- Video
-
Club Roar
Captured a great grassroots sporting moment? We want to see it!Content Collections
The Roar Community
- Join
- Login
Jack Bobridge and Cam Meyer have questioned their old team’s tactics after having the better of Orica-GreenEDGE at the Australian road cycling championships.
But Orica-GreenEDGE team director Matt White vigorously defended his riders’ performance on Sunday in the elite men’s road race at Buninyong, near Ballarat.
Apart from Bobridge’s gutsy solo win, the biggest story of the race was Orica-GreenEGE.
Since starting in 2012, Australia’s only WorldTour team had three wins and a second placing in the event.
This year team leader Simon Gerrans was their only finisher in sixth.
He was among just 15 finishers in the race of attrition from 130 starters.
BMC’s star pair Richie Porte and Rohan Dennis also were among those not to finish.
Bobridge and Meyer, who finished second, questioned whether Orica-GreenEDGE should have done more about the large group that formed early in the race.
Orica-GreenEDGE were represented, but not by their main title hopes.
Bobridge, who rode for GreenEDGE in 2012, eventually emerged from the break and rode nearly all the last half of the 183.6km race by himself for an epic win.
“They (Orica-GreenEDGE) let the race go by letting that big group go early and not having one of their selected guys in there,” he said.
“Their tactics today – I don’t think they rode the smartest race they’ve ever ridden.”
Meyer, who left Orica-GreenEDGE at the end of last season, said they would be smarting.
“I think it will (hurt) – I’m sure they have a lot of respect for how the race went and how Jack rode and myself,” he said.
“But they let it out of control at the start and that’s what they will be sorry for … they gave Jack too much leeway.
“In the end it was costly.”
As White paid tribute to Bobridge’s ride, he also said his own riders had taken responsibility for trying to win the race.
“I thought he was setting himself up for a shorter day in the office than what eventuated,” White said of Bobridge’s solo break.
“He was just too strong.
“We tried to bring him back … we got very little help from the other teams.”
White said Porte and Dennis disrupted the peloton with attacks on the Buninyong climb.
“What it did was implode the race,” he said.
“Richie was doing some five-minute efforts up the climb today and you saw after a couple of times, there was no-one left.
“Then we had to take responsibility from there.”
White said while the result was disappointing, it was only one race in a long season.
Fancy a wager on your favourite sport? Head on over to PlayUp for great odds and friendly customer service and pick a winner. Chances are you’re about to lose. Set a deposit limit.