The Tour de France 2015: The icons from Down Under — Mark Renshaw, Michael Rogers, Richie Porte, Matt Goss and Simon Gerrans
MEET some of Australia’s finest who will be battling across 3,358km of brutal cycling this month on the roads and mountains of France and central Europe.
DESPITE sitting more than 10,000km from Europe, Australia and Australians have a rich association with the Tour de France that dates back to 1914. The country’s first two participants, Don Kirkham and Iddo ‘Snowy’ Munro, performed admirably, each settling inside the top twenty in what set an immediate high bar.
Others followed in the wake with mixed success. Sir Hubert Opperman, in an Australasian team, ran 12th in 1932, but even by the time Phil Anderson bettered that result some 50 years later, riders from the island-continent were rare novelties to an event that had a distinctly European flavour.
DENNIS WINS OPENING STAGE AT RECORD-BREAKING SPEED
IRONMAN HANSEN TO EQUAL GRAND TOUR RECORD
Belgians and French, Italians and Spaniards; cycling was a small sport held together by the passion and history of a handful of countries. With the arrival of American Tour winner in Greg Lemond in 1986, the proliferation of better broadcast infrastructure, and a change in the Tour’s management, the race developed an international appeal, and with that came riders from all over the world.
Cadel Evans became the first Australian to win the Tour in 2011.
A trickle, and then a legion of Australians were among them, fighting to ply their trade in the European peloton.
By the 1990s Australians were flooding the professional scene, and doing well, and by the early 2000s riders from down under were not just commonplace, but performing with remarkable success. Robbie McEwen was the first to win a major jersey at the Tour de France in 2002, when he won the maillot vert, and that opened the floodgates to ever greater success in the decade since.
Australians have now won four green sprinter’s jerseys, a glut of stage wins, and in 2011, the country picked up its first Tour de France victory through Cadel Evans. They form integral parts of the world’s biggest teams, and below, are five of the current crop’s best but we can’t forget others destined to shine in this year’s tour like Mick Rogers and the talented Michael Matthews.
MARK RENSHAW
He may not win as often as some of the other Australians, but Mark Renshaw’s ability to elevate those around him makes him an invaluable part of any team Long-time friend Mark Cavendish is one of the fastest men on two wheels, but he would have been far less prolific in the last five years had it not been for the work of Renshaw. So successful was Cavendish under Renshaw, that the partnership had an aura of invincibility about it. Between 2009 and 2011, the best years of their partnership, Cavendish collected 15 Tour de France stages, and in 2011, the green sprinter’s jersey.
With Cavendish, Theo Bos or Thor Hushovd behind him, Renshaw calls the shots in often hectic and frantic finale. In a cool, calm collected manner, that few can muster in such a tense environment, he barks orders to his teammates in front to ramp the pace up, back off, or reposition; all while travelling at upwards of 60 to 70km/h. A wrong decision, or a momentary pause, can be the difference between a stage win and being locked out — even a race ending crash.
What makes Renshaw so good is his consistency in reading this chaos and seeing a clear path. Additionally, his ability to accelerate keeps all but the best sprinters in the world struggling to keep pace. In 2011, so violent was his acceleration in the last few hundred metres of the Tour de France’s final stage on the Champs-Elysées, Cavendish glued to his wheel, needn’t have sprinted.
In 2010, on the Tour de France’s Stage 11 to Bourg-les- Valence, he overplayed his hand if only slightly in tussling with New Zealander Julian Dean. Instead of ceding the road to Dean, Renshaw thread the needle with a daring balancing act to keep himself and Cavendish in the hunt. Riding shoulder to shoulder with Dean, Renshaw kept himself from the barriers to his left by headbutting Dean to make room. It wasn’t pretty but it got the job done; Cavendish collecting the stage honours comfortably. But Renshaw was booted from the race for unsportsmanlike behaviour, a charge he, to this day, contests.
It is, however, an aberration in a career marked by selflessness and professionalism. In a sport that’s defined by teamwork but that celebrates the individual, Renshaw has been notably selfless. Perhaps in the decades to come, his name will fade from memory, but in those of the careers he’s helped succeed, there’ll be an eternal debt of gratitude.
Renshaw, 33 in October, has lost some of his sharpness but remains a formidable force in the professional peloton, and a welcome asset for any sprinter that’s fortunate enough to have him leading them out. Renshaw will ride the 2015 season with the Etixx-Quick Step team.
MICHAEL ROGERS
While Michael Rogers has had his share of individual successes; a three-time time trial world champion, a winner of stages at the Tour de France and Giro d’Italia, his biggest contribution to teams has always been the way he’s masterminded others’ accomplishments. Rogers has a brain hardwired for bike racing, a tactical nous that has made him invaluable.
