The Oz Cycling Project proudly welcomes for young riders, who will join our team on loan. We're thrilled to see three talents from Africa gaining experience with Oz in our first ProTour season. All those three were part of the deal, that saw Lachlan Morton being transferred from Eritel (former Jaguar) to Oz.
Elias Afewerki is a promising sprinter from Eritrea, who is also likely to add some depth to our non-existing cobbles core. The young gun is expected to ride the Tour de France with us, by the way. Charles Anguilet and Souheil Khederi (who's also set to race Le Tour) will be useful domestiques wherever the road goes up.
We're also thrilled to take one of the biggest Asian talents on board: Ki Ho Choi (picture below) had to leave Compal Merida for salary cap reasons. We are happy to help a team from Asia to help Choi gaining experience on the highest level. Choi follows into the footsteps of some other cyclists from Hong Kong, who were Oz members in the past three years - such as Ki San Wu or King Lok Cheung.
We promise to provide those four talents their needed race days and look forward to their services and development in the upcoming months.
Ki Ho Choi | 24 years old | XP: 3.84 | Wage: 230,000€ On loan from Compal Merida
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Souheil Khederi | 24 years old | XP: 4.12 | Wage: 50,000€ On loan from Eritel
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Elias Afewerki | 23 years old | XP: 4.43 | Wage: 50,000€ On loan from Eritel
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Charles Anguilet | 26 years old | XP: 4.32 | Wage: 50,000€ On loan from Eritel
A huge thanks to our jersey designer -Gaz- and his work for those newest shirts. Three national timetrial champions will ride in Oz colours this season and here's a show-off.
Hopefully Anguilet will ride a TTT at some point this season, so we actually get a chance of seeing that jersey in a report. He's not the strongest of time trial champions
SportingNonsense wrote:
Hopefully Anguilet will ride a TTT at some point this season, so we actually get a chance of seeing that jersey in a report. He's not the strongest of time trial champions
I doubt he will TTT with Oz
Maybe he will lead a GC thanks to a breakaway and will be shown in an ITT then. Wouldn't that be cool?
Thanks, Jak and sutty. Gaz delivered some nice shirts indeed.
SportingNonsense wrote:
Hopefully Anguilet will ride a TTT at some point this season, so we actually get a chance of seeing that jersey in a report. He's not the strongest of time trial champions
I doubt he will TTT with Oz
Maybe he will lead a GC thanks to a breakaway and will be shown in an ITT then. Wouldn't that be cool?
Thanks, Jak and sutty. Gaz delivered some nice shirts indeed.
Maybe he can be the worst or the first TT rider in the race, doesn't that get a mention, too?
[img-l]https://i1176.photobucket.com/albums/x323/tsmoha/MG14_Oz_Portraits/MG_Oz14_12_Jiao_zps9d7f79fd.jpg[/img-l][img-l]https://i1176.photobucket.com/albums/x323/tsmoha/NRS_Portraits/NRS_Platzhalter_zps31ed228a.png[/img-l] Pengda Jiao On the team #2013-2014
Age | 27 (when joining the team)
Wage | 80.000€
Role | Puncheur (MO 72, HI 76, STA 71)
Jiao joined Oz in 2013 and was just one of several riders upgrading our poor roster from our debut season the year before. The Chinese puncheur wasn't exactly a special force in the PCT, but with Bobridge loaned out to Red Bull, him and Visconti/Lloyd built our leading core for hilly races.
Our team faced a tough fight against relegation, but thanks to a strong late season, we survived. Jiao was one of those scoring valuable points in our final races: his strong 7th place in his home race Tour of Beijing was a strong showing. Adding a 7th place in Gisborne GP (picture below) and a 12th place at the Japan Cup, Jiao was definitely a key to our (only achieved) goal for the Asian rankings, too.
A rather quiet 2014 campaign didn't see Jiao scoring any more Top-10 results for Oz though: 11th at Milan - Torino, 13th Japan Cup and 14th at the Nelspruit Classic were solid but not too special outings. With Bobridge back on our promotion hunting squad, Jiao had less races as a leader anyway.
