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The Oz Cycling Project #PCT14
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| tsmoha |
Posted on 27-04-2014 21:22
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Directeur Sportif
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roturn wrote:
Nice to see you taking something out of the home race. Sprinter field was just too strong for much more.
Bobridge could have been ahead of Ben Nasser and Gautier I think. But he should score well anyway.
A late thanks  Not the best TdU for Oz, but I guess a stage-win was a diffcult thing, so I'm happy he took it... not sure about Bobridge.. since he did well in ToSA most recently, I'm glad with my decision.
Poorish in South China - Bobridge in South Africa
February kicked off with one less and one more promising race for Oz Cycling: while he had at least hopes for another surprising result in Tour of South China Sea (where Will Ford and Visconti made the Top-10 one year ago), we didn't really expected Oz to shine this year. A 23rd place for Giovanni Visconti has to do, even though it's a pity we missed the (winning) breakaway group.
The more important (HC) race just finished today: the Tour of South Africa. The first appearance for Jack Bobridge in the 2014 season, we definitely hoped for a Top-5 here. The packed startlist wouldn't make things easy, but Bobo was one of the favorites for a nice GC-result.
And our captain did not let us down. Eventually finishing 4th in GC, Bobridge showed some aggressive racing, which almost made him challenge for the points-classification - thanks to several Top-10s in the tricky stages. Unfortunatelly, he suffered from his previous efforts on final day, missing both the chance to hit the podium in GC and to grab the points-jersey.
Anyway, we're quite happy with the performance: 4th in GC (plus 2nd in U25-rankings) and 3rd in the Team's Classification made for a nice overall result for Oz. Pengda Jiao (21st) and Simon Gerrans (31st, in the mix for the KoM-competition) had some good days, too.
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| aidanvn13 |
Posted on 29-04-2014 08:56
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Classics Specialist
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Well, South China Seas was quite a PCM farce once again, but your team did well in South Africa. Hilly races are always unpredictable, but I think you can be happy with Bobridge grabbing a top 5. Also, 2nd u25 and 3rd in team standings also brings some points along 
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| tsmoha |
Posted on 29-04-2014 09:26
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Directeur Sportif
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Thanks, mate! While it's still too early in the season to panic with some teams like La Vie scoring big time, it's definitely nice to finish Top-5 in this HC-race. Especially as also favorites can have off-races like Dowsett here. So Bobridge did well
Just like Hategeka, imo. A Top-10 is a nice result given the heavy competition!
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| tsmoha |
Posted on 10-05-2014 18:30
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Directeur Sportif
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Can we cobble? Yes, we can!
Cobbles and Oz - you wouldn't have heard those two words within the same sentence too often in the past two years. But this may change with the addition of Jesus Del Nero (and Giovanni Visconti actually aiming for some cobbled races this year, too)!
The Spanish veteran, who joined Oz Cycling for a small fee late in the transfer season, was our man for an at least decent result in the Dwaars Door Vlaanderen. And Jesus delivered! While the management had hoped for a Top-15/20, the veteran played his allround skills very well to go for a huge result.
Del Nero went for smart tactics: playing it safely til the crucial attacks, waiting for his time to come. After missing (or passing on) the top-favorites' moves, he later fought his way from the remaining bunch to an elite group of six riders (see picture below), who would battle for the win eventually. While he was never a real threat in this group, Del Nero did very well to hang on for a great 7th place, finishing 36" ahead of a next group with some strong cobblers.
More of this, please!
#Results Dwaars Door Vlaanderen
| 1 |  Bernhard Eisel | AMEXpc | 4h20'09 | | 2 |  Jérôme Baugnies | Quickstep | s.t. | | 3 |  Geraint Thomas | Boeing-Bulgaria Bicycling | s.t. | | ... | | 7 |  Jesus Del Nero | Oz Cycling Project | s.t. |
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| Mresuperstar |
Posted on 10-05-2014 18:33
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Grand Tour Champion
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Congrats, I would have been interested in Del Nero but he wasn't made publicly available until late in the transfer season after I used up my funds. 
Maybe next offseason.
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| TheManxMissile |
Posted on 10-05-2014 18:35
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Tour de France Champion
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He can replace Altur for you 
Really impressed by Oz there. Was a great ride and your season is going alright overall, keep it up!
