After our two WT stage races, we competed in the Strade Bianche and Milano-SanRemo.
Strade Bianche
Michael Albasini finished an extraordinary 3rd. Due to the laziest reporting ever, we don't have a picture.
Milan - SanRemo
The day started with Svein Tuft in the chase group.
When it formed, he was also in a very large break of the day.
We're completely gutted. As you can see, our train was in a great position towards the finish, even better than in the picture, but we just lacked someone to finish it off. We thought the hills would be too much for Gossy, so we didn't bring him. Defending champ Simon Gerrans finished 15th in the same time as 2nd place Andre Greipel. Amazing, one little planning mistake cost us our hard goal, and a large cash sum goes down the drain with it.
Allan was the strongest sprinter in the race on paper, but without much support he was forced to start his sprint from behind.
He does very well to get up front but is blocked by local Bryan Coquard.
And because of this he can't get the win, finishing 4th with a tonne of energy to spare.
Stage 2
Kiwi Sam Bewley sets the early time to beat. The first to beat him is another Aussie and potential transfer target Jack Bobridge.
We are rather surprised to see Brett Lancaster set the new time to beat.
Not even National Champion Durbridge can beat him, falling 5 seconds short.
Brett's time will hold for an extremely long period, only beaten when the GC favourites set off, by Bradley Wiggins. We get 3rd (Lancaster), 6th (Durbridge), 19th (Favre) and 24th (Bewley) on the stage.
Stage 3
Simon Clarke is active. He participates in the main attack.
With Pierre Rolland, he takes the lead. Will it hold?
No. Simon is dropped and finishes back in the peloton. Our best finisher is local Mathieu Favre, in 8th. In the GC, he is also the best, in equal 11th at 2'08 while Simon is 15th at 2'15.
Pieter Weening
Wesley Sulzburger
Daniel Teklehaimanot
Sebastian Langeveld
Michael Hepburn
Mitch Docker
Aidis Kruopis
Jens Mouris
We go in without any real hopes. Pieter might give us a Top 20 in the GC while Daniel can get some valuable WT experience. Hopefully we can do well in any bunch sprints, with Mitch and Aidis the two best sprinters here.
Rohan Dennis is indeed an interesting rider for the future, but i'm quite sure i knew before that is an aussie.
However, i don't see anybody in your line up to replace him, so we'd have to see. Too early yet though anyway.
Today we caught up with Orica-GreenEDGE's team doctor, Peter Barnes. Here's our interview with him.
Peter thanks for joining us. With races coming thick and fast for the team how important is it to keep the team in top physical condition.
Of course it's absolutely paramount that all the riders are fit and at peak physical condition for each race. We don't put the riders on programs, but instead have restrictions. For example how much time you can spend in the weights room in a week, training hours in a month etc.
If a rider does get injured, what is the course of action to get him back to full fitness as soon as possible.
Well it depends what sort of injury it is. For an illness, we give the DS a choice of whether to send the rider home or give him an injection, while in terms of a broken bone we wait until it is healed enough to resume light exercise and we put the rider on a very strict training regime until he is back to full fitness.
Hi there, it's Mathieu!
A lot has happened in the last month. I've participated in some great races!
At first, I participated in Tour of Langkawi. Which is quite a big race in Malaysia, but not so famous. I got 14th in the biggest mountain stage, in one of the first groups. Besides that, nothing major happened, I finished 22th in the GC, which is really nice.
Then, there was my first WT race, Paris - Nice! There were no big GC expectations
I got 56th in the first TT. I was pretty nervous, so I guess I can be happy with that. The sprint stages were nothing for me ofc, there wasn't really a strong Orica sprinter either, so I could just chill a bit in the peloton, talk with some famous riders a bit and such. I always managed to end up in the front groups, which is a good sign. Stage 5 has some serious hills. I couldn't stay in the main group, but 50th isn't that bad, I didn't go for the GC anyway. Stage 6 was the mountain stage. Again, I got 50th. But I didn't expect a lot better, I'm just not good enough yet, no way I can keep up with Froome, Valv and such, I'm just 20 Stage 7 was flat again, meh.
But then there was Stage 8. I looked forward to it, it's a MTT, to me, the most fair stage in cycling, the strongest rider always wins.
I was interested in how I would do here, compared to f.e Cameron Meyer. I started pretty early, because I lost some time earlier. I actually got 39th in the end, which I'm really proud of! In fact, I was just 2 seconds slower than Cameron Meyer. I hope this proves that I'm ready for leading Orica once in a while!
Paris - Nice was just awesome.
But actually, just some days later, the next race arrives: Criterium International, a 3-day race in France.
Of course, we always start with a boring flat stage. This time, I had Davis to work for, but Orica didn't plan on a train this time, so I was free for duty.
Then, stage 2 was a time-trial. I'm starting to get better on them. Big names like Wiggins were here, but still, I got 19th, just 25 seconds off that British beast.
Stage 3 was when I felt really good. I wasn't the only one though, Clarke attacked. I wanted to do that actually, but then I remembered my GC position and that I still have the GC Top 10 in sight. I would have to be very lucky though. Here's a pic of me in the bunch.
In the end, I managed to hold on to the group very, very long. Of course, I couldn't follow Wiggins & Hinault when they escaped from the group, but I managed to grab an 8th spot in the sprint for 5th, beating some great riders, like Wilco Kelderman.
I missed out on a GC Top 10 by 3 seconds though, I finished 12th in the end.
Still, an 8th place delivered the team some points.
I'm really happy of what the last weeks have brought me,
Hi there, it's Mathieu.
I've heard a lot of riders talking about the Continental Championships.
Now, I've heard you can send 9 Europeans to the European Championship RR, and 4 to the European Championship ITT.
So I was wondering, can I count on a spot?
I'd like to participate in both, but you're the boss of course
Our Calendar and Goals posts have been updated to include Part 2. With a horrible Part 1 which saw NO goals achieved, we know that we now need to step up and stay towards the right end of the rankings. Due to a few too many races in Part 1, we have been reduced to only 3 Continental races this time around, but one of them is the Scheldeprijs, which we hope Gossy can win.
#OGEROCKS
Edited by Cycleman123 on 19-01-2014 10:35
With a new bunch of youngsters on the market, we are keeping our eyes open for some good talents, with one spot still remaining in our team. Right now we are looking closely at Aussie Mitchell Birt, a perspective GC performer.
#OGEROCKS
Edited by Cycleman123 on 19-01-2014 10:35
The cobbled classics were an absolute disaster, with Sebastian forgetting he was a good cobbles rider.
E3 Harelbeke
Fumy bridged up to the breakaway.
But Seb wasn't having it, and came in 31st.
Gent - Wevelgem
This time is was Svein in the breakaway.
An easy goal of ours was Top 10 here, so Seb had to improve. He did, but unfortunately it came down to a bunch sprint so 21st was the result. No goals succeeded in Part I!
Italian Classics 
Criterium International 
Volta a Catalunya 
Tour de San Luis 
Michael Albasini
Pieter Weening
Thomas Vaitkus
Jens Keukeleire
Svein Tuft
Matthew Goss
Daryl Impey
