No race better reflects the impact of Australians on the pro-peloton than the Giro d’Italia.
In 1980, not a single Australian was on the start list. Just 30 years later 14 Australian riders, spread across ten different teams, were making their presence felt in the Italian tour.
The 2010 Giro remains one of the pinnacles of cycling success for Australia. As well as claiming three specialist jerseys, two riders spent time in the leader’s jersey, three riders claimed stage victories and one rider finished in the top five.
This proliferation of Aussies in the pro-ranks has grown rapidly since the gritty Phil Anderson became something of a trailblazer back in the early 80s. Since that time, wave after wave of Australian cyclists have taken on and beaten the world’s best in some of the biggest, most prestigious races cycling has to offer.
Aussies don’t just compete to make up the numbers. They compete to win. The fighting spirit has been handed down from Anderson to Cadel Evans to Simon Gerrans and everybody in between.
The Australian palmares was pretty much a blank canvas in 1980, but today it hangs heavy with blue ribboned performances in classics and world championships, stages and general classifications, even Grand Tours.
Hanging proudly in the centre of all this is Cadel Evans’ 2011 Tour de France victory.
Of course there were riders before 1980. World class riders such as Geelong boy Russell Mockridge and the record breaking Hubert Opperman. And let’s not forget the remarkable Don Kirkham, who rode the Tour de France as early as 1914.
But before 1980 they came in dribs and drabs. The mass migrations began with Anderson.
So who have been our best road cyclists since 1980? My top six are listed below. What do you think?
6. Michael Rogers
For a time it looked as though Michael Rogers would become a serious Grand Tour contender. A top ten Tour finish in 2006 looked promising, but a crash while virtual leader of the race in 2007 effectively put paid to his Grand Tour ambitions.
Illness and injury stole the middle parts of Rogers’ career but he fought back strongly to win races such as the Tour of California (2010), Vuelta a Andalucia and Bayern-Runfahrt (2012).
His performances riding for Bradley Wiggins throughout last season – most notably at the Tour de France – were second to none.
He won the Tour Down Under (2002), the Tour of Belgium (2003), Route du Sud (2003) and the Deutschland Tour (2003) early in his career, but the highlight of those formative years was becoming a three time world time trial champion (2003-05), the first of which was awarded after David Millar (who was first across the line), failed a doping control.
He was was national time trial champion in 2009.
5. Stuart O’Grady
The evergreen Stuey O’Grady seems as though he has been around for ever. Also an accomplished track cyclist, O’Grady has competed in a staggering 16 Tours de France and appeared at six Olympic Games.
His finest moment came in 2007 when he became the first and only Australian to win the cobbled classic, Paris-Roubaix.
Add to this two Tour de France stages (three if you count a successful team time trial), brief stints in the yellow leader’s jersey during the 1998 and 2001 Tours, and a heart breaking run of being second for the green jersey on four occasions, and you have a rider who knows how to perform on the world’s biggest stage.
Locally he has won the Tour Down Under twice (1999, 2001) and was national road race champion in 2003. He has also been a member of winning team time trials at the Vuelta and Tirreno-Adriatico.
He is a great team man and highly respected.
For longevity alone, he deserves a place in the top six.
4. Simon Gerrans
Simon Gerrans is an intelligent cyclist who rides to his strengths. His list of wins is world class and many of his higher profile opponents would die to have a palmares like ‘Gerro’.
While some may argue at his high placement in this list, his record speaks for itself.
He has claimed stage wins at all three Grand Tours (2008 Tour, 2009 Giro and Vuelta), been a two time winner of the Tour Down Under (2006, 2012) and has won stages at the Criterium International (2008), Volta a Catalunya and Tour of the Basque Country (both 2013).
His finest moment came when he out-pointed Fabian Cancellara and Vincenzo Nibali to win the fabled Milan-San Remo in 2012.
He has a multitude of top ten finishes in classics and semi classics including a sixth and a tenth at Liege-Bastogne-Liege and two thirds and a seventh at Amstel Gold.
He was also the 2012 national road race champion.
The ultimate opportunist, Gerro deserves his place at number four.
3. Phil Anderson
Anderson’s achievements speak for themselves and he has only recently been usurped as the king of the modern era of Australian cycling.
The first Australian to wear yellow at the Tour de France (including a nine day stint in 1982), Anderson rode 13 Tours and finished in the top ten on five occasions, twice finishing fifth, a record only bettered by Cadel Evans.
He also won the best young rider’s classification in 1982.
He claimed three Grand Tour stage victories (two at the Tour, one at the Giro).
His list of other wins is equally impressive. Amstel Gold (1983), Criterium du Dauphine Libere (1985), Tour de Suisse (1985), E3 Prijs Vlaanderen (1985), Paris-Tours (1986), Tour de Romandie (1989) and the Tour Mediterranean (1991) number among some of his more prestigious victories.
He also came close at Liege-Bastogne-Liege (second in 1984, third in 1989), Tour of Flanders (second in 1985) and Gent-Wevelgem (second in 1985).
2. Robbie McEwen
We all know sprinters get more chances to win than any other style of rider, but McEwen won so often it is impossible to rank him lower than this.
An expert at keeping out of sight until the last hundred metres or so to the line, McEwen’s blistering finishing speed saw him claim a staggering 12 Tour de France stages and three green points jerseys (2002, 04, 06).
He also took home 12 Giro d’Italia stages, 12 Tour Down Under stages and two Paris-Nice stages.
He won Paris-Brussells five times (2002, 2005-2008).
His final win at the OCBC Cycling Singapore Criterium last year continued a streak of at least one race victory per year since 1996. That is 17 years worth of wins!
With his three green jerseys, 24 Grand Tour stages and well over 100 professional wins in total, it is easy to see why McEwen is considered to be among the best sprinters of all time.
1. Cadel Evans
The mostly loved but sometimes maligned Cadel tops the list of Australia’s greatest riders since 1980.
Entering the sport from the world of mountain biking at a time when many in the pro-peloton were juiced to the eyeballs makes some of Cadel’s earlier results all the more remarkable.
The poster boy for clean cycling has been consistently at the pointy end of the world’s longest stage races since his eighth place at the 2005 Tour de France.
A fourth and two seconds soon followed before he became Australia’s first Tour de France winner in 2011.
A fifth place at the 2010 Giro d’Italia and a fourth and a third at the Vuelta a Espana (2007 and 2009) adds up to nine top ten places from 13 Grand Tour starts, including four podiums.
A stage winner at both the Tour (twice) and Giro (once), Evans has also claimed the Giro’s points classification (2010).
He has worn the leader’s jersey at all three Grand Tours.
His stage race wins include the Tour de Romandie (2006, 2011), Tour of Austria, (2001, 2004), Tirreno-Adriatico (2011) and the Criterium International (2012). He has also been runner up at the Criterium du Dauphine on four occasions.
But one of his greatest wins came not in a stage race, but at the 2009 world championship road race in Mendrisio, Switzerland, where he proved that he could also be an attacking rider.
He has had some success in the spring classics with victory at La Fleche Wallone (2010).
He has also topped the often ridiculed UCI ProTour rider ratings (2007).
So there it is Roarers. A fun but subjective look back at some of our greatest road cyclists since 1980. Who would you have picked and in what order?
Until next time, enjoy the Giro.
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