Another rebuilt prior to our ProTour debut saw Jiao moving to Red Bull then. As for all of our former riders, we will follow his performances closely.
The Oz Cycling Project added it's final two (fulltime) professionals to it's roster for the 2015 campaign: James Oram and Brenton Jones agreed to terms on minimum deals and will bulster our core of Oceanian riders.
Oram (under contract with In-n-Out last year) has been scouted by Oz for a while now and the timetrial talented Kiwi will surely add some depth once he's fully developed. The young gun, who already rode last year's Tour de l'Avenir in Oz colours, is looking forward to this unique chance to show himself.
The Oz always tried to give some riders from the domestic cycling scene a chance to make their first steps into pro cycling: with Brenton Jones (picture below) we are happy to add a sprinter, who had his breakthrough season in 2014 (finishing as 3rd in Australia's National Road Series, riding for Avanti Racing). The young Aussie may receive a nice amount of race days to gain as much experience as possible.
With 29 riders (including 4 loanees) our squad is complete - even though we are in talks with a stagiare to join Oz in August. Stay tuned for a preview of the full roster in the next few days.
James Oram | 22 years old | XP: 3.37 | Wage: 50,000€ Potential 6, Maxed 77 TT
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Brenton Jones | 24 years old | XP: 4.00 | Wage: 50,000€ Potential 4, Maxed 78 SP
[img-l]https://i1176.photobucket.com/albums/x323/tsmoha/MG14_Oz_Portraits/MG_Oz14_01_Bobridge_zpsdfd28c5b.jpg[/img-l][img-l]https://i1176.photobucket.com/albums/x323/tsmoha/NRS_Portraits/NRS_Platzhalter_zps31ed228a.png[/img-l] Jack Bobridge Age 26, on the team since #2012
Wage: 360.000€
Role: Puncher/Leader (HI 80, TT 77, ACC 80, STA 74)
XPs/Pot: Maxed
[img-l]https://i.imgur.com/gFzGgTU.png[/img-l][img-l]https://i1176.photobucket.com/albums/x323/tsmoha/NRS_Portraits/NRS_Platzhalter_zps31ed228a.png[/img-l] Marcus Burghardt Age 32, on the team since #2015
Wage: 590.000€
Role: Cobbler (FL 79, HI 72, STA 80, COB 84, ACC 75)
XPs/Pot: Maxed
[img-l]https://i.imgur.com/kTTJoob.png[/img-l][img-l]https://i1176.photobucket.com/albums/x323/tsmoha/NRS_Portraits/NRS_Platzhalter_zps31ed228a.png[/img-l] Matthew Goss Age 28, on the team since #2014
Wage: 250.000€
Role: Sprinter (FL 74, HI 67, REC 81, SP 82, ACC 78)
XPs/Pot: Maxed
[img-l]https://i.imgur.com/D2IObln.png[/img-l][img-l]https://i1176.photobucket.com/albums/x323/tsmoha/NRS_Portraits/NRS_Platzhalter_zps31ed228a.png[/img-l] Domenico Pozzovivo Age 33, on the team since #2015
Wage: 250.000€
Role: Stage Races (MO 80, HI 76, TT 72, RES/REC 80)
XPs/Pot: Maxed
[img-l]https://i.imgur.com/KhlqCd1.png[/img-l][img-l]https://i1176.photobucket.com/albums/x323/tsmoha/NRS_Portraits/NRS_Platzhalter_zps31ed228a.png[/img-l] Lachlan Morton Age 23, on the team since #2015
