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Oz Cycling Project | PT15
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| tsmoha |
Posted on 09-07-2015 10:56
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Directeur Sportif
Posts: 11819
Joined: 19-07-2010
PCM$: 300.00
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|NEWS|
TWO MORE CLASSICS - TWO MORE TOP-10s FOR OZ
The Oz Cycling Project added two more Top-10 results to it's bucket, as Matthew Goss finally delivered: the reigning world champion sprinted to a satisfying 5th place in the challenging Lisbon Classic today. Despite missing the podium, we're happy with the race there. Marcus Burghardt attacked the peloton inside the final 15km, but couldn't hold on to a small gap - eventually finishing as 31st then.
Our German veteran also was amongst the most aggressive favorites in the (cobbled) East Midlands Cicle Classic, though missing out on the very crucial splits then. After launching his first attack about 65km before finish, Burghardt couldn't follow the three best riders and had to settle for a rather disappointing 9th place in England. It's not the result we had hoped for, but we still believe he will be better in the upcoming cobbles classics.
East Midlands Cicle Classic | ProTour
| 1 |  Sam Bewley | Becherovka - Petrof | 4h53'41 | | 2 |  Fabian Cancellara | Red Bull - Huawei | s.t. | | 3 |  Vladimir Gusev | Tinkoff Bank | + 1'03 | | ... | | 9 |  Marcus Burghardt | Oz Cycling Project | + 1'31 |
Lisbon Classic | ProTour
| 1 |  Dan Holloway | Red Bull - Huawei | 5h03'02 | | 2 |  Alexander Kristoff | Aker - MOT | s.t. | | 3 |  Jurgen Roelandts | Bouygues Telecom | s.t. | | 4 | Sam Bewley | Becherovka - Petrof | s.t. | | 5 |  Matthew Goss | Oz Cycling Project | s.t. |
Edited by tsmoha on 07-08-2015 11:07
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| sutty68 |
Posted on 09-07-2015 14:17
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 34654
Joined: 22-08-2010
PCM$: 200.00
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Two more nice results for your team  |
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| knockout |
Posted on 09-07-2015 14:58
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Grand Tour Champion
Posts: 7735
Joined: 21-12-2010
PCM$: 400.00
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I could just copy my last comment again. Again some very solid results but the One big result is missing.
Burghardt again 9th and while this is a bit under his level Goss made up for it with his 5th in Lisbon.
A Big Thank You To All MG Reporters! |
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| tsmoha |
Posted on 16-07-2015 21:33
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Directeur Sportif
Posts: 11819
Joined: 19-07-2010
PCM$: 300.00
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Thanks, sutty and knockout! Totally agree, that those results were very pleasant afterall. Nothing special (again), but Gossy did pretty well in Lisbon, which I really didn't see coming (especially after his start into the season)!
|NEWS|
INVISIBLE BOBRIDGE - A CONSISTENT BURGHARDT
After a series of solid Top-10 results for Oz Cycling, the team headed for two more races, where he could hope for (at least) decent results: the hilly Vuelta al Pais Vasco (with a concluding timetrial) and of course the legendary Ronde van Vlaanderen. Especially the latter as one of our most important races, in which our new cobbled leader Marcus Burghardt looks back to a great history of results - though lacking the one big win.
Jack Bobridge was our captain for Pais Vasco. Not amongst the premium puncheurs in the ProTour, the combination of hills and timetrials is still something that suits him very well. Let's keep it short though: Bobo wasn't exactly at his best in Spain, with our entire team lacking the needed aggressive racing. Always finishing clearly behind the very best, his 13th in the final GC was all he could achieve here.
Marcus Burghardt did significally better in Belgium then: with our only useful domestiques Giovanni Visconti and Andrei Grivko showing some great efforts to control the race (and major splits in the bunch), Burghardt got some nice support from our team. Unfortunatelly, Sam Bewley's attack from 55km outside the finish proved to be the winning move. Burghardt followed about ten kilometres later, dropping the rest of the field, but failing to catch up to the ProTour dominating Kiwi. His fourth 2nd place in the Ronde van Vlaanderen is a nice result for Oz, as well as Visconti's outstanding 11th place!
