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Orica GreenEdge report card 2012

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 ratings of the sprinters may be argued with Kroupis being the second most successful but I have him behind the other sprinters in Goss, Impey, Davis and Howard. Kroupis has had some great wins this season but also has not made the time cuts on a number of occasions, or withdrawn from races with illness. I have rated Impey high due to his huge improvement and potential before his serious crash. Davis also had an excellent season and although he couldn't crack it for a win, he was always up there and had a number of second places. Davis also would have ranked very highly in the category of sprinters making it over the tougher stages, almost the opposite of Kroupis.

As a big O'Grady fan it was difficult to grade his season. For us watching from our lounge rooms it is impossible to rate how important and beneficial his experience and leadership is, so he could quite easily move up to a much higher grade, based on that. Another bad injury though and this must be taking it's toll on one of the toughest men in the peleton. Cooke is probably in the same boat as well.
 
Aug 16, 2011
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Albasini: A+
Gerrans: A+
Clarke: A (earned it with his stage win and KOM in the vuelta)
Tuft: A
Durbridge: A
Cam Meyer: C
Goss: D (I expected much more from him, I guess focusing just on getting green wasn't the best idea :rolleyes:)
Langeveld: D-

Team overall: A+ (of course that's mostly because of the call me maybe video :D)
 
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Afrank said:
Albasini: A+
Gerrans: A+
Clarke: A (earned it with his stage win and KOM in the vuelta)
Tuft: A
Durbridge: A
Cam Meyer: C
Goss: D (I expected much more from him, I guess focusing just on getting green wasn't the best idea :rolleyes:)
Langeveld: D-

Team overall: A+ (of course that's mostly because of the call me maybe video :D)

IMO a D for Goss is a bit harsh... but his season was certainly no better than a C.

You put your hand out for a big contract, you have to deliver... he didn't deliver.
 
maltiv said:
Goss A-? Come on, he performed way below expectations. For a rider of his calibre to only get 1 victory, and no other significant results whatsoever, is a huge disappointment.

Do you rate a rider on expectation or on actual performance. I am sure Goss and OGE would have liked a few more wins from him but he did win the teams first ever Grand Tour stage and racked up too many 2nd places to count, Turkey, Giro and TdF. He was only ever beaten by people like Cav, Sagan, Greipel, Bos and of course the Anzac Day defeat to Renshaw, on the other hand he did a heap of work for Gerrans in a few races and was in the TTT winning team at Tirreno.

His decision to start the season slower and build into TdF may have been the wrong one, we will see how he approaches 2013. On expectations you might grade him lower but I still think he is up there mixing it with the very best in the toughest races and although not winning, features in almost every finish....therefore I think on quality of races alone, he deserves the A-
 
Spider1964 said:
IMO a D for Goss is a bit harsh... but his season was certainly no better than a C.

You put your hand out for a big contract, you have to deliver... he didn't deliver.

I think Goss was feeling the deliver part more than anyone and you could see his frustration clearly. Hopefully he will relax into the role a bit more next year and get the wins he narrowly missed. We are harsh judges on people who don't win. Would love to see averages for finishes for the season, Goss may have won that for 2nd place finishes.

Seems I might be out on a limb here supporting Goss but happy to be doing that :)
 
Nice summary of the season,but their is no way Matt goss deserves anything more than a B-.(he was destined to have a big year but it all went pear shaped)Gerrans,Albasini,Clarke and Durbridge all had great seasons and warant A grades,but for the rest of the team.They should be ranked between B- and F.Orica/greenedge had an ok year but need to do something in the Grand Tours??
 
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Wilba60 said:
Do you rate a rider on expectation or on actual performance.

I personally would rate actual performance against expectation. It would be unrealistic to expect Kroupis (a 3rd level sprinter) to achieve the same as Goss (a 1st level sprinter), so their ratings should be relevant to their abilities/role in the team.

As such, I'd probably rate Goss' season as a C-/D+. I think if you said to him at the start of the year would you consider it a success if your only major win was one stage in the Giro, I think he would have said that that wouldn't be viewed as a success.

I think the rest of the ratings are pretty good, maybe Cam Meyer I would have rated a little lower, maybe B/B-
 
PCutter said:
I personally would rate actual performance against expectation. It would be unrealistic to expect Kroupis (a 3rd level sprinter) to achieve the same as Goss (a 1st level sprinter), so their ratings should be relevant to their abilities/role in the team.

As such, I'd probably rate Goss' season as a C-/D+. I think if you said to him at the start of the year would you consider it a success if your only major win was one stage in the Giro, I think he would have said that that wouldn't be viewed as a success.

I think the rest of the ratings are pretty good, maybe Cam Meyer I would have rated a little lower, maybe B/B-

I did pump Cam Meyer up as I think he did a fantastic job given that he trained for the track with Leigh Howard till after the World Champs back in Melbourne. Both of them therefore were a fair bit behind, not so much in speed and endurance (which helped Howard more than Meyer) but in the long, climbing work. With Meyer being a GC prospect for OGE, it was a huge effort to get where he did. He did finish strongly as well with some great rides in the Vuelta before helping OGE pick up 3rd in the World TTT champs.
 
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I would have rated Goss a B- to be pretty lenient on him. He wasn't that far off his best form in the TdF, and I got the feeling that the disputed stage result vs Sagan probably deflated him and the team.