Wage: 250.000€
Role: Stage Races (MO 80, HI 74, TT 71, STA 77)
XPs/Pot: 4.49/Pot 7 (MO 82, HI 76, TT 73, STA 79)
[img-l]https://i1176.photobucket.com/albums/x323/tsmoha/MG14_Oz_Portraits/MG_Oz14_05_Visconti_zps13b761c5.jpg[/img-l][img-l]https://i1176.photobucket.com/albums/x323/tsmoha/NRS_Portraits/NRS_Platzhalter_zps31ed228a.png[/img-l] Giovanni Visconti Age 32, on the team since #2013
Wage: 100.000€
Role: Puncher (HI 76, TT 70, STA 77, COB 73, ACC 77)
XPs/Pot: Maxed
[img-l]https://i1176.photobucket.com/albums/x323/tsmoha/MG14_Oz_Portraits/MG_Oz14_25_Durbridge_zpsae1f770e.jpg[/img-l][img-l]https://i1176.photobucket.com/albums/x323/tsmoha/NRS_Portraits/NRS_Platzhalter_zps31ed228a.png[/img-l] Luke Durbridge Age 24, on the team since #2012 (loaned out last year)
Wage: 120.000€
Role: TTs (FL 73, HI 67, TT 81, PRL 81))
XPs/Pot: Maxed
|Free Role|
[img-l]https://i.imgur.com/3V2EKou.png[/img-l][img-l]https://i1176.photobucket.com/albums/x323/tsmoha/NRS_Portraits/NRS_Platzhalter_zps31ed228a.png[/img-l] Andrei Grivko Age 32, on the team since #2015
Wage: 170.000€
Role: Stage Races (MO 74, HI 76, TT 74, STA 76)
XPs/Pot: Maxed
[img-l]https://i1176.photobucket.com/albums/x323/tsmoha/MG14_Oz_Portraits/MG_Oz14_07_WFord_zpsfe6c3fea.jpg[/img-l][img-l]https://i1176.photobucket.com/albums/x323/tsmoha/NRS_Portraits/NRS_Platzhalter_zps31ed228a.png[/img-l] William Ford Age 27, on the team since #2012
Wage: 50.000€
Role: Roleur/Fighter (FL 75, HI 69, TT 74, FI 80)
XPs/Pot: Maxed
[img-l]https://i1176.photobucket.com/albums/x323/tsmoha/MG14_Oz_Portraits/MG_Oz14_10_MFord_zps43917924.jpg[/img-l][img-l]https://i1176.photobucket.com/albums/x323/tsmoha/NRS_Portraits/NRS_Platzhalter_zps31ed228a.png[/img-l] Michael Ford Age 29, on the team since #2013
Wage: 85.000€
Role: TTs (TT 81, PRL 81)
XPs/Pot: Maxed
[img-l]https://i.imgur.com/Ly3THED.png[/img-l][img-l]https://i1176.photobucket.com/albums/x323/tsmoha/NRS_Portraits/NRS_Platzhalter_zps31ed228a.png[/img-l] Steele Von Hoff Age 28, on the team since #2015
Wage: 150.000€
Role: Sprinter/Leadout (FL 71, HI 66, SP 79, ACC 77)
XPs/Pot: Maxed
[img-l]https://i1176.photobucket.com/albums/x323/tsmoha/MG14_Oz_Portraits/MG_Oz14_26_Li_zps25fb22d6.jpg[/img-l][img-l]https://i1176.photobucket.com/albums/x323/tsmoha/NRS_Portraits/NRS_Platzhalter_zps31ed228a.png[/img-l] Wen Hao Li Age 26, on the team since #2013 (loaned out last year)
Wage: 50.000€
Role: TTs/Leadout (FL 75, TT 78, SP 75, ACC 75)
XPs/Pot: Maxed
[img-l]https://i1176.photobucket.com/albums/x323/tsmoha/MG14_Oz_Portraits/MG_Oz14_13_Olman_zps94b25293.jpg[/img-l][img-l]https://i1176.photobucket.com/albums/x323/tsmoha/NRS_Portraits/NRS_Platzhalter_zps31ed228a.png[/img-l] Miles Olman Age 29, on the team since #2013
Wage: 55.000€