The not less important Paris - Roubaix will conclude the month then.
Vuelta al Pais Vasco | ProTour
| 1 | Tejay Van Garderen | Movistar - US Postal | 21h47'29 | | 2 | Edvald Boasson Hagen | Aker - MOT | + 38 | | 3 | Yuri Trofimov | Tinkoff Bank | + 1'17 | | ... | | 13 | Jack Bobridge | Oz Cycling Project | + 9'23 |
Ronde van Vlaanderen | Monument
| 1 | Sam Bewley | Becherovka - Petrof | 6h03'18 | | 2 | Marcus Burghardt | Oz Cycling Project | + 1'25 | | 3 |  Adam Blythe | Good Energy | + 2'02 | | ... | | 11 |  Giovanni Visconti | Oz Cycling Project | + 6'03 |
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| Shonak |
Posted on 18-07-2015 01:35
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 15615
Joined: 16-07-2013
PCM$: 350.00
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Really good stuff by Burghardt at De Ronde. Oz Cycling Project is doing great so far as a promoted team, impressive team performances points-wise.
Team needs moar wins though, sure they'll come in time.
"It’s a little bit scary when Contador attacks." - Tommy V
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| tsmoha |
Posted on 18-07-2015 08:52
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Directeur Sportif
Posts: 11819
Joined: 19-07-2010
PCM$: 300.00
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Shonak wrote:
Team needs moar wins though, sure they'll come in time.
Hopefully! Prior to the season, I was pretty confident to win two key TTTs (Copenhagen and Giro opener), but given the rather random timetrials so far, I'm not that sure anymore 
Thanks for stopping by! Despite a low start, we surely had some nice and consistent results.
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| tsmoha |
Posted on 20-07-2015 12:37
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Directeur Sportif
Posts: 11819
Joined: 19-07-2010
PCM$: 300.00
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|NEWS|
BEWLEY AGAIN - BURGHARDT GOES DOWN
After a quite pleasant runner-up in de Rone van Vlaanderen, Marcus Burghardt would of course be amongst the top favorites for the next monument on the menu: Paris - Roubaix. While the win could (and would) only go to the living legend Sam Bewley (who took Roubaix to win three consecutive monuments this year), we had high hopes for our best cobbler to enter the podium again.
Unfortunatelly, it wasn't the most luckiest race for Oz this time. After showing some (maybe too early) aggressive racing, Burghardt was all over the place at the very front of the race. We may question his tactics in a few situations, but Marcus obviously felt pretty good on the cobbles. All our dreams faded away in one sad moment though: Burghardt went down with a nasty fall rather late into the race and lost contact to the leading group(s)!
He got back on the bike to fight his way back - but of course this would be too much to make up. A huge fight brought him an 18th place, which is of course way too less with such a rider on your team. But that's cycling and falls just happen.
Paris - Roubaix | Monument
| 1 | Sam Bewley | Becherovka - Petrof | 6h51'15 | | 2 | Tom Boonen | Evonik - ELKO | + 34 | | 3 | Roger Kluge | Pokerstars.com | + 1'18 | | ... | | 18 | Marcus Burghardt | Oz Cycling Project | + 4'02 |
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| knockout |
Posted on 23-07-2015 17:08
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Grand Tour Champion
Posts: 7735
Joined: 21-12-2010
PCM$: 400.00
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Really a shame that Burghardt goes down in a race which propably is the most important one for him. I was really sad to see that.
A Big Thank You To All MG Reporters! |
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| tsmoha |
Posted on 02-08-2015 20:09
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Directeur Sportif
Posts: 11819
Joined: 19-07-2010
PCM$: 300.00
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|NEWS|
GIRO/CALI DOUBLE HEADER - FIRST GOAL FAILED
The biggest Grand Tour for Oz Cycling this year: Giro d'Italia. The route looked hand-made for our squad, with a long TTT opening the race and a lot of chances for sprinters to shine. Our plan: bring a strong timetrial squad (which we did), bring Goss (which we did), win at least one stage (which we didn't).
