Aidis Kruopis was the highest finisher for ORICA-GreenEDGE in sixth place on stage three of Bayern Rundfahrt. Gerald Ciolek (MTN Quebeka) claimed victory over Arnaud Demare (FDJ) and Heinrich Haussler (IAM Cycling) in the bunch sprint to the line. Ciolek’s win puts him in the tour lead by 6” ahead of overnight race leader Daryl Impey who finished 13th on Friday.
Maglia rosa Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) proved unstoppable on the second individual time trial of the Giro d’Italia. The race leader stormed to victory on the uphill course, increasing his advantage over Cadel Evans (BMC), in second, to 4’02. While the ORICA-GreenEDGE time trial specialists targeted the Grand Tour’s first time trial, the uphill effort during week three was best left to the climbers. Christian Meier was the team’s best placed rider on stage 18, 5’14 behind Nibali.
Daryl Impey put his stamp on stage two of Bayern Rundfahrt by taking his third win of the season in commanding fashion. His impressive win now puts him in the overall leader’s jersey with three stages to go in the tour. Two wins in the early part of the season, stage two Pais Vasco and the South African Time Trial Championship, demonstrated that Impey is very capable of winning races over varied terrain.
Riding a high after a glorious win at the Tour of Chongming Island, the women of ORICA-AIS head back to the notoriously blustery countries of Holland and Belgium for three one day races. The women will travel to Holland for the two opening days of racing - the Boels Rental Hills Classic and the Rabobank 7-Dorpenomloop Aalburg. The third day of racing takes place in Belgium at the Gooik-Geraardsbergen-Gooik.
The first stage of Bayern Rundfahrt marked a return to racing for Simon Gerrans, Daryl Impey, Sebastian Langeveld, Stuart O’Grady and Sam Bewley. Gerrans, Impey, Langeveld and O’Grady have been on an extended break since their respective classics campaigns, with Impey welcoming a son, Aydan Xavier, into his family earlier this month. Bewley has recovered from a collarbone break that saw him sidelined since his crash at Circuit Sarthe in April.
It was another scrappy stage at the Giro d’Italia and another day in the break for ORICA-GreenEDGE. Luke Durbridge flew the flag for the Australian outfit on stage 17, putting himself in a four rider move that dominated the majority of the action. Assistant Sport Director Julian Dean had encouraged Durbridge to make his mark today, and both were pleased that the youngest rider in the Italian Grand Tour rose to the challenge.
The early action on stage 16 of the Giro d’Italia unfolded according to plan for ORICA-GreenEDGE. The team had hoped to put either Jens Keukeleire or Pieter Weening into the early break, and the ideal scenario would allow them a teammate who could provide assistance towards the end of the stage.
Known as an important preparation race for the Tour de France, Bayern Rundfahrt is a five day tour that covers 783.5 kilometres as riders travel across the Bavarian roads of Germany. The tour serves as perfect platform for the ORICA-GreenEDGE riders who are returning to racing after a long break.
He crashed out of the early break at the Giro d’Italia yesterday, and his team wasn’t sure how he would feel for stage 15 today. Pieter Weening defied the odds. Sore but spritely, the Dutchman attacked on Mont Cenis around the mid-point of the stage.
We usually leave the live race updates to the official sources, for a variety of reasons we’ve repeatedly detailed, but when Assistant Sport Director Julian offered to share updates from the second race car at the Giro d’Italia today, we took him up on it.
Brett Lancaster sprinted to fourth place in Cherasco, moving up one position over his fifth place showing yesterday. The Victorian has stepped up to contest the fast finishes at the Giro d’Italia this week as Matt Goss recovers from illness.
In October 2012, GreenEDGE Cycling announced that it would implement a range of initiatives to reaffirm its firm stance against doping beginning with a full external expert review of its policies and procedures and a pro-active review of all riders and team members.
Brett Lancaster sprinted to fifth in Treviso to cap off another wet day at the Giro d’Italia. The peloton raced in a downpour from start to finish on stage 12 where Mark Cavendish (Omega Pharma-Quick-Step) took his 100thprofessional victory. Matt Goss, suffering from a chest cold, did not contest the finish.