Role: TTs (TT 79, PRL 79)
XPs/Pot: Maxed
|Domestiques|
[img-l]https://i.imgur.com/gjU8j2Z.png[/img-l][img-l]https://i1176.photobucket.com/albums/x323/tsmoha/NRS_Portraits/NRS_Platzhalter_zps31ed228a.png[/img-l] Ki Ho Choi(Loaned in/Compal) Age 24, on the team since #2015
Wage: 230.000€
Role: Stage Races (MO 74, HI 70, TT 71, REC 74)
XPs/Pot: 3.84/Pot 7
[img-l]https://i1176.photobucket.com/albums/x323/tsmoha/MG14_Oz_Portraits/MG_Oz14_06_Rogers_zpsbc727ace.jpg[/img-l][img-l]https://i1176.photobucket.com/albums/x323/tsmoha/NRS_Portraits/NRS_Platzhalter_zps31ed228a.png[/img-l] Michael Rogers Age 36, on the team since #2013
Wage: 120.000€
Role: TTs (MO 69, TT 78, PRL 78)
XPs/Pot: Maxed
[img-l]https://i.imgur.com/SCkcdk3.png[/img-l][img-l]https://i1176.photobucket.com/albums/x323/tsmoha/NRS_Portraits/NRS_Platzhalter_zps31ed228a.png[/img-l] Tom Scully Age 25, on the team since #2013
Wage: 50.000€
Role: Sprinter (FL 72, HI 66, SP 77, ACC 78)
XPs/Pot: 4.23/Pot 6 (FL 74, HI 67, REC 79, SP 79, ACC 80)
[img-l]https://i.imgur.com/Ja27NxK.png[/img-l][img-l]https://i1176.photobucket.com/albums/x323/tsmoha/NRS_Portraits/NRS_Platzhalter_zps31ed228a.png[/img-l] Jack Haig Age 22, on the team since #2014 (loaned out last year)
Wage: 90.000€
Role: Stage Races (FL 70, MO 73, HI 71, TT 73)
XPs/Pot: 3.04/Pot 6 (MO 78, HI 74, TT 77, STA 76, REC 78)
[img-l]https://i.imgur.com/W997GPq.png[/img-l][img-l]https://i1176.photobucket.com/albums/x323/tsmoha/NRS_Portraits/NRS_Platzhalter_zps31ed228a.png[/img-l] Haijun Ma Age 30, on the team since #2015
Wage: 65.000€
Role: TTs (FL 76, HI 66, TT 77, PRL 77)
XPs/Pot: Maxed
[img-l]https://i.imgur.com/44DgcJ2.png[/img-l][img-l]https://i1176.photobucket.com/albums/x323/tsmoha/NRS_Portraits/NRS_Platzhalter_zps31ed228a.png[/img-l] Pim Ligthart Age 27, on the team since #2015
Wage: 120.000€
Role: TTs (FL 72, TT 78, PRL 78, SP 70)
XPs/Pot: Maxed
[img-l]https://i.imgur.com/wNgWOuS.png[/img-l][img-l]https://i1176.photobucket.com/albums/x323/tsmoha/NRS_Portraits/NRS_Platzhalter_zps31ed228a.png[/img-l] Glenn O'Shea Age 26, on the team since #2012
Wage: 50.000€
Role: TTs (FL 71, TT 75, PRL 75, SP 70)
XPs/Pot: 4.05/Pot 5 (FL 73, TT 77, PRL 77)
[img-l]https://i.imgur.com/0tMJELQ.png[/img-l][img-l]https://i1176.photobucket.com/albums/x323/tsmoha/NRS_Portraits/NRS_Platzhalter_zps31ed228a.png[/img-l] Adam Phelan Age 24, on the team since #2013
Wage: 50.000€
Role: Puncheur (HI 72, TT 70, ACC 77, FI 79)
XPs/Pot: 4.04/Pot 5 (HI 74, TT 70, ACC 79, FI 80)
[img-l]https://i.imgur.com/1RTCxQ4.png[/img-l][img-l]https://i1176.photobucket.com/albums/x323/tsmoha/NRS_Portraits/NRS_Platzhalter_zps31ed228a.png[/img-l] Rhys Gillett Age 25, on the team since #2014
Wage: 50.000€
Role: Allrounder (MO 71, HI 71, TT 68, ACC 74, FI 77)
XPs/Pot: 4.09/Pot 5 (MO 73, HI 72, TT 70, ACC 74, FI 77