Like Renshaw, Rogers’ physical attributes aren’t bad, they’re just not world-beating, but his ability to read a race situation, and make the right calls, makes him a sought after asset for the world’s best riders and teams. Rogers has worked as a lieutenant for Grand Tour winners Bradley Wiggins, Chris Froome and Alberto Contador, and has been integral to the success of teams like T-Mobile, Team Sky and Tinkoff-Saxo.
Rogers background is in time trialling, which explains his pedantic, scientific approach to his cycling. Rogers is a tinkerer, always reviewing and overhauling his bike, his training, and his diet in a bid to get peak performance.
His highest finish at the Tour de France came in 2006 when he finished ninth overall as a de facto for
T-Mobile co-leader after Jan Ullrich was forced to withdraw due to his association with the Spanish doping sting, Operacion Puerto. A crash in 2007, that left him with a broken collarbone, denied his chance to better that result in 2007, and a recurring battle with mononucleosis made the 2008 and 2009 seasons difficult ones.
He stepped into the role of super-domestique at Team Sky and by 2011. Rogers was helping steer the British team to world domination. His final year with the team saw Rogers architect a Tour de France win for Bradley Wiggins, before departing Team Sky for Tinkoff-Saxo, in 2012. So precise and steady-handed was Rogers leadership at Team Sky, that he was known to make tactical calls on the road based on the number of watts he was currently putting out.
The last two years of Michael Rogers’ career have seen him truly flourish, finding himself more relaxed, and more at home perhaps than ever at Tinkoff. Rogers’ 2014, particularly, with the exception of some time on the sidelines due to a now overturned suspension for clenbuterol, was a standout. Rogers won the first Grand Tour stages of his career at the ripe old age of 35, taking a pair of golden opportunities to win solo at the Giro and backing up later at the Tour de France with an emotional victory in the Pyrenean town of Bagnerres de Luchon.
Rogers, 36 in December, is approaching the twilight of his career but he’s hardly slowing down. Don’t expect Rogers to go anywhere in the next few years. He wants to deliver Alberto Contador another Tour de France victory. Rogers will ride the 2015 Tour de France with Tinkoff-Saxo.
RICHIE PORTE
The retirement of Cadel Evans, in February 2015, has left a huge gulf in Australian cycling, but if anyone can build on what Evans has done in Grand Tours, it has to be Richie Porte. Porte is a very different rider to Evans, both in style and physique, but he does have the gift. Whether he’s given the freedom to unleash them at Team Sky is another question entirely.
Richie Porte currently plays second fiddle to Chris Froome at Team Sky.
Born in Launceston, Tasmania, Porte’s start in cycling came after a brief career in triathlon. A naturally gifted swimmer and cyclist, Porte would often find himself leading triathlons early, only to see himself mown down by better runners on the final leg. But, his strength on the bike made a Tasmanian cycling coach, Andrew Christie-Johnston, take notice.
After five short years in the professional peloton Porte has now established himself as one of the strongest stage racers around, and as he enters his 30s he has both the physical and mental maturity to set out to win a Grand Tour, fortune willing. In his favour is the team around him, led by one of the sport’s most renowned coaches, compatriot Tim Kerrison who has helped former Tour winners Bradley Wiggins and Chris Froome reach their winning potential.
The results have already been encouraging. In 2013 Porte became the first Australian to win the prestigious season-opener Paris — Nice, considered a truncated version of the Tour de France.
One of the key images of the 2013 Tour de France, and critical to delivering Froome to the final yellow jersey, was Porte’s performance on the Alpe d’Huez, where, as the Brit struggled, Porte fell back and willed his leader through the final kilometres. When Froome’s around, Porte looks more than capable of assuming the top-dog status should the Brit fail — Porte climbs like a natural, unbowed by even the toughest mounts. And he’s a neat time trial rider too.
But, he’s been without pressure, and that may be the biggest doubt hanging over his career’s future trajectory. Stepping from lieutenant to leader comes with it expectation, and new responsibilities — challenges that Porte has largely, even as he’s been groomed, been shielded from. Concerning too has been his inconsistency. In 2014 he had a bout of pneumonia, which understandably saw him crash out of contention after the race’s first week. Whether that fragility will stick with him remains to be seen.
And then there’s the ravenous Australian press pack that is eagerly pursuing a rider to take up the Evans torch. Evans’ void can never be truly filled, the comparisons have been flattering for.
An acid test for Porte’s potential came in 2014 when the Australian was thrust into Team Sky’s Tour de France leadership after Chris Froome withdrew through injury. Porte revelled in the position, moving himself into second overall, before cracking in the Alps with illness. His detractors were quick to poke holes in what that meant for Porte. His health is now being carefully managed and monitored by Team Sky’s doctors.