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| Alakagom |
Posted on 10-05-2014 18:36
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World Champion
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Great result for you, Del Nero delivered in fantastic way. Definitely a great asset your have in him.
No surprise Mre already expressing intrest, he likes the oldies
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| tsmoha |
Posted on 10-05-2014 21:00
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Directeur Sportif
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Thanks, guys! Definitely a very nice result and Del Nero already proves to be a nice addition, yes
And Mre I guess Del Nero is more like an one-year and no-risk "project" for Oz, so yeah, put him on your list
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| tsmoha |
Posted on 18-05-2014 21:17
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Directeur Sportif
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Two "fails" for one "hallelujah"!
Since our last update, Oz Cycling showed off in a few more races and we'll focus on three hilly classics for this newest update: the double-header with Strade Bianchi (HC) and Gisborne GP (C1) was a quite important day for our team, on which Jack Bobridge had his first one day race this year.
And it was his appearance in Gisborne, New Zealand, which made Oz hope for an outstanding result. Unfortunately the startlist was as packed as an HC-race and Jack missed the crucial moves after trying a few empty-handed attacks by himself before. He fought til end though and had to settle for 11th place eventually.
Giovanni Visconti led our team at the Strade Bianchi, so on home soil. He did well to hang on with the very best to finish in the first bigger group, where couldn't sprint for a Top-10 though, as he crossed the line as 13th. Not really a fail, but in addition to Bobridge's race, the double-header didn't really went too well.
Only a few hours ago, Bobridge brought home an impressive result from Scandinavia though: in a race, that saw also Wes Sulzberger quite active in the break of the day, our captain waited for the final climb to finish off a bunch sprint as 3rd (picture below), just beaten by solo-winning Di Maggio and a still impressive Gautier 2.0. A very nice result for Oz this time!
#Results Strade Bianche
| 1 | Michael Van Stayen | Venchi - Ferranti | 4h38'31 | | 2 |  Hassen Ben Nasser | Team Kenya Airways | + 17 | | 3 |  Diego Ulissi | Bacardi Limited | + 34 | | ... | | 13 | Giovanni Visconti | Oz Cycling Project | + 38 |
#Results Gisborne GP
| 1 |  Cyril Gautier | La Vie Claire | 5h38'14 | | 2 | Jonathan Bellis | RBC Pro Cycling | + 18 | | 3 |  Dan Craven | Venchi - Ferranti | s.t. | | ... | | 11 |  Jack Bobridge | Oz Cycling Project | + 1'46 |
#Results Scandinavia Open Road Race
| 1 | Cesare Di Maggio | Venchi - Ferranti | 5h06'43 | | 2 | Cyril Gautier | La Vie Claire | + 17 | | 3 | Jack Bobridge | Oz Cycling Project | s.t. |
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| tsmoha |
Posted on 19-05-2014 20:43
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Directeur Sportif
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More cobbles (sort of) - more success
The Driedaagse De Panne, featuring four stages, was The Oz's second appearance in a cobbled race and the team continued to deliver wherever a pavement-sector appears: well, to be honest, cobbles weren't exactly much of a factor here - opposing to heavy crosswinds and short climbs in the opening stage.
This opener was also the key for Oz's success: Kristjan Koren, as well as Giovanni Visconti and Jesus Del Nero, finished this stage off in the leading group, where about 40 riders saved their chances for a good GC-result.
Koren and Visconti would be our biggest hopes for such a result and both did well to stay in contention until the concluding and crucial timetrial. Unfortunately, also Ian Bibby (Jaguar) did so well and did even manage to grab some bonus seconds on second day. A result, that would bring him the GC-win eventually.
Anyway, we are more than happy with Koren's runner-up in the final GC, while a bit disappointed by Visconti not playing his TT-skills for more than an 18th place. Timetrials though do some good things to Oz often, so Michael Ford's stage-win (plus Koren and Olman making for an 1-2-4) is worth a mention.
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| Ad Bot |
Posted on 22-11-2024 18:44
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| tsmoha |
Posted on 23-05-2014 11:36
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Directeur Sportif
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Two more classics - no more special results
Even though two more important stage-races are recently in the focus for our team, we still want to keep you updated with two more one day classics, in which Oz Cycling took part.
