Management

ORICA GREENEDGE (OGE) - AUS

Sixth in the UCI WorldTour rankings at the end of their first ever season is an excellent start for cycling’s newest top-flight team and judging from their promising debut, the Australian Orica-GreenEDGE team will not rest on its laurels in 2013.

Simon Gerrans, sixth overall in the 2012 UCI WorldTour individual rankings, hit the ground running in 2012 with the Australian national road race title and overall victory in the Tour Down Under before January was out, going on to secure the team’s first major Classic win at Milano-Sanremo two months later. He also added the Grand Prix Cycliste de Québec in the autumn. Already a stage winner in all three Grand Tours, Gerrans’ consistency and talent for reading the right move in races, makes him an ideal leader for Orica-GreenEDGE in all sorts of terrain.

Equally, Michael Albasini’s brilliant victory in the Volta Ciclista a Catalunya and Matt Goss' stage win in the Giro d’Italia were ideal reminders last year that Orica-GreenEDGE is anything but a one-man team.

Albasini’s ability to win both small group sprints and shine on summit finishes as difficult as Flèche Wallonne - where he was second last year - and week-long stage races, makes him a widely respected contender in almost every kind of terrain, whilst Goss will surely be searching for a first Tour de France stage win this summer.

The planned retirement of Robbie McEwen - one of Australia’s most successful ever sprinters, the departure of Jack Bobridge to Blanco Pro Cycling and the imminent retirement of Kiwi veteran all-rounder Julian Dean, are all important changes but much of Orica-GreenEdge’s overall line-up remains the same for 2013. The only new signing is former Under 23 UCI World Champion Michael Matthews.

Given such a promising start, it would be impressive enough if Orica-GreenEdge provided a repeat performance of 2012 in 2013, while their next step - impacting on the overall of Grand Tours - is surely only just around the corner.