Throughout sprint stages at Grand Tours this year, Orica GreenEDGE have been the bridesmaid on countless occasions.
Unfortunately for the team, that tradition continued today after Australian rider the GreenEDGE, Allan Davis, was pipped on the line in a close sprint finish by emerging German sprinter, John Degenkolb.
Earlier in the stage a four man breakaway escaped from the peloton, which included danger man, Niki Terpstra.
However, the four man breakaway were slowly reeled in by the peloton and with 20 kilometres to go in the flat stage, only Javier Aramandia and Mikhail Ignatiev had managed to remain away in the lead.
With 12km they too were caught, and so it would be a battle between the all conquering peloton.
Attacks were attempted, incuding a desperate move by Sergey Lagutin, who finished 5th in this year’s Olympic road race, just 7km out from the line.
However all attacks proved fruitless and it was to be sprint finish fought out by the peloton.
GreenEDGE had their lead out train working like a machine, and at what seemed the perfect moment launched Allan Davis into a sprint for the line. It seemed he had the stage win, however German rising star John Degenkolb clinched it only a few metres out from the line.
The theme is constantly recurring for the Australian who have only enjoyed one grand tour stage win, yet have had countless runner ups in stages, mostly achieved by their premier sprinter, Matt Goss.
Whilst this may seem frustrating, have a peek on the bright side. The fact is, things can only get better for Orica GreenEdge. Take a look at Team Sky, who went from a very average team at the 2011 Tour de France to the benchmark, superstar team of the 2012 Tour de France.
Large improvement can be achieved, and in tough times like this when it seems as if nothing will ever go right, Orica GreenEdge must stick together and keep working hard, knowing that in the future results worth celebrating will come their way.
Elsewhere John Degenkolb, the winner of last night’s stage, is in all likelihood a superstar in the making. At just 23 years of age, this impressive German has already achieved two stage victories at the famous lead up race to the Tour de France – Criterium du Dauphine, an impressive feat.
He is certainly one to watch in the near future.
Stage 2 provided us with some classic cycling action, and Orica GreenEdge is the hard luck story of professional road cycling.
Stage 3 begins tonight, with a 155km journey from Faustino to Eibar. It is the first mountain stage, and it is sure to be an exciting finish with the top of a Category 1 climb also acting as the finish line. Watch out for some exciting changes to the general classification.
Unsung hero: Daniel Teklehaimanot. The Orica GreenEdge rider who is from Eritrea did a sterling job to haul in Sergey Lagutin only a few kilometres out from the line, to set up teammate Allan Davis in a sprint finish.
Unfortunately Davis just failed to finish it off, but Teklehaimanot deserves applause.
Stage 2 results:
1 John Degenkolb (Ger) Argos-Shimano 4:38:40
2 Allan Davis (Aus) Orica – GreenEdge
3 Ben Swift (GBr) Sky Procycling
4 Elia Viviani (Ita) Liquigas-Cannondale
5 Klaas Lodewyck (Bel) BMC Racing Team
6 Vicente Reynes Mimo (Spa) Lotto Belisol Team
7 Davide Cimolai (Ita) Lampre – ISD
8 Gianni Meersman (Bel) Lotto Belisol Team
9 Manuel Antonio Leal Cardoso (Por) Caja Rural
10 Daniele Bennati (Ita) Radioshack-Nissan
General classification after stage 2
Result
1 Jonathan Castroviejo Nicolas (Spa) Movistar Team 4:57:31
2 Nairo Alexander Quintana Rojas (Col) Movistar Team 0:00:01
3 Javier Moreno Bazan (Spa) Movistar Team
4 Alejandro Valverde Belmonte (Spa) Movistar Team
5 Benat Intxausti Elorriaga (Spa) Movistar Team
6 Juan Jose Cobo Acebo (Spa) Movistar Team 0:00:04
7 Dennis Van Winden (Ned) Rabobank Cycling Team 0:00:10
8 Niki Terpstra (Ned) Omega Pharma-Quickstep
9 Kevin De Weert (Bel) Omega Pharma-Quickstep
10 Alessandro Ballan (Ita) BMC Racing Team
Sean Lee
Expert
Loved your unsung hero for this stage - especialy about 2 kms from the finish when he pulled off the front of the GreenEdge train thinking his job done, only to be waved back into second wheel by a frantic Julian Dean! I think Allan Davis did everything right (apart from win). He drafted well off Ben Swift at the end and had the speed to come around him. It was just unfortunate that Degenkolb was coming up the other side unhindered.
