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[Green Edge] Shayne Bannan, Gerry Ryan and an Aussie Pro Team for 2012?

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Mar 13, 2009
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shouldawouldacoulda said:
I'm Canadian, super happy to see what SpiderTech is doing. But even I'd say Oz deserves a top pro team - more than Canada - and the fact they don't have one is a real shame.

If you count the number of Canadians that have ridden at the top level of European pro cycling since 1980 you would have a number that is less than the number of Aussies currently on Pro-tour teams 2011.

I wanna see Bauer lead his team to the top. I think he will do it. But I'm a huge fan of Oz cycling too and it would be fantastic to see them have a team like Sky or Leopard. For all they've achieved in cycling they deserve it!!

anyhow OT, but lets see. Here are the Canadians that have arguably raced at the top level of European cycling since 1980:

1. Ron Hayman
2. Steve Bauer
3. Alex Steida
4. Brian Walton
5. Gianni Vignaduzzi
6. Gord Fraser
7. Steve Rover
8. Roland Green *
9. Dominique Perras
10. Michael Barry
11. Ryder Hesjedal
12. Peter Mazur
13. Dominique Rollin
14. Svein Tuft
15. Francois Parisien
16. Christian Meier

* Roland rode for USPS, but never full time. He was a cross over rider from Trek's MTB team. Granted he would have been a fantastic road pro.

** you could potentially add : 1) Richard Mellor(n)? not sure his name, he was a bit of a journeyman in the early 80s - he wasn't very good.

2-3) Maybe also Czeslaw Lucasewicz and Mat Anand - but they rode on ZVVZ a div 2 team in Czech Republic and neither rode full time in Europe with that team)

Of the list above, only 10 rode a grand tour to my knowledge.

Aussies currently (in 2011) on ProTeams : 30
This is Div 1 ProTeams, and does not including ProConti.

Finally I don't point this out to imply Oz is better than Canada. I think Canada is great and certainly has athletes who can excel at cycling's top level. Canada simply hasn't tapped into its talent pool and converted athletes to cycling. Australia has.

If there is any country in the world that should have a ProTeam and doesn't it is most certainly OZ!!

left out one guy, fixed it now.
 
shouldawouldacoulda said:
Actually, I forgot Charles Dionne (Saunier Duval) and Mark Walters also raced extensively in Europe with Navigators

There was also the dude with a russian name, Nicolay Raz...something kicking a$$ in Montreal in early 90s I think, I know he raced in Europe before that and then he vanished one day. Was he a Canadian? They were friends with Lucasewicz.
 
May 25, 2010
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Ferminal said:
Aiming to be a top10 team with a budget of 10-15mil euros.

Stephens confirmed as a DS...................

75 percent Aussie is the aim.

From Amber Halliday and Stu Randall.

75% Aussie Riders? Staff? Sponsors?

As long as its Aussie registered and has a core of Aussies at the helm I really don't think it matters what percentage of the riders or staff are Australian. Heck, does it matter if the sponsors are too?
 
Ferminal said:
Aiming to be a top10 team with a budget of 10-15mil euros.

Stephens confirmed as a DS...................

75 percent Aussie is the aim.

From Amber Halliday and Stu Randall.

Meh, this team will bring the PT in the wrong direction. We should be aiming to have more and more diversity on the teams, not less. It's nothing I hate more than teams that put nationality before talent. It's one thing to have a british PT team like Sky but at least they don't have 23 out of 30 riders being british. They understand that they need talent like Uran and EBH to be a top team.

I sincerely hope this team fails as hard as Pegasus especially with the news that they are giving bonuses for each PT point each new rider has earned when signing them and the suspected poaching of riders.
 
Jun 16, 2009
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ingsve said:
Meh, this team will bring the PT in the wrong direction. We should be aiming to have more and more diversity on the teams, not less. It's nothing I hate more than teams that put nationality before talent. It's one thing to have a british PT team like Sky but at least they don't have 23 out of 30 riders being british. They understand that they need talent like Uran and EBH to be a top team.

I sincerely hope this team fails as hard as Pegasus especially with the news that they are giving bonuses for each PT point each new rider has earned when signing them and the suspected poaching of riders.

I totally disagree and I think you are very nasty in your comments hoping that it failsl flat on its face.
 
