Bannan

Green Edge in World Tour?

Bannan Greenedge

New Aussie team Green Edge is patiently naming its riders. In a story on cyclingnews.com, it appears they are aiming for a full house of 28 riders and so far they have confirmed 11 riders. They’re Travis Meyer, Cameron Meyer, Jack Bobridge, Stuart O’Grady, Simon Gerrans, Simon Clarke all Aussies. Plus Canadian Svein Tuft, Eritrean Daniel Teklehaymanot and a trio of Dutchmen in Pieter Weening, Sebastian Langeveld and Jens Mouris.

Sneaky manager Shane Bannan says “there’s no point in looking at this group or any future signings for a headline act“. Some solid riders there but less than 300 ranking points in total, meaning if they were in the World Tour today they’d rank lower than Vacansoleil, Ag2r and Quick-Step. Based on this you’d be forgiven for thinking the team is planning a modest start.

Read more

Red faces for Green Edge?

The Australian headline

“Stuey has wanted to be a part of this project since we first went public with wanting to put a team at the Tour de France, back in Adelaide last January… …We’ll be rolling out more big-name signings in the days and weeks ahead.“

That’s the headline screengrab plus a quote from an article in The Australian, the biggest selling-newspaper Down Under. Only it seems to be premature at best.

Read more

New Australian team poaching riders?

Melbourne might be 10 hours ahead of European time but a new Australian cycling team is already a year ahead when it comes to planning for 2012. The team is going under the label of Green Edge Cycling, something The Inner Ring was first to reveal. As a reminder Green Edge Cycling is being led … Read more

National Teams in the ProTour

Since any more detail on the Aussie team under Shane Bannan is vague for now, I wanted to review the broader concept behind the Aussie squad, namely that we are seeing the emergence of several national teams. In an age when the sport is supposed to be moving towards attracting global brands, we are seeing … Read more

Shayne Bannan to head Aussie Pro Team

Today we get news of Shayne Bannan’s resignation from Cycling Australia. The Aussie coach has been one of the driving forces behind the rise of Australia as a cycling nation, creating a conveyor-belt of talent that brings the best from Down Under to the wider world. His next plans appear vague, there is talk of … Read more