Jayco al-'Ula and its GreenEdge predecessors

[Sydney21]

From the article:

"We missed out on one rider we wanted but that's life."

Only one? Either there are a few big names which they have lined up, or they weren't interested in the wealth of talent which was on the market this year.

IMO i think thats code for 'there would have been a few guys that we would have loved to have i.e. Martin, Pinotti but missing Richie was the key dissappointing one for them...' They probably looked at it last year and thought if they can have Goss, O'Grady, Gerrans and Richie they would have Aussies who were off contract and could shoot for the win on all terrains. Its not all bad so long as they get a couple of good international stage racers... but im not sure how many of them are on the market still...

 

[LukeSchmid]

IMO i think thats code for 'there would have been a few guys that we would have loved to have i.e. Martin, Pinotti but missing Richie was the key dissappointing one for them...' They probably looked at it last year and thought if they can have Goss, O'Grady, Gerrans and Richie they would have Aussies who were off contract and could shoot for the win on all terrains. Its not all bad so long as they get a couple of good international stage racers... but im not sure how many of them are on the market still...

That makes sense. I am sure they went pretty hard after Porte, to not get him even though he is almost certainly going to a new team must have been disappointing.

 

[Tuarts]

http://www.smh.com.au/sport/cycling/how-to-build-a-cycling-team-20110819-1j259.html

Great Article on Greenedge. Some really nice probing questions. Lots of stuff we already know. Leaves me with 2 questions...

If Matt White and Neil Stephens will be 2 sport directors who will be the third?

The Belgian DS who was going to work with Pegasus was linked to be in talks with GE. That or said it was an option he'd consider. Can't recall the article or whence it came.

From the article:

"We missed out on one rider we wanted but that's life."

Only one? Either there are a few big names which they have lined up, or they weren't interested in the wealth of talent which was on the market this year.

Obviously talking about Porte. However you'd think they would be disappointed about missing out on some of the HTC Auction but considering the back door nature over those signings to teams, maybe they (GE) don't consider those as relevant to talk about to the media.

Dutch interest [in terms of] hits on our website has been running about 24 per cent. In Australia, the interest is only about 48 per cent. The rest of it is international.

3rd Dutch team in WorldTour?

And why you should believe everything people report:

You were quoted recently as saying organisers of the Tour, Giro and Tour of California have given you assurances of a start …

No. Part of the process if we miss out on a ProTeam licence is … to get an invitation to the Tour, as did BMC two years ago [when they were a second-division ProContinental team], or Europcar this year. Our expectation, in terms of the points our riders will come to GreenEDGE with, [is that] we will be around the 10th, 11th or 12th team … I was asked, 'What happens if?' I said that the next process is: 'You apply to get an invitation.' ''

 

[Ferminal]

The Belgian DS who was going to work with Pegasus was linked to be in talks with GE. That or said it was an option he'd consider. Can't recall the article or whence it came.

Redant? I saw something yesterday which said he's been picked up for next season, can't remember who though!

Have they tried luring Sunderland back to the car?

 

[Sydney21]

The Belgian DS who was going to work with Pegasus was linked to be in talks with GE. That or said it was an option he'd consider. Can't recall the article or whence it came.

It waqs announced recently that Redant was going to be Euro DS for United Healthcare.

I'm not sure of the liklihood of McGee going, They'll likely be not much of an Aussie contingent left at Saxo on the raster side so we'll have to see there. Peiper will be at Garmin, Sunderland looks happy at home. Maybe your right and I will be someone international. They'll need someone who will mentor Stuey in 2014 as a DS I'd say unless White and Stevo want to do that.

 

[janraaskalt]

If Matt White and Neil Stephens will be 2 sport directors who will be the third?

Garmin-Cervelo's Lionel Marie.

In French: http://www.cyclismactu.net/news-staff-lionel-marie-quittera-la-garmin-pour-greenedge-18342.html

 

[Ferminal]

Mouris confirmed

http://www.greenedgecycling.com/news/massive-mouris

 

[Tuarts]

Big week of announcements start with him

Looks like a good enough domestique, who can TT. GE will have that TTT tied up for sure

 

[daveinzambia]

this policy of drip feeding names when so many seem to know the full list (or close to the full list) already

so far thing to only signing that was a slight surprise was the one they have publicised least - Teklehaimanot. (look on official website seems to be no mention of him and they announced Weening as the first international signing, did he sign or did i dream that one)

 

[Sydney21]

daveinzambia this policy of drip feeding names when so many seem to know the full list (or close to the full list) already

so far thing to only signing that was a slight surprise was the one they have publicised least - Teklehaimanot. (look on official website seems to be no mention of him and they announced Weening as the first international signing, did he sign or did i dream that one)

sure it might be a little annoying but the reality is it gets their name in the headlines more often so from a publicity perspective is an effective strategy.

Mouris will be a good guy to help chase down breaks to give GE's sprinters a shot at glory.

