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It has been a week of mixed fortunes for the Aussies in Europe – with the overall signs being very positive for our top riders. The highlight of the week is undoubtedly GreenEDGE’s maiden stage win in Europe, in the Tirreno-Adriatico. A huge milestone for the Aussie team, still in its infancy.
The week started promisingly but ultimately disappointingly for GreenEDGE and Simon Gerrans who went agonisingly close to taking out stage three of Paris-Nice at Lac de Vassivière.
It was his old sparring partner Alejandro Valverde who made the running on the hilly sprint finish, however Gerrans came from nowhere to challenge Valverde on the line. Having found position on Valverde’s right shoulder both riders strained for the line seemingly simultaneously but is was the Spaniard who finished with his wheel in front.
It was disappointing for Gerrans and for GreenEDGE who lost out to Valverde in very similar circumstances in the Old Willunga Hill stage finish in January’s Tour Down Under. Nonetheless GreenEDGE could not have been closer to its first win inEurope.
Little did we know, we would only have to wait 24 hours for a win on the continent – in the Tirreno-Adriatico (Italy). The win came in the first stage San Vincenzo – Donoratico, a 16.9km team time trial.
Impressively GreenEDGE came in seventeen seconds faster than the second placed RadioShack-Nissan which was lead by Fabian Cancellara – the king of the time trials.
The Aussie team was lead over the line by the very talented Matt Goss who suggested that the team had been saving itself for such a result when he commented:
“The season started a little bit slower, and it was deliberately aimed to be good at this race and then through Sanremo and the Classics. So far it’s working.
“It’s a perfect start. It’s incredible to win our first team time trial together”.
No doubt the win was hugely relieving for GreenEDGE who no longer have to answer questions about when their first win on the continent will come.
Goss recognised how important the win was for the team at large: “Winning now is important for my morale and the morale of the team”.
The story was very different for Cadel Evans who started the race as overall favorite but had a lot of work to do after his team BMC Racing finished 58 seconds off the pace for 17th place out of 22.
However Evans’ focus is undoubtedly on going back to back in the big one and he will be buoyed by the news that the time trial stages have been lengthened for this year’s Tour de France – as he has showed dominance in this discipline over his main rivals, the Schleck brothers.
Goss would have been hoping for back to back stage wins in the 230 km second stage – San Vincenzo – Indicatore.
The stage doubled as a rematch of last year’s World Championship’s however, Goss could not get in position to compete with Mark Cavendish (the reigning world champion) in the sprint finish as he was caught up in a mid-field crash within the final two kilometers of the stage.
While disappointed with the way the second stage panned out – Goss did manage to hold onto the leader’s blue jersey and his team manager Matt White took a somewhat philosophical view of the outcome: “We’re lucky that we got through that crash unscathed. The sprint didn’t work out for ‘Gossy’ today, but that’s sprinting. Tomorrow’s another day.”
This week has proven that stage racing provides constant ups and downs. Despite a couple of disappointments it will be remembered as the week that GreenEDGE broke its duck in Europe. We all hope it’s the first of many wins for the boys in green and gold.
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