Jens Keukeleire has been on the attack during most of the medium mountain stages of the Giro d’Italia. Today was no exception. Determined to get up the road, when Keukeleire missed out on the escape, he bridged across alone to feature into the day’s move. In his own words, Keukeleire describes stage 11, where he finished in 13th place.
The first summit finish of the Giro d’Italia promised fireworks amongst the overall contenders. Montasio delivered on that promise. Rigoberto Uran (Team Sky) jumped from a group of favourites to take a solo stage victory on stage ten as the overall contenders traded blows in his wake.
Jessie MacLean (@aussiejessmac) captured the sentiment of ORICA-AIS in a post-race tweet: “I feel like we were invited to the party but kicked out before the music started.”
Pieter Weening lost contact with the overall contenders on the penultimate climb of the ninth stage of the Giro d’Italia. The difficult day included four categorised climbs, totaling over 1,200 metres of climbing. ORICA-GreenEDGE had hoped to put Jens Keukeleire into the early break and save Weening for the finish.
Five months ago, when Luke Durbridge learned that he would get his first Grand Tour start at the Giro d’Italia this year, he set a personal objective. He wanted to finish in the top six in the individual time trial. Mission accomplished. The Australian National Time Trial Champion slotted into sixth place on the stage eight time trial, 35” behind stage winner Alex Dowsett (Movistar).
It was another wet and wild finale at the Giro d’Italia. Pieter Weening posted his second top ten stage finish, crossing the line in ninth place in Pescara. Light showers turned to heavy rain in the final 20 minutes of racing, and the slippery roads wreaked havoc on the peloton.
Matt Goss sprinted to third in a messy bunch sprint in Margherita di Savoia. The mass finish concluded another hectic Giro d’Italia finale in which several crashes complicated the final hour of racing. Svein Tuft, Brett Lancaster, Christian Meier, Luke Durbridge and Leigh Howard were all involved in pile-ups, with Howard falling heavily on his left shoulder in the largest crash of the race.
Matt Goss and Brett Lancaster fell victim to a late race crash in the final corner ahead of the stage five finale at the Giro d’Italia. Wet, slippery roads played a part in the pile-up that eliminated Goss from contesting the bunch sprint on a day ORICA-GreenEDGE had long listed as a target. Jens Keukeleire managed to avoid the mayhem to cross the line in eighth place, on the same time as stage winner John Degenkolb (Argos-Shimano).
A particularly untimely puncture thwarted Pieter Weening’s hopes of animating the Giro d’Italia stage four finale. Weening, who finished in the top ten on stage three, was the team’s best hope for a result in Serra San Bruno.
Pieter Weening was part of an elite group of riders that formed over the Sella di Catona ascent and managed to keep it upright on the windy, winding descent to Marina di Ascea. Luca Paolini (Katusha) slipped away from the group on the final descent and ultimately took a solo stage victory and the pink jersey 16” ahead of his 16 chasers. Weening slotted into seventh place on the stage.
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ORICA-GreenEDGE believed they had a realistic shot of finishing in the top ten on the Island d’Ischia team time trial. While team discipline is typically a strength of the Australian outfit, the stage two Giro d’Italia course featured undulating roads, one steep climb and constant turns, favouring a team of climbers rather than time trial specialists. As the penultimate team to leave the start house, ORICA-GreenEDGE slotted into ninth in Forio.
Around 12 riders survived a late race crash to contest the sprint finish of the opening stage of the Giro d’Italia. Brett Lancaster and Leigh Howard avoided the mayhem, and with Matt Goss on their wheel, they charged towards the finish line in sunny Naples. Goss opened the sprint before ultimately finishing fifth on the stage.
Ciao a tutti! A few days ago we introduced you to our Giro d’Italia roster. The riders and staff are excited as we look forward to the first Grand Tour of the year. No longer a first year team trying to find our place in the WorldTour, we will go into this year’s Giro with high expectations.
ORICA-GreenEDGE has named its nine man squad for the Giro d’Italia. The selected riders will target specific stages of the first Grand Tour of the season. The team has a two-pronged attack in mind during their three weeks in Italy – furthering the development of the team as a whole and working towards the Tour de France. The nine riders are: Brett Lancaster, Christian Meier, Jens Keukeleire, Jens Mouris, Leigh Howard, Luke Durbridge, Matt Goss, Pieter Weening and Svein Tuft.