 

[NickBVK]

CN's article on Vino's impending comeback mentions Allan Davis as having signed with GreenEDGE (in relations to Astanas points tally)

 

[dirkprovin]

CN's article on Vino's impending comeback mentions Allan Davis as having signed with GreenEDGE (in relations to Astanas points tally)

Astana seem to have "taken as written" that Davis would be off to GE & the points issue is why he has basically been 'shelved' from WT/point scoring races for several months.

 

[Reghere]

Updating the Sydney Herald list, which has been right on.

Confirmed: Jack Bobridge (Garmin-Cervelo), Cameron Meyer (Garmin-Cervelo), Travis Meyer (Garmin-Cervelo), Stuart O’Grady (LeOpard), Daniel Teklehaymanot (Eritrea), Jens Mouris (Neth/Vacansoleil), , Simon Gerrans (Sky), Sebastian Langeveld (Neth/Rabobank), Pieter Weening (Neth/Rabobank)


Looking for Dean and Davis annoucements soon.
Likely to join: Michael Albasini (Swtz/HTC-Highroad), Simon Clarke (Astana), Baden Cooke (Saxo Bank-SunGard), Allan Davis (Astana), Julian Dean (NZ/Garmin-Cervelo), Luke Durbidge (Jayco-AIS), Mitch Docker (Skil-Shimano), Matt Goss (HTC-Highroad), Michael Hepburn (Jayco-AIS), Leigh Howard (HTC-Highroad), Brett Lancaster (Garmin-Cervelo), Matt Lloyd (released Omega Pharma -Lotto), Luke Roberts (Saxo Bank-SunGard), Wesley Sulzberger (FDJ), Matt Wilson (Garmin-Cervelo), Tomas Vaitkus (Neth/Astana), Targeted: Tony Martin (Ger/HTC-Highroad).

 

[luckyboy]

No real clear leaders in that list. There's a few future prospects and a lot of decent riders who would be good domestiques at other teams but Tony Martin is the highest-profile there and he hasn't been exclusively linked to GreenEdge as others in that list have.
I mean there's a couple of guys who are good at what they do like Goss, Gerrans, Langeveld, Davis but they're not really amongst the top contenders in their fields.

 

[Sydney21]

No real clear leaders in that list. There's a few future prospects and a lot of decent riders who would be good domestiques at other teams but Tony Martin is the highest-profile there and he hasn't been exclusively linked to GreenEdge as others in that list have.
I mean there's a couple of guys who are good at what they do like Goss, Gerrans, Langeveld, Davis but they're not really amongst the top contenders in their fields.

Ok perhaps that is true however I think gossy is one of the fastest sprinters in the world who also has some alround abilities. And Langeveld won Omloop and was 5th in flanders so he's only going to get better. I would argue they have a number of riders that could top 10 in many big races... and they will have many riders who can sprint meaning that they will have the potential to win from a small group as the back end of a classic. O'Grady, Langeveld, Cooke can all top 10 in a Cobbled classic if they have a good day and if they come to the finish in a small group they can all sprint a bit too (Maybe even Docker too if he continues to progress like he has in the last couple of years). I also would argue that Albasini, Gerro and Clarke could do the same in the Ardennes. And Gossy, Davis, Howard, Dean, will be up there in the sprints all year and pick up a number of wins. So whilst sure they dont have the stand out rider that a number of the big teams have, they can be there at the business end of races the entire year long.

They will have to pepper the breaks on mountain stages of GT's to get involved I imagine but with Lloyd and Weening they could shoot for the mountain jersey or atleast do something constructive.

My worry is that they will struggle to accumulate enough points if Martin is not on the team. The following year of recruitmewnt will also be an interesting one for the team with Haussler off contract.

 

[daveinzambia]

I think the difficulty is who should they have picked as the 'face' of the team. Sky bent over backwards and annoyed a lot of people to get Wiggins because they understood how important it was to get one of the 'big two' british names in cycling. Think it has worked in building the brand of the team even if he has not had the success in the tour.

once it was clear GreenEdge would not get Evans then is there another Aussie that could be as big a draw? and if not should they have chosen a non Aussie as their captain or as the face of the team? Think it would be hard to start an Australian team and then watch Australians working for another nationality rider in the grand tours.

Think they have to look at the Australian riders they could get and build targets around those riders making them the de facto team leaders

 

[dirkprovin]

Updating the Sydney Herald list, which has been right on.