A narrow loss to Metinvest in the opening timetrial and a Matthew Goss, who podium'd three stages but not taking a single one: clearly an opportunity wasted here. Also Domenico Pozzovivo hadn't his best days in some tough hilly stages, where he lost all ambitiouns for a higher GC result. A few better days in the mountains (see the first picture below) at least made him move up to 8th - but the race kept to disappoint Oz, as he dropped to 10th in the final GC eventually (including a breakaway rider storming past him).
Not the worst result points-wise, but it should have been better. An unlucky Giro debut for our team.
We also raced the Tour of California - where Jack Bobridge took a stage (and 12th in the GC) last season. We failed pretty hard in the TTT and despite Bobridge doing quite well in the hilly key stage (second picture), he was of course to lose it in the crucial mountain stage then. His 19th place in the GC was something we could expect here.. still not too happy with the outcome, as both Bobridge and Lachlan Morton (27th eventually) didn't even try (or at least show) anything in the mountain stage.
The team is still sitting inside the Top-10 (7th) after the latest ProTour Rankings update though. A better Giro would have been welcome, as we can't expect too special results in the upcoming Ardennes classics.
Giro d'Italia | Grand Tour
| 1 |  Andy Schleck | Vesuvio - Accumalux | 82h55'30 | | 2 |  Angel Madrazo | Quickstep | + 46 | | 3 | Damiano Cunego | Meiji - JR East | + 4'10 | | ... | | 10 | Domenico Pozzovivo | Oz Cycling Project | + 22'38 |
Note | 3x 2nd in Stages (Goss, TTT), 5th in Points (Goss)
Tour of California | ProTour
| 1 | Taylor Phinney | Venchi | 24h55'14 | | 2 |  Simon Spilak | Festina-Canal+ | + 5 | | 3 |  Tiago Machado | Prio - Porto | + 31 | | ... | | 19 | Jack Bobridge | Oz Cycling Project | + 9'31 |
Edited by tsmoha on 25-08-2015 10:55
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| tsmoha |
Posted on 07-08-2015 11:08
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Directeur Sportif
Posts: 11819
Joined: 19-07-2010
PCM$: 300.00
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|NEWS|
BOBRIDGE FINISHES OFF ARDENNES WEEK AS 7th AT LBL
Someone wrote history in the past week, which featured the three Ardennes classics Amstel Gold Race, Fleche Wallone and the concluding Monument Liege - Bastogne - Liege: after Sam Bewley went for a Monument triple this year, Simone Ponzi completed a prestigious Ardennes hattrick! The Italian, who also took the final stage of the Giro d'Italia (ahead of Matthew Goss) can be considered on fire.
We were never going to compete with the very best puncheurs here, but Jack Bobridge fortunatelly bounced back from a disastrous Badaling International earlier this season: our captain went for quiet tactics, just trying to hang on with the first chasing group(s) in all of three hilly classics this week. He delivered Oz some decent results with a solid 14th at the AGR and 13th at the F-W.
Things went even better in the last - and most important - event then: with the biggest guns again going clear to fight for the Top-5, the chasing group with Bobridge wouldn't be too far behind a solo chasing Van Garderen. A stunning sprint from Bobridge would then make him finish 7th at LBL! This is definitely more than we could have hoped for.. after some invisible Ozzies earlier this week, also Souheil Khederi did show himself by joining the morning break (and finishing 35th eventually).
