2012 continuing on from the nationals win. On Stage 5 to Old Willunga Hill, Gerrans and Movistar’s Alejandro Valverde had escaped a select group and sprinted to the line mano a mano which the Spaniard won in a photo finish. With both riders within a second to each other, Gerrans conceded the stage win but took the Ochre jersey due to higher cumulative stage finishes across the race. Gerrans held on to the jersey by the same miniscule margin after the final stage around Adelaide and secured his second Tour Down Under title after his 2006 triumph. Stuart O’Grady was awarded the most aggressive rider after Stage 5 but it was the overall which was the most pleasing for the team. Although no stage wins was disappointing, to win the first World Tour race the team competed in was quite an achievement. To do so on home soil was a marvellous beginning.
With the national championships and premier national road race won, GreenEdge flew to Europe full of confidence and ready to notch up more significant wins and would win at least one race from March to till September. The team won their first World Tour race, first European race and its first monument but that was not enough, never daring to rest upon its laurels, riding with fight till September as the bronze medal in the TTT at the world championships is testament to. The Tirreno-Adriatico TTT win would be a sign of things to come as Durbridge and Svein Tuft had several TT wins and played important roles in the TTT wins. With no standout GC rider on their books, the focus on individual achievements was most apparent in the races against the clock.
Although there were impressive top 10 finishes by the riders and Michael Albasini’s podium at La Fleche Wallonne, the Italian classic would be the early season highlight. Albasini took two stages and the overall at the Volta a Catalunya to make it two overall victories by March, a pleasant surprise. Albasini had one more win in 2012 when he won Stage 8 in his home country race, the Tour de Suisse, a race in which he has had multiple successes throughout his career. In Spain Daryl Impey won Stage 2 of the Tour of the Basque Country while the next day in France, Durbridge won his first Professional stage which set up his overall win at the Circuit de la Sarthe including the young riders classification. The team wouldn’t have another overall victory until Durbridge won the Tour du Poitou-Charentes, instead picking up stage wins and classification jerseys. Outside the Grand Tours there were enough wins for the team to be judged a success in its debut season but it was the failure to take home anything from the Tour that was the most disappointing aspect of the season.
Going into the Giro, Matt Goss was a favourite for a least one stage win as he tuned up for a big Tour performance. Goss won the third stage of the race while in Denmark and as a reward pulled on the maglia rosso which he held until Stage 10. Goss withdrew from the race after Stage 13 in order to focus upon the Tour and Olympics. His form looked good and he was competitive in the sprints but 2012 would be near enough but not good enough for the Tasmanian. Goss had several high finishes at the Tour but was decidingly third best behind André Greipel and Mark Cavendish who both won three stages and where at least half a wheel quicker in the final meters. Sagan’s hold on the green jersey also meant there was little joy for Goss and the rest of the team. Sky in its third year is now the top World Tour team who have realised their ambition to win a Tour with a British rider. GreenEdge have had a promising first year but there will be lingering disappointment regarding their failure at the Tour.
The minor roles that GreenEdge played at the Giro and the Tour were almost forgiven by Simon Clarke’s Stage 4 win and his hold on the climbers classification at the Vuelta de España. Clarke was rewarded by his sprint over Tony Martin at Estacion de Valdezcaray not only with his maiden Grand Tour win but also the lead in the points and climbers classifications. That made it three Grand Tour classification jerseys in 2012 for the Australian team but a leaders jersey was still proving to be elusive. Clarke had a tussle with Alejandro Valverde as the climbers polka dot jersey changed hands before Clarke took it back after Stage 14 and took it all the way to Madrid. In doing so he became the second Australian to win a climbers classification at a Grand Tour following in Matty Lloyd’s footsteps after his 2010 Giro success. The team at the Vuelta had four Grand Tour debutants with no concrete goals in place. Cam Meyer was hoping for a high GC placing but like his teammates, the Vuelta was to be a final hit out in 2012 and an attempt to test the mettle of the team. Meyer had mixed results but fell away far more than he would have wished for after an impressive 8th place in the Stage 11 ITT. He backed up this ride with a second place on Stage 13, riding with a breakaway group Meyer was just four seconds off his maiden Grand Tour stage win. In 2013 Meyer will be 100% focused and committed to the road and he can only learn from his previous Grand Tour experiences as the weight of expectation continues to grow on the Western Australian.
While the team where busy in Spain filming their ‘backstage pass’ segments and collating shots for a humorous cover of Call Me Maybe, which included an impressive contribution by Simon Clarke o the final podium in Madrid, the team was racking up wins across the continent. Impey took out Stage 2 of the Tour of Slovenia, Aidis Kruopis won the first two stages at the Tour du Poitou-Charentes and the points classification while Gerrans had another big result in outsprinting Greg Van Avermaet at the GP Cycliste de Québec. Kruopis had earlier won stages at the Glava Tour of Norway and Tour of Pologne in what was an impressive season. Along with Kroupis’s wins, there was another TTT victory at the Eneco Tour where Svein Tuft also won the Stage 6 ITT but it was the results of Luke Durbridge that was generating the most buzz.