Aug 26, 2010
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Meh, this team will bring the PT in the wrong direction. We should be aiming to have more and more diversity on the teams, not less. It's nothing I hate more than teams that put nationality before talent. It's one thing to have a british PT team like Sky but at least they don't have 23 out of 30 riders being british. They understand that they need talent like Uran and EBH to be a top team.

I sincerely hope this team fails as hard as Pegasus especially with the news that they are giving bonuses for each PT point each new rider has earned when signing them and the suspected poaching of riders.

There will always be a dimension of nationalism to cycling teams. Also, Australia has more than enough talent to be selecting riders on both talent and nationality. For example, Hepburn and Durbridge were earmarked by Bannan in the press conference today as riders he'd be interested in.

Ingsve: I am not sure in which country you live but in Australia having a sense of national identity is important and the people enjoy to follow national sporting teams and hero's. Sport is a part of our culture however cycling remains 2nd rank to the mainstraem sports such as football and cricket. Having a national team competing at the top level would enhance the profile of cycling here and worldwide (got to be a good thing for the sport no???). Also the Greenedge project is one that seeks to support the development of cycling in Australia. Another this that no Australian would object to. In regards to international riders, I am sure that GreenEdge will seek to poach international talent as well as domestic. The riders that they sign will likely depend on the sponsors interests abroad.

It is also naive to judge Green Edge regarding their recruitment techniques based on one blog that you have read (i.e. the inner ring). I dont condone signing secret agreements but It seems with very little evidence that you have condemned them as evil. At this stage, whether you are right or not, your prejudice against Greenedge is largely unproven and baseless.
 
Sydney21 said:
Also the Greenedge project is one that seeks to support the development of cycling in Australia.

Yeah, seeks to support Australian cycling as long as it is not someone else trying to set up an Australian team. It just would not be good to have another team competing for riders and sponsorship dollars.
 
Jun 16, 2009
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BroDeal said:
Yeah, seeks to support Australian cycling as long as it is not someone else trying to set up an Australian team. It just would not be good to have another team competing for riders and sponsorship dollars.

Do you know how to read between the lines? The only rumours that Gerry Ryan, Cycling Australia and co have tried to sabbotage the Pegasus project is from the inner ring source which doesn't look overly reliable.
 
May 25, 2010
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Sydney21 said:

Interesting, the site is down but they've still allowed access to the brochure.

Sydney21 said:
http://twitter.com/SJR1978

Best immediate coverage of the press conference. Nothing much we didn't already know/ had worked out. I'd say it will be another 6 months before we start hearing about transfer roumers .

6 months - you mean around the time the transfer window starts opening up. Shocker. :rolleyes:

BroDeal said:
Yeah, seeks to support Australian cycling as long as it is not someone else trying to set up an Australian team. It just would not be good to have another team competing for riders and sponsorship dollars.

I'd laugh if it wasn't so true. Been around for 12 months. So they've been playing for a long time. For those involved with Pegasus it'd leave you very bitter I think.

ingsve said:
Meh, this team will bring the PT in the wrong direction. We should be aiming to have more and more diversity on the teams, not less. It's nothing I hate more than teams that put nationality before talent. It's one thing to have a british PT team like Sky but at least they don't have 23 out of 30 riders being british. They understand that they need talent like Uran and EBH to be a top team.

I sincerely hope this team fails as hard as Pegasus especially with the news that they are giving bonuses for each PT point each new rider has earned when signing them and the suspected poaching of riders.

So what? Its a target, its hyperbole, it doesn't even necessarily mean riders. Look at most of the squads anyway, they generally have 60%+ on riders from the country registered as. Do you have a problem with Euskatel with there jingoistic recruiting policies? Realistically, I don't think they'll recruit 3/4 Aussies to fill the squad because they wont get the PT license that way. As for putting nationality before talent, looking at it another way you could argue they're giving a chance to these riders from Aus. How many riders from Kazakhstan are now riding in PT races because of Astana? Are you saying this will have a detrimental effect on them or will it only help the sport there?

I'm not exactly over the moon about this consortium's approach to this but I'm not hoping they fail based on one snippet of information. That's quite malevolent...
 
Mar 13, 2009
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Jayco have been long terms supporters of Cycling Australia so it makes sense the Pegasus outfit were not supported by the National Federation if this was in the wings. Im sure the groundwork for GreenEdge has been going on for months.
 

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