[img-l]https://i1176.photobucket.com/albums/x323/tsmoha/MG14_Oz_Portraits/MG_Oz14_xx_unknown_zps9f505564.jpg[/img-l][img-l]https://i1176.photobucket.com/albums/x323/tsmoha/NRS_Portraits/NRS_Platzhalter_zps31ed228a.png[/img-l] Souheil Khederi(Loaned in/Eritel) Age 24, on the team since #2015
Wage: 50.000€
Role: Puncheur (MO 72, HI 74, ACC 71)
XPs/Pot: 4.12/Pot 5
[img-l]https://i.imgur.com/eOFtp0c.png[/img-l][img-l]https://i1176.photobucket.com/albums/x323/tsmoha/NRS_Portraits/NRS_Platzhalter_zps31ed228a.png[/img-l] Elias Afewerki(Loaned in/Eritel) Age 23, on the team since #2015
Wage: 50.000€
Role: Sprinter (FL 71, REC 76, SP 75, ACC 78)
XPs/Pot: 4.43/Pot 6
[img-l]https://i.imgur.com/FLsTONc.png[/img-l][img-l]https://i1176.photobucket.com/albums/x323/tsmoha/NRS_Portraits/NRS_Platzhalter_zps31ed228a.png[/img-l] Charles Anguilet(Loaned in/Eritel) Age 26, on the team since #2015
Wage: 50.000€
Role: Climber (MO 74, HI 72, REC 71)
XPs/Pot: 4.32/Pot 5
[img-l]https://i1176.photobucket.com/albums/x323/tsmoha/MG14_Oz_Portraits/MG_Oz14_27_Wohler_zpsc13ced37.jpg[/img-l][img-l]https://i1176.photobucket.com/albums/x323/tsmoha/NRS_Portraits/NRS_Platzhalter_zps31ed228a.png[/img-l] Alex Wohler Age 23, on the team since #2014 (loaned out last year)
Wage: 50.000€
Role: Roleur/TTs (FL 73, TT 72, FI 80, PRL 72)
XPs/Pot: 3.12/Pot 4 (FL 77, TT 76, FI 80, PRL 76)
[img-l]https://i.imgur.com/KJvdrWP.png[/img-l][img-l]https://i1176.photobucket.com/albums/x323/tsmoha/NRS_Portraits/NRS_Platzhalter_zps31ed228a.png[/img-l] Taylor Gunman Age 24, on the team since #2014 (Stagiare last year)
Wage: 50.000€
Role: TTs (FL 68, TT 73, PRL 72)
XPs/Pot: 4.02/Pot 4 (FL 70, TT 75, PRL 74)
[img-l]https://i.imgur.com/RTzeLIl.png[/img-l][img-l]https://i1176.photobucket.com/albums/x323/tsmoha/NRS_Portraits/NRS_Platzhalter_zps31ed228a.png[/img-l] James Oram Age 22, on the team since #2015
Wage: 50.000€
Role: TTs (FL 69, TT 72, PRL 72)
XPs/Pot: 3.37/Pot 6 (FL 73, TT 77, PRL 77)
[img-l]https://i.imgur.com/IC70Kn1.png[/img-l][img-l]https://i1176.photobucket.com/albums/x323/tsmoha/NRS_Portraits/NRS_Platzhalter_zps31ed228a.png[/img-l] Brenton Jones Age 24, on the team since #2015
Wage: 50.000€
Role: Sprinter (FL 70, SP 76, ACC 76)
XPs/Pot: 4.00/Pot 4 (FL 72, SP 78, ACC 78)
[img-l]https://i.imgur.com/cZyV0sj.png[/img-l][img-l]https://i1176.photobucket.com/albums/x323/tsmoha/NRS_Portraits/NRS_Platzhalter_zps31ed228a.png[/img-l] David Edwards(Stagiare) Age 22, on the team since #2015
Wage: 10.000€
Role: Allrounder (MO 65, HI 65, TT 65)
XPs/Pot: 1.00/Pot 5 (MO 74, HI 70, TT 72)
A lot relies on those TTTs, but you should be able to rack up quite a lot of points there, aswell as some other decent TT results of course. Consistently having 2-3 guys in the top 10 of the TTs with one of them doing a top 3 is a good way to keep counting upwards.
