Jayco al-'Ula and its GreenEdge predecessors

[Tuarts]

Yeah, how dare he conserve his energy in the pack. That's not what cycling is about.

 

[theyoungest]

still i'd never put bobridge in a climber category.

But that's not the same as "Bobridge can't climb".

 

[Luke Schmid]

As an Australian team I would love to talk positively about them but I can not be bothered any more, it is just too embarassing. They should not be getting a WT licence, I have changed my mind on that, but they do not deserve one with the mockery of a team they have put together. It is a pity because I like alot of the riders who are going to be riding for GE.

 

[greenedge]

Intresting that Oscar was sought after by GE.

 

[Ferminal]

Yeah, how dare he conserve his energy in the pack. That's not what cycling is about.

It's not our fault, blame Voeckler.

 

[theyoungest]

Intresting that Oscar was sought after by GE.

Why? He's a sprinter, this team likes sprinters.

 

[auscyclefan94]

As an Australian team I would love to talk positively about them but I can not be bothered any more, it is just too embarassing. They should not be getting a WT licence, I have changed my mind on that, but they do not deserve one with the mockery of a team they have put together. It is a pity because I like alot of the riders who are going to be riding for GE.

I see your pain, but I moved past that stage a long time ago. SBS and Greenedge themselves will praise them if they win some races but in reality, I don't see them being competitive over the full season. I even think Anthony Tan is seeing this after his comments on Bike Shorts this week. O'Grady is past his best, Mcewen is past his best, it is not likely Goss will have such a good season as he did this year, how will the other sprinters beat faster sprinters like Greipel, Kittel, Farrar or Cavendish. Gerrans does get results in the ardennes but it is generally cleaning up in a bunch sprint and it is not all that often. Langeveld and a few other riders are good classics riders but all of them either aren't great riders or are still too young to be really challenging in the classics. no stage racers doesn't help them.

 

[Zam_Olyas]

I see your pain, but I moved past that stage a long time ago. SBS and Greenedge themselves will praise them if they win some races but in reality, I don't see them being competitive over the full season. I even think Anthony Tan is seeing this after his comments on Bike Shorts this week. O'Grady is past his best, Mcewen is past his best, it is not likely Goss will have such a good season as he did this year, how will the other sprinters beat faster sprinters like Greipel, Kittel, Farrar or Cavendish. Gerrans does get results in the ardennes but it is generally cleaning up in a bunch sprint and it is not all that often. Langeveld and a few other riders are good classics riders but all of them either aren't great riders or are still too young to be really challenging in the classics. no stage racers doesn't help them.

So do you mean hire someone not from Australia ...or Mick rogers.. richie porte??

 

[auscyclefan94]

So do you mean hire someone not from Australia ...or Mick rogers.. richie porte??

It would probably be good to get an Australian rider because the Australian sporting public are very nationalistic because we only really support players who are from the team we support or who are from Australia which is different to some european sports such as Cycling. But even if they didn't get an Aussie and I see that they want to be a sprint/classics team, but having a stage racer can help them get results in stage races. Doesn't have to be a top stage racer and they don't have to win many races but having riders at the front of the gc in big races such as PN or TdS is what a team needs. They don't have that.

A guy like Mick Rogers can feature in 1 week stage races like PN or TdS. Who does GreenEdge have that will feature in Paris Nice, Volta a Catalunya, Tour de Suisse, Dauphine Libere, Giro D'Italia (a race which generally doesn't favour sprinters), Ardennes Classics or Tour of California.

 

[abbaskip]

Freire said he had a good offer from GE earlier in the season, but he turned it down because he thought he'd have a spot at Rabo. (He's not happy with the Rabo management.)

[/quote] A sprinter who is stron...eed too. Would have really added to the team.

 

[Michele]

Back in the day he used to be pretty decent on hilly terrain.

 

[maltiv]

A sprinter who is strong on the flats is exactly the type of rider they need too. Would have really added to the team.

Actually Freire would've been, more or less, the best climber on GreenEdge

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Yeah, how dare he conserve his energy in the pack. That's not what cycling is about.

It's what cycling is about if you can conceivably win from there. Gerrans is good, but he's not good enough to win from a pack of specialists like the ones he hides himself in in recent years. Therefore conserving his energy in the pack is good for picking up more anonymous lower-half-of-the-top-10 finishes, but it isn't going to win him races. In his Crédit Agricole and Cervélo days, he would take those risks and be the best in the group he was in, and reaped the rewards. Somebody like, say, Alejandro Valverde, who can back himself in a sprint against most of the guys that will be there at the finish of a hilly race, can perhaps ride anonymously like that. Gilbert too, if the finish suits him (and many of course do). A rider like Gerrans is good enough to make a mark against those guys riding the same kind of race as them - but not good enough to beat them. Hence if he wants to win, you would expect him to have to try something different. Much like he used to do when he was a much more interesting rider.

And he scored more CQ points in 2009 with Cervélo riding like that than he did in 2011 riding conservatively with Team Sky. He didn't score many more points, but his results were much more memorable. Winning a Giro and Vuelta stage > winning the Tour of Denmark and the GP Plouay.