Porte will spend the 2015 and 2016 seasons with Team Sky and, at 30, is entering his traditional prime as an endurance athlete.
MATT GOSS
Goss is the kind of rider that looks unbeatable when he’s on form, peerless in his speed and acceleration, but becomes near anonymous when he’s not. Hot, and cold.
He’s enjoyed considerable success in some seasons, besting Mark Cavendish and Peter Sagan in sprints, Fabian Cancellera in the classics, and rubbed shoulders with the world’s best as an equal.
But he’s been a lost force these last three years, drifting in his career after joining Orica-GreenEDGE, seemingly unable to replicate his former dominance. Now at MTN-Qhubeka Goss has eased himself of the burdens of leadership, slotting into a team where he hopes to rediscover his former talent.
Goss began his career like so many Australians, on the velodrome. He was a star of the junior track squad and, after turning 18, was part of the Australian Institute of Sport’s hybrid squad of track and road riders based in Italy, where he thrived. He was a world champion on the track in Bordeaux, 2006 at the age of 19. He signed for CSC at the close of 2006, joining compatriot Stuart O’Grady in what was then one of the world’s biggest teams.
Goss in his young years was the kind of rider his rivals were reluctant to get to the finish with, and his attitude, that tooth and nail desire to get over the line first, bred growing respect.
The Australian’s career upped a gear in 2010 when he joined HTCColumbia and became an increasing threat in bunch sprints. At the Giro d’Italia he scored his first Grand Tour stage win. The following year he added a handful of wins at the Tour Down Under, Paris-Nice, and the Tour of Oman before taking the biggest win of his career at the Italian Classic, Milan-San Remo. In September, he capped his year with a narrow silver medal at the UCI Road World Championships in Copenhagen, with only Cavendish, who edged the Australian by a whisker, keeping Goss out.
But rather than accelerate off this momentum in 2012, Goss’s career stalled. His 2011 earned him a bumper contract with Orica-GreenEDGE, and a leadership role, but the Australian withered in the limelight but the partnership failed to prosper. This was partially due to pressure but also the push from Orica for Goss to become a dedicated sprinter. Despite finishing in the top four on six stage of the 2012 Tour, it perpetually felt as if Goss was the square peg in the round hole.
Orica looked elsewhere for its success as Gerrans took on increasing responsibility. Leaving the team as he did by mutual consent at the close of 2014 could be the kind of change Goss needs to reinvigorate his career. He remains, along with Simon Gerrans, the only Australian to win a monument and will ride the 2015 season with the MTN-Qhubeka team.
SIMON GERRANS
They call him the ‘sniper’. One shot, one kill, a fitting moniker for a rider who leaves his best to last, cleverly allowing his rivals to expend themselves in the forays before the finish, and then, in an enviable signature flurry, powering clear in the last moments. It may not always be pretty, but it gets the job done. It’s workmanlike. It’s professional.
Simon Gerrans may not have been gifted the natural athletic talent of some of his rivals, but has worked hard throughout his career.
Each victory has every box ticked, every possible avenue explored. Matched with a patient, intelligent style to his racing, Gerrans rightly has a reputation as one of the most feared one-day riders of his generation.
His record speaks for itself. He’s taken scalps at the Tour de France, Vuelta a España and Giro d’Italia. In 2012, in the Italian Monument, Milan-San Remo, he ousted classic king Fabian Cancellara and Giro d’Italia and Tour de France champion Vincenzo Nibali, no less, in a three-up sprint. He’s worn the yellow jersey at the Tour, he’s won three Tours Down Under, two national championships, and last year, capped things off spectacularly at the biggest and oldest one day race on the professional calendar, Liège — Bastogne — Liège. In doing so, he became the first Antipodean in the race’s history to win the storied classic, and sealed his status as one of the all-time greats.
In Australia, his success has made him a poster boy of the sport. His broad smile, boyish face — is he really 30-something? — and selfless attitude around fans and the media make him instantly likable. He doesn’t revel in the spotlight, but he understands his duty as a successful athlete and ambassador for its growth and future prosperity.
He grew up in the tiny Victorian town of Mansfield near one of Australia’s most renowned mountain bike parks and he made his start with the sport as a way of rehabilitating a knee-injury he’d sustained motorcycling. A family friend, Tour de France cyclist Phil Anderson, who would become a mentor to Gerrans, initially believed the young Australian to be unlikely to go far in the sport helped him. Veteran coach Dave Sanders was also impressed.
Gerrans, 35 in May, has ridden in the top tier of cycling for five different teams and signed a new three-year deal with Orica-GreenEDGE in 2014, that’s expected to take him to the end of his career.
This an edited extract from Legends of the Tour, forward by Phil Liggett, published by Hardie Grant Books, RRP $45. Available now.