Both Pozzovivo and Morton are able to do top 10 in both GTs and smaller GC races, which again will keep the points coming, and finally Burghardt should get ~1000 points or so from his cobbled season.
Whether or not Bobridge will be competitive (enough) in the hilly one day races is a big questions mark for me. I guess he will be the leader there, which will take away 10-12 racedays and possibly could give a points haul of 400 points or less. He will, however, score consistently in the smaller GC races with hills and TT's (long or short).
Top 10 should be possible if the planning is done well enough, and you don't get unlucky in some of your target races. A very likable team btw.
Thanks, mate. I like your optimistic prediction about a possible Top-10 in the rankings, even though I can't see us doing that extraordinary well Staying up remains the ultimate goal.
Bobridge is indeed a question for me, too. Would be more confident with 81 HI, but someone offered to much for Morton on first hand With a bit of luck though, he can score here and there. Goss is another tricky thing: anything but a scoring garantuee, though he did quite well in PT two years ago, iirc.
I know you used it before but I got to say, as someone who likes to play around and find unique styles with the formats to use on the forum, your rider profile boxes are top notch.
And of course good luck this season! Hopefully we don't find ourselves on the other side of the spectrum with both us going head-to-head with each other to stay in the PT this season.
Thanks, Mre! I fear we may find us on the lower side of the rankings, but of course I would prefer both of us to stay up
|NEWS|
PRE SEASON - BAY CRITS AND CONTINENTAL CHAMPS
The official start of the 2015 ManGame season is approaching and we are happy to join two pre-season events kicking off soon: the annual Bay Cycling Classic (going into it's third edition) and the first Continental Championships will offer a few of our riders to test themselves against some strong competition prior to our official season start.
The Oz couldn't score a single victory at The Bay so far. It's definitely a goal for us to take line honours this year, so our biggest hopes are on Steele Von Hoff to show some early form on home turf. It's a great start for Oz, as always, and we're more than happy to stay Down Under to also take part at the Down Under Classic later on.
The Continental Championships will be a true test against the biggest cyclists from each continent. Our biggest hopes for a title will be Luke Durbridge (picture below) and Michael Ford (for the Asian timetrial), as well as Jack Bobridge (for the Asian road race). A few more riders will represent our colors in Asia, Europe and Africa. So we are looking forward to a busy week!
CONTI CHAMPS - FORD BEATS DURBO TO TAKE THE TT TITLE!
The Continental Championships all across the world are well underway and we're delighted to announce the first title of this very young season: Michael Ford lived up to his favorite role and took out the Asian timetrial event - beating his team mate Luke Durbridge by 23 seconds. Despite facing some tricky uphill sectors, Ford was almost a minute faster than third placed Kiwi Jesse Sergent.
A great result for Oz Cycling was completed by Wen Hao Li, who added a nice 4th place: "It's always cool to kick off the season with a timetrial", said Ford. The chrono specialist once again proved, that he's a reliable force against the clock and this victory may help him getting over his loss against Michael Rogers in the Australian TT championships last season.
In further news, our new addition Andrei Grivko rode to a notable result in the European B road race: a solid 5th placed in a race, which was dominated by Pluchkin. It was definitely nice to see Grivko on the attack.
BAY CYCLING CLASSIC - VON HOFF 6TH OVERALL, MISSING WIN
Michael Matthews has won the third Bay Cycling Classic, despite missing out on a single victory. A very close GC eventually, where just one point seperated Matthews and runner-up Mitch Docker from the overall win. We've also seen the first Sri Lankian team taking line honours in Geelong's second round.
Oz Cycling did better than last year (just one point overall), as Steele Von Hoff scored 16 points to finish 6th in the GC. Our new second tier sprinter narrowly missed out on line honours in the opening crit in Geelong, where Sam Bennett grabbed his second Bay-win in two years.
"We're still pleased with the overall performance from our boys here. Hoffy did well in the sprints and Brenton Jones did show our colors in the Portarlington Crit. It's always an honour to kick the pre-season off in our home country", said team manager TS Moha, who will now closely follow the remaining Continental Championships event (road race) for Asia.