‘Durbo’ Durbridge was a known quality whose win at the U/23 ITT in Copenhagen only gave him further exposure. The year before in Geelong he had finished second in the same race so 2011 was sign that he was developing as anticipated. Durbridge and Gerrans had standout seasons in 2012 but Durbridge’s season was arguably the more impressive. He didn’t win any classics as Gerrans did but beginning his year by taking his first national ITT title was sign of things to come by the first year pro. The season highlight would be his unexpected prologue victory over Bradley Wiggins and Tony Martin at the Critérium du Dauphiné and pulling on the leaders jersey. His results were either in ITT or TTT races but to take home two overall victories and finish fifth in the Eneco GC could raise the levels of expectations upon Durbridge to not only win against the clock but challenge in years to come in one week stages races. His wins at Circuit de le Sarthe and Tour du Poitou-Charentes were set up by his ITT wins, suggesting he may be following a well ridden path of excelling in ITT’s al la Wiggins or Miguel Indurain.
The final month of racing in Europe brought one final round of wins to cap off 2012 in style and provide a platform for future success. Leigh Howard won Stage 2 of the Tour of Britain which made it eight individual winners not to mention the other seven riders who had success in the TTT wins. Further highlighting the strength in numbers for the team was the bronze medal ride in the TTT at the World Championships in Valkenburg. Finishing behind Omega Pharma-Quick Step and BMC was no easy task as they finished ahead of favourites Sky and Rabobank. The final win for the team in their debut season was at the Duo Normond where Durbo and Tuft capped of the season with one more victory against the clock. However good the riders may have been against the clock this season, time caught up to the director Matt White who admitted to doping throughout his career and was fired as a result of his admission of guilt and regret.
Considering the team made its debut on January 1 they have had a long season which has, at least off the bike, been elongated by the Lance Armstrong saga. The off season has been gladly welcomed by the riders as they can avoid some of the scrutiny in Australia where cycling is not yet front page news for results and racing. Instead it is drug scandals that take precedence over reporting races except for the Tour when interest is spiked depending on Australian riders involvement. The GreenEdge team has been impressive in racking up wins in 2012 and has brought about wider interest in the sport. Partly due to the success of the women’s team as well, this effect will not be exclusive to male’s wishing to take up the sport from a recreational to racing level.
Top Five Results
Milan-San Remo Simon Gerrans
Milan-San Remo Simon Gerrans
Tour Down Under Simon Gerrans
Vuelta de España Stage 4/Mountains Classification Simon Clarke
Giro d’Italia Stage 3 Matt Goss
Critérium du Dauphiné Prologue Luke Durbridge
Breakout riders: There is no doubting Luke Durbridge and Simon Gerrans had the most impressive seasons in 2012. However Gerrans has been performing at a high level since his Tour stage win in 2008. Therefore the breakout riders of mostly an unknown quality were Durbridge, Clarke and Aidis Kruopis. Albasini had an impressive year but his season was one of resurgence at 31 rather than a man ten years his junior exceeding expectations. Clarke had shown promise in his career up till the Vuelta but his stage win and climbers classification success that will make people pay more attention. In 2013 he will look to improve upon this season and challenge for the one day classics alongside Gerrans and Albasini and due to his 2012 success should be given greater protection than he has been in the past. Kruopis will also be looking to step it up in 2013 and start challenging for sprint wins at bigger wins after showing he can match at the pointy end with the fastest. For most of the squad they have performed well but will be looking for even more success after a year in which to gel and get to know to GreenEdge set up and expectation.
Disappointing Riders: the disappointing riders in 2012 had been expected to thrive in an Australian environment. Cam Meyer, Jack Bobridge and Matt Goss are all experienced cyclists and have ridden at the highest levels and had results. However in 2012 they failed to step up when counted upon and between them notched up one individual win. Meyer is the less disappointing as he was focused on the track for one final year in which he took home a rainbow jersey. Goss had his moments but will be ruing missed opportunities this year, the results at the Giro show Goss can match it with the best but will need to so more consistently in 2013. Bobridge’s season was rather underwhelming in which he made headlines for a drunken car crash rather than race results. He will be off to the white label Rabobank team in 2013 in what many have suggested is what he needs to focus on riding and getting back to his best. Just as Meyer has turned his attention to the road so will Bobridge after a success career on the boards. Alan Davis was another rider who came close but couldn’t get across the line first. His efforts cannot be questioned by surely he will be wishing to celebrate some big wins in 2013.
2013: Next year’s success will rest upon the team’s success in chasing its debut Tour stage. There should also be a focus on GC with more variety to team tactics n races. They have performed well enough with Gerrans sixth in the Individual World Tour rankings and the team also ranked sixth. Stints in leaders jerseys and top ten finishes at one week stage races looks like becoming a focus. One day classics and the Ardennes in particular will once again be a goal and with the last two winners of Milan-San Remo on the team, GreenEdge will go into the race looking to defend Gerrans title. More will be expected of Durbridge, even if that means concentrating on ITT’s and letting go of any GC ambitions for a year. Michael Matthews moves across from Rabobank and will add two or so wins minimum to the team each season. A repeat Tour Down Under and clean sweep of the national’s looks like becoming a yearly goal and with both races setting the scene for the early season there will be plenty of riders eager to impress and push for selection at the European races.
With professional cycling at an uneasy fork in the road and sponsors unsure of their rate of return and more and more admissions of doping during the 1990s and 2000s, GreenEdge will be glad they entered the peloton in January. Their place in the peloton looks assured for several seasons but they will need to continue performing well in World Tour events and provide a platform for Australian success. A Tour title could be on the cards in the next five years but for now Grand Tour stage wins and success at the Ardennes will hold the team in good stead. Plenty of teams are happy just to compete and have ambitions only to be there next year. The same cannot be said of GreenEdge for there is the backing of a nation with a growing love of the sport expecting success and giving it their all from January till October annually.
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