Amstel Gold Race | ProTour
| 1 | Simone Ponzi | Good Energy | 6h14'42 | | 2 | Simon Spilak | Festina-Canal+ | + 14 | | 3 | Ben Gastauer | Vesuvio - Accumalux | + 28 | | ... | | 14 | Jack Bobridge | Oz Cycling Project | + 2'39 |
Fleche Wallone | ProTour
| 1 | Simone Ponzi | Good Energy | 4h34'04 | | 2 | Simon Spilak | Festina-Canal+ | + 12 | | 3 | Yuri Trofimov | Tinkoff Bank | + 18 | | ... | | 13 | Jack Bobridge | Oz Cycling Project | + 1'27 |
Liege - Bastogne - Liege | Monument
| 1 | Simone Ponzi | Good Energy | 5h58'25 | | 2 | Simon Spilak | Festina-Canal+ | s.t. | | 3 | Jan Bakelants | Bouygues Telecom | s.t. | | ... | | 7 | Jack Bobridge | Oz Cycling Project | + 3'48 |
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| SotD |
Posted on 07-08-2015 12:05
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World Champion
Posts: 12188
Joined: 29-11-2006
PCM$: 2980.00
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Really strong ardennes-week for you here. I didn't think Bobridge could do that well to be honest. With a bit of training he will be a dominant rider in the future!
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Posted on 23-11-2024 07:25
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| tsmoha |
Posted on 07-08-2015 22:00
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Directeur Sportif
Posts: 11819
Joined: 19-07-2010
PCM$: 300.00
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Ardennes week went pretty well, yes. Didn't expect a Top-10, so achieving it at LBL was damn good timing from Bobo. Not sure if he will dominate in the future, but I hope he will be amongst those, which get some love from PCM AI Next Ponzi would be great!
|NEWS|
VISCONTI MISSING A TOP-15 DUE TO SPLIT ON FINAL DAY
Our next HC trip didn't go as expected/hoped: 5 Jours de Dunkerque - a race kicking off with a hilly cobbled stage. Giovanni Visconti as our leader, who finished 3rd overall last year. Here was hoping, that he would at least achieve another Top-10 result in this challenging event.
Things started promising then: Visconti again amongst the strongest in the opening stage, as he finished 4th on the day. Unfortunatelly, he couldn't create a gap on the first smaller group, where also Elias Aferwerki did well to survive some crucial splits.
With four flat stages then, it looked all set for a Top-15 result for Visconti and maybe a Top-20 for Afewerki. Visconti dropped down the GC from 4 to 12 as to be expected, but always finished safely in the bunch. Until the final day only: a major split saw both him and Afewerki losing big minutes, which would lead to Visconti finishing 22nd and Afewerki 25th in the final GC.. at least Glenn O'Shea did well there, as he sprinted to a pleasant 4th place on the stage (from the early break).
5 Jours de Dunkerque | HC
| 1 | Matteo Trentin | Risa - Ergon | 19h42'52 | | 2 | Danny Summerhill | Azteca-NBCSN | + 12 | | 3 | Tom Boonen | Evonik - ELKO | + 15 | | ... | | 22 | Giovanni Visconti | Oz Cycling Project | + 6'26 |
Note | 2x 4th Stages (Visconti, O'Shea)
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| The Rider |
Posted on 08-08-2015 21:56
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Grand Tour Specialist
Posts: 4543
Joined: 29-02-2012
PCM$: 200.00
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No massive results of late, but good points ticking over for The Oz, which are crucial for staying at a good place in the rankings.
That said the team are on a reaaaal long win drought, surely it will end soon?! |
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| tsmoha |
Posted on 08-08-2015 22:07
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Directeur Sportif
Posts: 11819
Joined: 19-07-2010
PCM$: 300.00
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The Rider wrote:
That said the team are on a reaaaal long win drought, surely it will end soon?!
I used to wait for a TTT or cobbled classic, but neither our TTT squad nor Burghardt seem to be winning material Here's hoping we will grab a win somewhere soon though!
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| tsmoha |
Posted on 25-08-2015 10:50
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Directeur Sportif
Posts: 11819
Joined: 19-07-2010
PCM$: 300.00
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|NEWS|
NEXT 10th PLACE FOR POZZOVIVO IN A GRAND TOUR
Despite taking a stage and another Top-10 in the GC, the Vuelta a Espana didn't bring Oz too many points. The team is still holding on to a place inside the best ten in the latest ProTour rankings update.