 

[greenedge]

I think Goss would have to be counted as better than Kittel. Kittel is a young talent still. At Poland who did he really beat that was one of the main bunch of good sprinters. He might be only invited to 2 Gt's next year. Greipel was beat by Goss at the WC so that is more evidence that Goss is good. After Farrar's breakthroug TDF win i expected him to win a bit more but he did not which is disappointing.
Cav
Greipel
Goss
Farrar
Kittel

And @LS Gerrans came 2nd at GP Plouay to Grega Bole. He is also now been up there in all the races so if he goes in a break/ attack it would be worthless energy expended as they would chase him down as he is marked because he has good tactical positioning.

 

[auscyclefan94]

It seems Matt White is definetly a GreenEdge director even if he isn't confirmed as being one.

This is a list of director sportifs who have completed the UCI directors course.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

And @LS Gerrans came 2nd at GP Plouay to Grega Bole. He is also now been up there in all the races so if he goes in a break/ attack it would be worthless energy expended as they would chase him down as he is marked because he has good tactical positioning.

So what you're saying is, trying to win is not worth it because people won't be keen to let him go because he's too strong, so he may as well finish 7th and say that's good enough?

I'm not saying he should go in the "break of the day" particularly. But perhaps the kind of break that Ivanov won Amstel Gold '09 from.

 

[hatcher]

Gerrans was also the instigator up Ty-Marrec, with Gilbert barely able to, and then unable to follow his wheel.

 

[greenedge]

@LS you are right. I did not want him in the break of the day. If he sees an opportunity though he should attack.

Which one suits him best out of all the hilly races? is the Q i propose to all.

 

[Wilba60]

It would probably be good to get an Australian rider because the Australian sporting public are very nationalistic because we only really support players who are from the team we support or who are from Australia

We are a very nationalistic nation and that is mainly because we are so isolated from the rest of the world and have to build our sports from within the country and until recent years had very little international exposure....probably why the Commonwealth and Olympic Games have been so popular here.

If you made up a dichotomy of cycling support within Australia there is still a very strong group on the anti cycling side but those on the pro cycling side of the dichotomy are growing quickly. If you graded the pro side of the dichotomy from 1-10 and had mild interest at 1 and purists at 10 the bulk of the supporters are going to be in the 3-7 range. They won't know what the monuments are, they will recognize 3 or 4 teams only, they won't know what a HC climb is, etc but they are starting to understand the peloton, what a breakaway is and some basic team tactics. This knowledge is growing as we get more tv exposure to the sport. In very recent times exposure for much of our population would be the home races such as Bay crits, TDU and the Herald Sun Tour (highlights on SBS) and moving from highlights of the TDF to now watching the full race. We are now adding in PR and highlights of other big races.....especially if Aussies do well in it.

Going back to the point of being nationalistic, the majority of Aussie cycling fans will still get their national fix but now also have a team to support. Cadel, Rogers, Porte, Renshaw, etc will still have a lot of support but added to this will be a team of very well known and "who's he" riders. The bonus to cycling will be that tv coverage will grow, especially where they see opportunities of Aussie or GreenEdge success. Will the majority (not the purists) care too much if GE doesn't have overall contenders for the GT's, probably not, at the current time as they will still have Aussie riders to support in those races. Into the future and as the learning develops, that may become a national expectation.

These are my opinions only and based on my group of sporting friends, some who cycle a lot, some who ride to work and others who play other sports but enjoy cycling for the sport it is. For most of them, GreenEdge will be fantastic but it could take some time before they begin to know more than 50% of who is on the roster

 

[Libertine Seguros]

@LS you are right. I did not want him in the break of the day. If he sees an opportunity though he should attack.

Which one suits him best out of all the hilly races? is the Q i propose to all.

San Sebastián and Amstel Gold are probably the ones that are most likely to split up and for groups to get away. Lombardia perhaps as well, but he'd have to solo in. He's shown he can stagehunt pretty well in the mountains in his GT wins, so semiclassics like Emilia (he won on San Luca in the Giro, of course) are well within his grasp, but you could argue that with wins like Plouay he's already achieving on that level so should be looking at more. But certainly it would make a good warmup for Lombardia!

 

[roundabout]

Difficult question. I think he can sprint pretty well uphill but would prefer a slightly easier course and a finish that isn't a wall so races like Sabatini, Quebec, Montreal, Amstel I suppose. And obviously Plouay as this is his best race results-wise.

 

[roundabout]

Wait, you mean in terms of getting the best result by being aggressive.

San Sebastian can split up near the end, Liege the same although he would need a strong partner/group with a right composition, Emilia can be won attacking before the last lap.

 

[Wilba60]

I wouldn't be surprised to see Clarke pop up for GE in that role Gerrans used to fill....my feeling is he will be given more responsibility and support than at Astana and wouldn't be surprised to see him being a foil for Gerrans.

 

[auscyclefan94]

Gerry Ryan actually has bought a race horse for the team and has named it GreenEdge. Won it's first ever race it competed in at Ballarat today. Good omen?

 

[karlboss]

Gerry Ryan actually has bought a race horse for the team and has named it GreenEdge. Won it's first ever race it competed in at Ballarat today. Good omen?

Completely irrelevant, more telling did it breakaway or just wait for the sprint?