He seemed to come in to the 2012 season under done and not fully race fit too.

In saying that, he was in a completely different environment this year, and considering his role was some what different than what he experienced with Cav, Renshaw and Co at HTC, he didn't do too badly.

The team on a whole did very well IMHO, as getting a start up team to do what they did was quite an admirable effort, with the only black mark on the team score sheet being the revelations of the past 48 hours..
 
blaxland said:
Nice summary of the season,but their is no way Matt goss deserves anything more than a B-.(he was destined to have a big year but it all went pear shaped)Gerrans,Albasini,Clarke and Durbridge all had great seasons and warant A grades,but for the rest of the team.They should be ranked between B- and F.Orica/greenedge had an ok year but need to do something in the Grand Tours??

Only marked it down to D and even that is difficult, especially amongst the main domestiques. How do you rate blokes who are given specific instructions to help out at the front and then ride on the front for 180kms, only to finish in 100th place, or ride all day to protect the #1 team rider? Probably only the team knows the true value of those riders.

Grand Tours will come, no hurry to get there in the first two years. Just look at Sky. Maybe a Porte or similar rider will become available in 2014, or blokes like Meyer, Hepburn, etc will develop as they have similar backgrounds to Wiggins.
 
Wilba60 said:
Grand Tours will come, no hurry to get there in the first two years. Just look at Sky. Maybe a Porte or similar rider will become available in 2014, or blokes like Meyer, Hepburn, etc will develop as they have similar backgrounds to Wiggins.
Not everyone who was decent on the track can suddenly become a climber. Wiggins is the exception to the rule. Cam Meyer is okay, but I'm not sure how much he can really improve as a climber.

Maybe Rohan Dennis could become a kind of Wiggins, but Greenedge didn't sign him ;)
 
theyoungest said:
Not everyone who was decent on the track can suddenly become a climber. Wiggins is the exception to the rule. Cam Meyer is okay, but I'm not sure how much he can really improve as a climber.

Maybe Rohan Dennis could become a kind of Wiggins, but Greenedge didn't sign him ;)

Interesting that they took Hepburn and Bobridge, then Bewley before Dennis....hmmm. Not sure what that says?? Maybe Dennis was too expensive.

I still say that Caleb Ewan is the rising star. Sprinter, one day rider and will climb as he gets older. Similar type of rider to Cadel Evans. Another year for him I believe with Aussie National team and hopefully on to OGE in 2014.
 
If Goss had been able to win the green jersey i would have given his season an A. However he only got one win so i shall give him a B-.

Gerrans, Albasini, Clarke, Durbridge, Tuft, quite a few domestiques and even Allan Davis A's.
Meyer also deserves a mention for his rides in the Vuelta/ Team TTT WC.

Poor Docker, Langveld and O'Grady who had bad crashes.

We also did not see much of Bobridge and Hepburn.

Scott Law can also be considered as a sprinter. Also we can't be certain that Ewan will be like Cadel.
 
blaxland said:
Nice summary of the season,but their is no way Matt goss deserves anything more than a B-.(he was destined to have a big year but it all went pear shaped)Gerrans,Albasini,Clarke and Durbridge all had great seasons and warant A grades,but for the rest of the team.They should be ranked between B- and F.Orica/greenedge had an ok year but need to do something in the Grand Tours??

They did more than Euskatel.
2 stage wins>1.

Goss got a few 2nd places, Albasini did well on stages 3 and 13 of the TDF and Meyer was very strong in the Vuelta.

They also would have quite a few riders lining up in every sprint stage.
 
Wilba60 said:
Interesting that they took Hepburn and Bobridge, then Bewley before Dennis....hmmm. Not sure what that says?? Maybe Dennis was too expensive.
Bobridge was once seen as the next big thing, turned out a bit disappointing. Hepburn and Durbridge just had better U23 careers than Dennis, at that time. Dennis did f..kall at Rabo U23, not sure if that was his own fault though.

I still say that Caleb Ewan is the rising star. Sprinter, one day rider and will climb as he gets older. Similar type of rider to Cadel Evans. Another year for him I believe with Aussie National team and hopefully on to OGE in 2014.
Similar to Cadel Evans?? Isn't Caleb Ewan just a pure sprinter?
 
maltiv said:
Goss A-? Come on, he performed way below expectations. For a rider of his calibre to only get 1 victory, and no other significant results whatsoever, is a huge disappointment.

I agree. He had a very disappointing season. For a MSR winner I would say a C rating. Alabasini and Gerrans were the standouts. Gerrans an A. Albasini B+ and Simon Clarke a B. The rest had the odd good performance here and there but for a first season the team did well, very well.
 
Marcuccio said:
Albasini was prob the most consistent OGE rider this year.

That is a really interesting statement. Alba has had a really good year and has been strong throughout, although he had one of the shorter seasons of all the OGE riders. I think Goss, Clarke and Davis have been more consistent though over a longer season.

Goss has actually been the most consistent sprinter over the whole season, rarely finishing outside the top 6 or so. As pointed out here though he is judged pretty harshly for not having more wins. If you compare him with Albasini who is a one day rider and loves a breakaway or a GC rider like Nibali, haven't they had very similar seasons??
 

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