Matthew Goss once again struggled to do anything special in a Grand Tour and so his best result was a 4th place. In a stronger sprinters field than in Italy, our main sprinter never looked competitive for podium finishes. Opposing to Rhys Gillett, who took an unexpected solo victory in stage seven. A huge moment for the talent and our first GT stage-victory!
Domenico Pozzovivo went for his second 10th place in a Grand Tour GC then. Our veteran stage racer had his ups and downs, but his best stage-result on day nineteen (5th on the stage) secured himself a nice GC placing in his first Vuelta appearance. Unfortunately, the Oz didn't show up in too many breakaways, so we didn't score too many points in addition to those already mentioned. Giovanni Visconti and Jack Haig (second picture below) at least tried though. Haig with a solid finish as 6th on the first mountain stage then.
Our next HC trip was held in Belgium/Netherlands: Eneco Tour. In a packed field, Steele Van Hoff had to settle for a couple of Top-20s in those flat stages. Our only breakaway appearance in four days came by Alex Wohler, who grabbed minor bonifications to avoid a 0-pointer as 27th in the final GC. Nothing special, but of course it's mostly about luck in such a race.
Vuelta a Espana | Grand Tour
| 1 |  Aleksandr Pluchkin | Metinvest-Dacia | 78h21'14 | | 2 | Justo Tenorio | Bacardi Limited | + 3'44 | | 3 |  Robert Gesink | Project 1t4i | + 5'35 | | ... | | 10 | Domenico Pozzovivo | Oz Cycling Project | + 21'37 |
Note | Stage-win (Gillett)
Eneco Tour | HC
| 1 | Mark Cavendish | Eddie Stobart Procycling | 16h50'25 | | 2 | Tom Boonen | Evonik - ELKO | + 3 | | 3 | Maxime Vantomme | Team TomTom | + 6 | | ... | | 27 | Alex Wohler | Oz Cycling Project | + 54 |
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| tsmoha |
Posted on 01-09-2015 21:40
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Directeur Sportif
Posts: 11819
Joined: 19-07-2010
PCM$: 300.00
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|NEWS|
SUISSE/DAUPHINE: MORTON 16th, POZZOVIVO 8th
The Pre-Tour double header with the Tour de Suisse and Criterium du Dauphine concluded today. After a rollercoaster race in the Switzerland, the Oz did pretty well in France. No matter the results, both races definitely entertained with some thrill - so we're already looking forward to the biggest race of the year.
Lachlan Morton led our team for the Tour de Suisse - just like he will do in Le Tour. The young gun proved, that he's still something to learn, as he lost significant time on a couple of key stages. He then, however, gained back time in a weird flat stages (as part of Matthew Goss's train) and launched a crucial move on the final stage, where he took a 3rd place to move up to 16th in the final GC.. Goss had some solid sprints, but his 3rd place on second day was also his best result here.
Domenico Pozzovivo once again proved that he's a reliable stage racer for Oz: his 8th place at the Criterium Dauphine was his fourth Top-10 in a stage race this year. Our first TTT-win this year helped him, as well as a strong showing on the first mountain stage (5th on the stage). He dropped a few places then, but it's a pleasant result nevertheless.. Luke Durbridge wasn't a factor in the ITT, but did wear the leader-shirt after the TTT - for just one day though.
