Australian cycling has progressed steadily over the years, spreading from it's very strong track base to providing road winners in a wide range of races, from one day classics to Grand Tours. The introduction of an Australian team to the World Tour was greeted proudly in the Southern Hemisphere but maybe not so warmly in the European cycling world. This forum itself was quite damning of the new team and pronounced very few wins and no presence at all in any races that had hills in them. For those who supported the GE, now OGE team they should be very happy with the excellent first year. There is plenty of room for improvement and it will be interesting to see how the new contracts go after year 2 when the current contracts expire and the team will be on a much stronger foundation than this year when many riders would have been apprehensive about the fledgling team and its ability to gain a world tour licence. So how did the riders fare?
My report card is just an opinion as it is made from afar and without any inner sanction knowledge. I am also attempting to grade riders on results but keeping in mind the team roles they may have had. Year 2 will also allow the Olympic/track riders to concentrate on the road
A+. Simon Gerrans
A. Michael Albasini
A Simon Clarke
A. Luke Durbridge
A-. Matt Goss
A-. Darryl Impey
A-. Allan Davis
B+. Svein Tuft
B+ Cam Meyer
B. Leigh Howard
B. Jens Mouris
B. Baden Cooke
B. Sebastian Langeveld
B. Tomas Vaitkus
B-. Jens Keukeleire
B-. Aidis Kroupis
B-. Pieter Weening
B-. Daniel Teklehaymanot
B-. Brett Lancaster
C+. Christian Meier
C+. Wesley Sulzberger
C+. Stuart O'Grady
C. Fumiyuki Beppu
C. Travis Meyer
D. Matt Wilson. Retired
No Grading due to Olympics and long injury.
Mitch Docker
Julian Dean
Sam Bewley
Michael Hepburn
Jack Bobridge. Gone to Rabobank.
My report card is just an opinion as it is made from afar and without any inner sanction knowledge. I am also attempting to grade riders on results but keeping in mind the team roles they may have had. Year 2 will also allow the Olympic/track riders to concentrate on the road
A+. Simon Gerrans
A. Michael Albasini
A Simon Clarke
A. Luke Durbridge
A-. Matt Goss
A-. Darryl Impey
A-. Allan Davis
B+. Svein Tuft
B+ Cam Meyer
B. Leigh Howard
B. Jens Mouris
B. Baden Cooke
B. Sebastian Langeveld
B. Tomas Vaitkus
B-. Jens Keukeleire
B-. Aidis Kroupis
B-. Pieter Weening
B-. Daniel Teklehaymanot
B-. Brett Lancaster
C+. Christian Meier
C+. Wesley Sulzberger
C+. Stuart O'Grady
C. Fumiyuki Beppu
C. Travis Meyer
D. Matt Wilson. Retired
No Grading due to Olympics and long injury.
Mitch Docker
Julian Dean
Sam Bewley
Michael Hepburn
Jack Bobridge. Gone to Rabobank.