As season 2013 winds down, planning begins for 2014, and the realisation that Australia will have two professional teams competing on the men’s road race circuit.
The return of Drapac Professional Cycling to Pro Continental ranks (the level below the top-tier World Tour) will give Aussie fans another team to cheer for, and provides another pathway for Aussie riders to race in Europe, Asia and America.
The final Drapac squad for 2014 was announced this week, although a number of new signings have been announced previously, and the squad contains a good mix of experienced World Tour riders, and younger riders to keep an eye on.
Headlining the team’s roster are former Australian champion Travis Meyer (formerly of Orica-GreenEDGE) and sprinter Jonathan Cantwell (Saxo-Tinkoff).
Meyer, still only 24, has been riding in the World Tour since joining the Garmin-Transitions squad in 2010, and has spent the last two seasons with Orica-GreenEDGE.
He rode the Vuelta a Espana in 2012, and has ridden in major races including the Dauphiné, Tour of California, and classics like Liege-Bastogne-Liege and Flèche-Wallonne.
Cantwell (31) rode the Tour de France in 2012, finishing sixth in Stage 4, and also brings plenty of experience in major races.
Also stepping across from the World Tour is Tour Down Under 2012 stage winner Will Clarke (28, Argos-Shimano).
Bernard Sulzberger (29), Adam Phelan (22), Floris Goesinnen (29), Robbie Hucker (23), Darren Lapthorne (30), Malcolm Rudolph (24), and Tom Palmer (23) are the 2013 Drapac riders who will stay with the team.
The other new faces are an eclectic bunch, drawn from Continental squads in Australia and Europe, with several having previously ridden for Drapac.
Lachlan Norris (26) rejoins from British Continental squad Raleigh, having ridden for Drapac in 2010-2012.
Jai Crawford (30, Huon-Genesis) and Jack Anderson (26, Budget Forklifts) join from rival Australian Continental teams.
Wouter Wippert (23) signs from the Dutch Continental squad Team 3M.
Ben Johnson (30) is an interesting signing, returning to professional cycling after a five-year absence. He has ridden at the top level with Agritubel, Cofidis and Slipstream (now Garmin-Sharp).
Jordan Kerby (21) joins after a season in Denmark with Christina Watches-Onfone. Kerby is best known as the Australian under-23 champion.
Along with Kerby, the most exciting young rider in the squad is probably Phelan, who has had a consistent season racing in Australia and Europe, including the under-23 world championships and the Tour de l’Avenir (a.k.a. the ‘junior Tour de France’).
Another major new signing for the team is DS Henk Vogels, who has a pre-existing relationship with Cantwell from his time at Fly-V Australia in 2010 (along with Sulzberger and Crawford).
The team’s first goal will be success in front of a home crowd at the Tour Down Under, but ultimately the ambition is to earn places in the major classics and Grand Tours.
It will be fascinating to see what the team can achieve in 2014. A Grand Tour ride would be the stuff of fantasy: the team is aiming for 2016 for that goal.
It will also be interesting to see how Meyer, Cantwell, and Clarke perform with leadership roles and the freedom they bring.
It’s also a great opportunity to see how the Australian National Road Series (NRS) compares to the next league up. Pro Continental teams compete against World Tour teams; it’s a significant leap in standard (and budget) compared to riding local races.
Drapac is currently sitting in fourth place on the team rankings for the NRS, well behind series leaders Huon-Genesis, so it’s not as if the team has been beating up the smaller kids in its playground.
Drapac has been in this position before, and it’s fair to say the step to Pro Continental level was not an unqualified success.
Hopefully the team has learned from its past experience and is better prepared this time. The new signings will certainly help, but the demise of several World Tour and Pro Continental teams in Europe at the end of this season means there will be a glut of former World Tour riders trying to impress at Pro Continental level in 2014.
Still, it really is great news for Australian cycling that we’ve got another team vying for success on the international stage.
The success of Orica-GreenEDGE will have certainly helped pave the way for Drapac’s return, but this is a team that’s been around for nearly a decade, and it deserves our support on its own terms.
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