You have to have to hand it to Dave Sanders, the man charged with moulding the seven riders chosen each year to form the UniSA team at the Tour Down Under.
Since 2001 Sanders has been Cycling Australia’s guiding hand in helping expose their up-and-coming riders to the top level of competition.
Sometimes the team is all new professionals, sometimes it’s a combination of youngsters and established pros without a WorldTour contract. But whatever the make-up, the team continues to deliver thanks to Sanders’ brilliant management style.
He says just enough to fill the guys with the confidence they need, and of course he’s a shrewd tactician.
Yesterday’s win for Steele von Hoff was UniSA’s second for the week after Jack Bobridge cleaned up in Stage 1. Bobridge also had two days in the ochre leader’s jersey and is now leading the king of the mountains classification.
UniSA now has an impressive eight stage wins to its name, which works out to a tad over eight per cent of the total stage wins on offer.
They also have a general classification winner in Patrick Jonker (2004), and four young rider winners: Gene Bates (2001 and 2003), Rohan Dennis (2012) and Jack Haig (2104).
UniSA has also won the king of the mountain classification on three occasions: Gene Bates (2005) Luke Roberts (2011) and Rohan Dennis (2012).
Twice they’ve won the best team award – in 2004 and 2006 – and twice riders have finished second on GC: Karl Menzies (2007) and Allan Davis (2008).
And on numerous occasions, riders have taken out awards for being the most competitive on a stage.
Their 8 stage wins ranks only behind Lotto Belisol (and its various other Lotto guises including Davitamon Lotto, Predictor Lotto, Silence Lotto and Lotto Adecco) which has a massive 19, and Team High Road which recorded 9 stage victories before it folded in 2011.
Continuity certainly helps but when the team is completely new each year to be so consistent is a testament to the management.
What people love about UniSA is their attitude to the race. The team is never overawed, they just get stuck in. Look how many times an early break goes up the road. On so many occasions it’s a UniSA rider who’s responsible.
And as Jack Bobridge showed on Tuesday, they know how to handle the real pressure on the road when the finish line is looming large and there are instant decisions to be made.
Because the Tour Down Under is a WorldTour race, it’s not automatic that a team like UniSA can compete. The UCI has had to create a special rule to allow them to ride. The same applies for Team Drapac.
Some people say that UniSA only succeeds because the European riders are generally not at their peak and a team of Aussie riders will always be competitive. That may be true in part but then the same rule applies to all the Aussie riders regardless of their team allegiance. And no one says anything when riders like Simon Gerrans, Cadel Evans or Richie Porte win stages.
It’s vital that European riders win here so that the TDU remains an attractive destination for the best riders, but just as importantly our young riders needs access to this level of competition.
The experience these riders gain is invaluable and in the case of Steele von Hoff, wins like yesterday put him back in the faces of the WorldTour teams who decided he wasn’t worthy of a new deal at the end of last season.
This is a blatantly parochial point of view but watching the UniSA guys taking it up to the established WorldTour riders on a regular basis shows a fundamental characteristic of the Australian ethos: “just having a go”.
The Tour Down Under wouldn’t be anywhere near as good without Team UniSA.
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