John Robson
Guest
Maybe greenedge should grab cav, rumor is he on the market at season's end, we got the train all we need is a finisher and Cav is the best finisher, Gossy is a great bike rider but lacks that 1pecent of top end speed that the big boy's cav 'griepel have. A couple of happy years of winning till we sort a gc contender out(hopefully) or a young talented aussie sprint god turns up (sagan style), till then we need cav or omega lotto will snavel him up!
zacbrygel
Roar Guru
Moses - be sure to read my Stage 3 wrap tomorrow morning, it will be up around 8am. Cheers!
zacbrygel
Roar Guru
Ye I agree Moses, it is a great move by OGE as he is only young and has great potential - but as you said he is unlikely to get Grand Tour opportunity in the near future. Whilst OGE isnt yet a great team in world cycling, with the up and coming youngsters they have in five years time they could well be dominating world cycling. Especially, if Goss can improve - and he is only 25 years of age, which is still relatively young for a Grand Tour rider.
Moses
Roar Rookie
Yes, I agree he's unlikely to get the opportunities he's been speaking of. His palmares isn't really that impressive for someone who's talking that big (although granted he's still very young). I think OGE would be well served keeping him for week-long stage races next season, such as the Tour Down Under. At 22 years of age I don't think it would be necessary or desirable to put a three-week Grand Tour into his legs yet. But it's a good move for OGE. They've only got one or two roster spots available for next season and I'm glad they're using them for young Australians rather than spending big on someone like Cavendish.
zacbrygel
Roar Guru
Moses - interesting you brought up about 'Bling Mathews' wanting to challenge Sagan at the TDF next year. My opinion is this; whilst Mathews is a promising young rider he has a long way to go to even contest Le Tour. I think it isnt a smart move my him to go to Orica GreenEdge. It will hinder his development as a sprinter, as he is behind Goss and Davis in the pecking order at the Australian team and therefore won't get sprinting opportunities at Grand Tours in the near future. Agreed?
zacbrygel
Roar Guru
liquorbox- I agree, if GreenEdge launched Allan Davis for the sprint just a touch later they probably would have won it. However I reckon putting Goss in the Vuelta would be a massive waste - as Bones506 said: "you put your A team on the tarmac for the biggest race of the year." Which is a great point.
Moses
Roar Rookie
I agree. Plus there are only five stages in this Vuelta classified as 'flat'. That's significantly fewer than this year's Giro and this year's TDF. Therefore, even aside from the fact that the Vuelta gets significantly less exposure (exponentially so in Australia), OGE did the right thing putting Goss in the Giro and the TDF. The sprinting field at this year's Vuelta is so weak (probably because there are so few opportunities) that Allan Davis is a good selection as primary sprinter: as he showed last night he stands a real chance at picking up a win or two. On another note, it was interesting to see Bling Matthews (new OGE signing) saying publicly how he would like to challenge Sagan at the TDF next year. I wonder how Goss will take that.
Bones506
Roar Guru
Interesting point on Gossy and Vuelta/TDF. I think you have to put your A team on the tarmac for the biggest race of the year. Integral to Sponsor's, fans etc to see the team's No. 1 rider out there. Goss was pretty consistent in the TDF and so he would have gained soem respectable UCI points. I still believe that the OGE team at Vuelta will challenge for a stage win or two.
liquorbox_
Roar Rookie
GreenEDGE once again had the trin deliver their sprinter about 200m short of where they needed to, they need the second last rider to hold on a little more and deliver the sprinter closer to the line. Looking at the Sprinters in this tour makes me wonder if GreenEDGE should have put Goss in the Tour of Spain rather than the TDF and at least racked up massive UCI points, at least he would win some races!