Tour de Suisse | ProTour
| 1 |  Simon Spilak | Festina-Canal+ | 33h40'09 | | 2 | Taylor Phinney | Venchi | + 3'13 | | 3 | Angel Madrazo | Quickstep | + 6'01 | | ... | | 16 | Lachlan Morton | Oz Cycling Project | + 21'46 |
Note | 2x 3rd on stages (Goss, Morton), 3rd U25 (Morton)
Criterium du Dauphiné Liberé | ProTour
| 1 |  Rein Taaramäe | Bouygues Telecom | 27h55'24 | | 2 | Andy Schleck | Vesuvio - Accumalux | + 58 | | 3 | Robert Gesink | Project 1t4i | + 4'06 | | ... | | 8 | Domenico Pozzovivo | Oz Cycling Project | + 7'34 |
Note | Stage-win (TTT)
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| tsmoha |
Posted on 10-10-2015 08:46
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Directeur Sportif
Posts: 11819
Joined: 19-07-2010
PCM$: 300.00
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|NEWS|
MEDIOZRITY - GOSS CLEARLY MISSES ANOTHER GOAL
It's been a while since our latest updates on results and unfortunatelly we've nothing big to come up with today: a few quiet races saw our team slipping down the ProTour rankings to 12th and Matthew Goss clearly missed out on our next (win) goal when sprinting to a disappointing 13th place in the GP Moscow just a few days ago. It's anything but a special season for the reigning world champion on the road.. one of our manager's favorite riders - William Ford - at least launched a late attack, eventually finishing as respectable 26th.
The Tour de France went more or less as expected though: while Aleksandr Pluchkin completed the Giro-Tour double and lifted Metinvest up the rankings, our squad didn't exceed our low expactations. A few breakaway appearances, but nothing notable. Lachlan Morton didn't compete with the very best, but at least saved his best for the last: his brave breakaway efforts on stage twenty almost made him take the stage up 'Mont Brisane' - but Pluchkin went mad to also take this one. Morton did gain back some minutes he lost before and the 3rd on the stage (see first picture below) moved up to 15th in the final GC. Didn't really expexted much more this year.
We did expect some more aggressive racing from Jack Bobridge in the Deutschland Tour though: while our premium puncheur rode to a quiet 26th place in the GC, it was local hero Marcus Burghardt, who saved Oz from scoring a total disastrous result there. His breakaway on stage six made him finish 10th on the stage (see second picture below) and 15th in the final GC. Not much more happened for Oz in Germany though.
Tour de France | Grand Tour
| 1 |  Aleksandr Pluchkin | Metinvest-Dacia | 80h30'01 | | 2 | Rein Taaramäe | Bouygues Telecom | + 4'30 | | 3 |  Andrei Amador | Swisscom - UBS | + 4'41 | | ... | | 15 | Lachlan Morton | Oz Cycling Project | + 26'47 |
Note | 3rd Stage 20 (Morton)
Deutschland Tour | ProTour
| 1 | Simone Ponzi | Good Energy | 33h36'01 | | 2 | Francesco Ginanni | Pokerstars.com | + 24 | | 3 | Riccardo Ricco | Festina-Canal+ | s.t. | | ... | | 15 | Marcus Burghardt | Oz Cycling Project | + 2'03 |
GP Moscow | ProTour
| 1 | Sam Bewley | Becherovka - Petrof | 4h31'16 | | 2 | Peter Kennaugh | Orange - KLM Cycling | s.t. | | 3 | Alexander Kristoff | Aker - MOT | s.t. | | ... | | 13 | Matthew Goss | Oz Cycling Project | s.t. |
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| sutty68 |
Posted on 18-10-2015 00:56
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 34654
Joined: 22-08-2010
PCM$: 200.00
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Congratulations on the stage win for Lachlan Morton at the Tour de L'Avenir. |
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| tsmoha |
Posted on 22-10-2015 21:05
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Directeur Sportif
Posts: 11819
Joined: 19-07-2010
PCM$: 300.00
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Thanks, sutty. Things went pretty well in France this time
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| tastasol |
Posted on 22-10-2015 22:57
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Classics Specialist
Posts: 2889
Joined: 11-09-2010
PCM$: 200.00
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Yay! Big congrats There has been some good years for Australian cycling recently. Even though this was in many ways a two-man job with Haig and Morton himself, it was great to be a part of a winning team with Watson. Thanks for having us
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