Confirmed: Jack Bobridge (Garmin-Cervelo), Cameron Meyer (Garmin-Cervelo), Travis Meyer (Garmin-Cervelo), Stuart O’Grady (LeOpard), Daniel Teklehaymanot (Eritrea), Jens Mouris (Neth/Vacansoleil), , Simon Gerrans (Sky), Sebastian Langeveld (Neth/Rabobank), Pieter Weening (Neth/Rabobank)


Looking for Dean and Davis annoucements soon.
Likely to join: Michael Albasini (Swtz/HTC-Highroad), Simon Clarke (Astana), Baden Cooke (Saxo Bank-SunGard), Allan Davis (Astana), Julian Dean (NZ/Garmin-Cervelo), Luke Durbidge (Jayco-AIS), Mitch Docker (Skil-Shimano), Matt Goss (HTC-Highroad), Michael Hepburn (Jayco-AIS), Leigh Howard (HTC-Highroad), Brett Lancaster (Garmin-Cervelo), Matt Lloyd (released Omega Pharma -Lotto), Luke Roberts (Saxo Bank-SunGard), Wesley Sulzberger (FDJ), Matt Wilson (Garmin-Cervelo), Tomas Vaitkus (Neth/Astana), Targeted: Tony Martin (Ger/HTC-Highroad).

NOT including Martin (whom I suspect was a longshot); the names listed would currently tally 505 2011 WT points with the top 5 riders ranking them 12th on 480. Am aware this is NOT the sole measuring stick for awarding Pro Tour licences. On current CQ points, these names total 6175 points which would see them 16th, less than 70 points behind Saxo but comfortably ahead of AG2R, Astana & Quickstep.

 

[NickBVK]

Astana seem to have "taken as written" that Davis would be off to GE & the points issue is why he has basically been 'shelved' from WT/point scoring races for several months.

Yeah noticed this and it was pretty blatant and I know it's been discussed here before. There were a few articles and quotes of Davis being assured a Tour de France ride from Vino early in the season but that disappeared pretty quick.

It's a shame because I like Davis and obviously want to see him on the biggest stages but this brings us onto the bigger issues of the current WT system which have been more than discussed.

 

[Tuarts]

Updating the Sydney Herald list, which has been right on.

Confirmed: Jack Bobridge (Garmin-Cervelo), Cameron Meyer (Garmin-Cervelo), Travis Meyer (Garmin-Cervelo), Stuart O’Grady (LeOpard), Daniel Teklehaymanot (Eritrea), Jens Mouris (Neth/Vacansoleil), , Simon Gerrans (Sky), Sebastian Langeveld (Neth/Rabobank), Pieter Weening (Neth/Rabobank)


Looking for Dean and Davis annoucements soon.
Likely to join: Michael Albasini (Swtz/HTC-Highroad), Simon Clarke (Astana), Baden Cooke (Saxo Bank-SunGard), Allan Davis (Astana), Julian Dean (NZ/Garmin-Cervelo), Luke Durbidge (Jayco-AIS), Mitch Docker (Skil-Shimano), Matt Goss (HTC-Highroad), Michael Hepburn (Jayco-AIS), Leigh Howard (HTC-Highroad), Brett Lancaster (Garmin-Cervelo), Matt Lloyd (released Omega Pharma -Lotto), Luke Roberts (Saxo Bank-SunGard), Wesley Sulzberger (FDJ), Matt Wilson (Garmin-Cervelo), Tomas Vaitkus (Neth/Astana), Targeted: Tony Martin (Ger/HTC-Highroad).

That "list" is a bunch of solid rumours that have been bandied around all year. Look at the list I made, or the one Ferminal did. There almost exactly the same. The only major leaps in faith that Rupert Guinness as made in his list is putting Albasini and Tony Martin in there, as well as listing Dean as the NZ'er, whilst omitting a Canuck they have.

As for Davis, BS again.

He's done Eneco, CSS, P-R RvV G-W MSR Tir-Adr, TDU. Plenty of WorldTour racing there and you'd have to think he would be 1st or 2nd sprinter in all of those.

 

[Michele]

No real clear leaders in that list.

Exactly, lot of good guys but not any real leader.
And this team has already been assured of World Tour license.

 

[Andy99]

Exactly, lot of good guys but not any real leader.
And this team has already been assured of World Tour license.

Nah. Got nowhere near enough WT points, surely?

Even if Goss signs.

 

[auscyclefan94]

Is Mouris a good rider?

 

[theyoungest]

Looking at that team, Pieter Weening is their best GC rider, or maybe Albasini. Surely they're going to boost their stage racing ranks?

 

[Sophistic]

Going through what has been published, it seems that results from the UCI Europe Tour are almost as important as the World Tour as there are sooo many races. Check the Skil vs Vac thread, according to some blogger who has done the math Vac is currently in 8th place of the license ranking despite having very little WT success, simply because Feillu & Co have been winning a lot of minor races.

 

[Sydney21]

Looking at that team, Pieter Weening is their best GC rider, or maybe Albasini. Surely they're going to boost their stage racing ranks?

Just like euskatel will boost their classics ranks...

there aren't many quality stage racers on the market, they have stated that they will shoot for classics and sprints and look to stage hunt in GT's too - What makes you so sure that they will try and go so much for GC in stage races? It would defeat the aim they have stated! Martin seems to be the only one worth pursuing at the moment, I imagine his asking price would be horrendous considering the amount of points he carries.