While Simon Gerrans’ victory last weekend at the prestigious Belgium classic Liege-Bastogne-Liege ranks right up among the very best moments of Australian cycling, his comments pre-race must have sent a shiver down the spines of Orica-GreenEDGE’s armada of supporters.
You see Gerro, who is out of contract at the end of this season, has speculated that his successful union with Australia’s first pro-cycling outfit might be nearing its end.
If an interview with cyclingnews.com is anything to go by, then the soon to be 34-year-old is already considering other options for next year.
“I have not re-signed yet, or anywhere else, so I’m currently on the market,” the Victorian said, leaving no doubt in the minds of interested rivals that he is open to offers.
“I will start negotiating after the spring classics are done. There is no question this is a fantastic team and one where I’ve had my best results so I’m happy here.
“I’m not going to say if I’m going to stay or go, that’s very much up in the air.”
Orica-GreenEDGE need to act now to ensure that Gerrans’ future doesn’t stay up in the air for very much longer.
In what is essentially an Australian team, Gerrans is the national who brings home the biggest cycling trophies. Take him out and where do the truly prestigious wins come from?
Originally Matt Goss was to be the marque rider, the big name who would provide the big wins, but his star has fallen and it has been left to Gerrans to produce the premium bacon.
And hasn’t he done it well?
He has either launched Orica-GreenEDGE’s seasons with stunning performances at the nationals and the Tour Down Under or relieved pressure by clocking up timely wins to break the lean periods that the team sometimes experiences.
Think last year’s Tour de France. Questions were being asked about the team’s Grand Tour performances and the pressure to win a first Tour stage was building. Without Cadel Evans or Richie Porte on their roster to battle for the GC, the task fell to the opportunists.
And what better opportunist than Gerrans. Finding himself in a small bunch finish at the end of stage three the boy from Mansfield out foxed none other than Slovakian boy wonder Peter Sagan, out sprinting him to claim an historic victory by less than a tyre width.
Even better than that, the win galvanised the team’s spirit and gave them the confidence to come out the next day and destroy the opposition in the team time trial. Two Tour victories in two days with the added bonus of claiming the yellow jersey was just reward for a lot of hard work.
For a moment at least the struggling Aussie outfit had become the envy of the peloton.
It wouldn’t have happened without Gerrans. That is how important he is to this team.
Even this year, after a solid yet hardly spectacular spring campaign, it was left to Gerrans to break the drought.
His third place at Amstel Gold made the results sheet look a little better for Orica-GreenEDGE, but his victory at Liege-Bastogne-Liege made things decidedly brighter. Winning a monument will often do that.
Again, it wouldn’t have happened without Gerro.
So, is there an heir apparent? Someone who can step up and deliver when the team needs it most?
Michael Albasini makes a habit of winning and has just added a stage of the Tour of Romandie to his palmares and the Yates brothers promise a lot, but they are not Australian and whether it is right or wrong, their victories will not invoke the type of national pride or home town support that would otherwise be there for an Aussie rider.
Of course, Caleb Ewan is in the wings and much is expected of him, but he is at an early stage of his development and pressure to win shouldn’t rest upon his shoulders alone.
So that leaves Michael Matthews.
Matthews is a handy sprinter who is not scared away by a few hills. He likes to win and is starting to make his mark in pro-ranks. His two Vuelta a Espana stage wins last year prove that he can win the big races while his 12th at this year’s Amstel Gold while working for Gerrans indicates that he has all the right attributes to become a classics rider.
Already this year he has claimed a stage victory at the WorldTour rated Vuelta al Pais Vasco while also nabbing the Vuelta a la Rioji. Last year he stood on the podium after a second placing on Stage three of the Criterium du Dauphine.
Could he be the one that Orica-GreenEDGE turn to for their big wins?
He is the most obvious choice, but at just 23 years of age, he needs others around him to share the load.
Which brings us back to Gerrans.
When Gerrans targets a race his team mates know that they can trust him to make good on his promise. If he doesn’t win then he’ll go damn close. He has both the experience and race sense to make the most of his opportunities. He knows how to play to his own strengths, a feature of his riding that he has shown to us time and time again.
His ascension to greatness, for that is what he has achieved, has come over time and he now sits comfortably among Australia’s cycling royalty. He has won stages of each of the Grand Tours, a feat not achieved by our greatest stage racer of all time, Cadel Evans.
He has won Milan-San Remo and Liege-Bastogne-Liege, something that Phil Anderson aspired too but could never crack.
And he has been the mainstay of Australia’s first and only pro-cycling team, leading from the front and bringing fame and glory to its jersey more regularly than any other of its riders.
An Australian team needs an Australian winner and in Gerrans Orica-GreenEDGE have one of the best.
Let’s hope they do all in their power to keep him.
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