Green but on the edge of greatness

ORICA-GreenEDGE has punched well above its weight in its second Tour de France, writes Reece Homfray.

Simon Gerrans

DID you hear the one about the two-year-old Australian cycling team that went to the 100th edition of the biggest race in the world and got its bus jammed under the finishing arch on the first day?

That's the same team that had a 39-year-old bloke riding his 17th Tour de France and alongside him a 36-year-old Canadian in his first?

The Australian team with a South African rider who became the first from his country to wear the famous yellow jersey?

The team that sacked its sports director in October after he admitted he doped during his career, only to re-hire him eight months later and put him in the hot-seat to call the shots at the Tour?

Well that team from Down Under did what Australian sport has done for years and punched well above its weight to turn its second Tour de France from farcical to fantastic in just one week.

Orica-GreenEDGE won two stages - including upstaging the big budget squads in the glamorous teams time trial - and was pipped on the line for a third.

It held the yellow jersey for four days and during that time became the envy of every cycling team in the world.

As the 2013 Tour de France comes to a close with a spectacular night finish under lights on the Champs-Elysees in Paris tonight, only a stage victory to Matt Goss could top what has been an unbelievable race for the team.

"You come in with expectations, you prepare, do your reconnaissance and pick certain stages out from a theoretical point of view," general manager Shayne Bannan said.

"But to actually have it happen is a pretty amazing experience.

"To see Gerro (Simon Gerrans) win that stage which the guys had been speaking about for three or four months, then to follow it up with the team time trial the next day and get the jersey and hold it for four days was invaluable experience and shows all the hard work that the riders and staff have put in."

YET despite all its success, Orica-GreenEDGE is in no hurry to bite off more than it can chew.

Bannan says the team will not deviate from its plan to develop Tour de France contenders in-house and will resist temptation to buy a ready-made GC rider for next year.

With Andy and Frank Schleck on the market and reports that Bradley Wiggins may be looking to leave Team Sky, Bannan said it was at least two years away from having even a top-10 contender as its priority remained developing young talent.

"We've had a lot of discussion over the past few months and we won't change our strategy a lot particularly over the next couple of years," Bannan told The Advertiser from France.

"The only area we will change is putting a little bit more emphasis on developing younger GC riders.

"Developing younger climbers for example to give us a little bit more visual impact in the harder stages."

Cameron Meyer and Simon Clarke - who are set to finish their first Tour de France in Paris today - and Luke Durbridge have been earmarked as the team's best prospects in one to three-week stage races.

"Let's stick to our plan and progress these younger riders through, give them a bit of structure and confidence and more time to develop," Bannan said.

Tour de France champions Wiggins (2012) and Schleck (2010) could command more than $1 million a season to lead a team next year and although transfers cannot be announced until after August 1, Bannan said he had not spoken with either of them.

"We've not had any discussion with any of those parties," he said.

Bannan conceded that winning stages in the first week released the pressure valve which had been building on the team to break its Tour de France duck.

"The most pressure is the pressure people place on themselves and the high expectations that we have," he said.

"There was a great deal of pressure but it was always kept in reality as well. We knew the guys prepared well and were in good form, all we felt we needed was a bit of luck and things certainly fell into place.

"But no question, if we hadn't won a stage in the first week and were at this point without winning a stage there still would be a lot of pressure to do something, absolutely."

Rather than chase the green jersey with Goss this year, Orica-GreenEDGE selectors hedged their bets by selecting a cross-section of riders from sprinters to climbers and domestiques.

One surprise was the selection of Canadian Svein Tuft who made his Tour de France debut at the age of 36.

But that was done with the view of winning the team time trial which it did, then Tuft went on to finish an impressive sixth in the first individual time trial.

"We knew our best opportunity to get the jersey would be in Nice in the team time trial," Bannan said. "And Svein, in terms of the team time trial, is the strongest guy on our squad so it made absolute sense to include him."

The only disappointing aspect of the team's Tour has been Goss's results in bunch sprints.

Last year he recorded five podium finishes but this year has been forced to contend with several crashes in the finals.

"Unfortunately any opportunity Matt had so far in this Tour, bad luck has surrounded it," Bannan said.

"He fell in the first stage and was caught up in another couple of instances.

"Matt is frustrated but he's kept his mind on the job each day, he's getting through the mountains really well and will get another chance (in Paris) on Sunday.

"I think the team on Sunday will really commit to the lead-out and Matt will be given every opportunity."