The prestigious climbing festival Kenya Mountain Classic is one of George Bennett's few chances to lead our team as the true leader this year and our Kiwi talent did quite well eventually: his 14th place ain't too special, but given the heavy competition, he finished where the team expected him to be. After struggling earlier in the tough finishing climb, George fought his way back to achieve a Top-15 (see picture below).
The next cobbled classic for our team was held in Rheden, Netherlands. With Jesus Del Nero proving his skills at the Dwaars Door Vlaanderen a couple of weeks before, we had some hopes for at least another Top-20. But this time, our veteran wouldn't manage to join the crucial moves, eventually finishing as 53rd.. Oz's best would be Sonomtseren Delgerbayar as 37th, who was also part of the break of the day.
#Results Kenya Mountain Classic
| 1 | Beñat Intxausti | Bacardi Limited | 4h35'09 | | 2 |  Fabio Duarte | Venchi - Ferranti | + 19 | | 3 | David Abal | Team CSC-Orbea | + 47 | | ... | | 14 | George Bennett | Oz Cycling Project | + 3'18 |
#Results Rheden GP
| 1 | Nick Nuyens | Gazelle | 4h34'48 | | 2 |  Sebastian Langeveld | Heineken-Cal Giant | s.t. | | 3 | Jérôme Baugnies | Quickstep | s.t. | | ... | | 37 |  Sono Delgerbayar | Oz Cycling Project | + 4'31 |
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| tsmoha |
Posted on 23-05-2014 20:50
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Directeur Sportif
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Craven dominates in Ukraine - Koren goes for 6th
The recently finished Tour of Ukraine, held for the first time in the ManGame-history, suited those puncheurs, who also like to timetrial. A perfect setup for Jack Bobridge? Yes. But with also Kristjan Koren on our roster, the management decided to give him a chance to add some points, with "Bobo" using his racedays to add further ones.
A Top-5 looked possible prior to the race, with only the top-favorite Ignatiev being rated stronger in TTs and only a few better puncheurs at the start.. unfortunatelly, Koren hadn't his best day in the crucial hilly stage on third day - finishing the final climb off in the main group, that would lose two minutes on a dominating Craven and about a minute on other contenders like Gerdemann or Kangert.
Koren though did quite well in the also decisive timetrial (4th), where he missed the GC's Top-5 thanks to an outstanding performance by Nepomnyachsniy for Kazzinc. Anyway, Koren's 6th place in GC, as well as Mark O'Brien on 16th plus our team winning the team's competition, the race didn't go that bad. Except of Michael Rogers being totally chanceless thanks to some bad positioning and an early split on third day.
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| knockout |
Posted on 23-05-2014 21:06
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Grand Tour Champion
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Koren seems to be in good shape!
Edited by knockout on 25-05-2014 19:04
A Big Thank You To All MG Reporters! |
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| tsmoha |
Posted on 24-05-2014 11:40
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Directeur Sportif
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Yap, quite happy with this most recent results in De Panne and Ukraine Even though he could have done better in Ukraine if he hadn't been that passive on the crucial hilltop-finish. Won't complain though. It's good to have someone like him competing for Top-5s wherever Bobridge isn't racing for Oz.
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| jph27 |
Posted on 24-05-2014 11:44
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Some good results for you so far. As one of the teams I benchmark my own against, I'm looking forward to a good fight with our teams being quite similar. Fantastic HQ by the way |
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| tsmoha |
Posted on 25-05-2014 18:41
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Directeur Sportif
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@jph: Thanks for the kind words on the HQ! Yeah, expect us to be in the same area rankings-wise. We lack this outstanding results like Maillet or Gautier, but did quite well in most of our races.
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| tsmoha |
Posted on 25-05-2014 20:50
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Directeur Sportif
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Ford crashes, Olman delivers - Goss misses stage win
The Olympia's Tour, a 7-day-event with two short timetrials, was always one of our main targets to score both stage-wins (Goss) and good GC-results (Ford, Olman). Eventually, The Oz definitely got something out of it, but had some tough luck as well.
Michael Ford took out the prologue (with Miles Olman grabbing a 4th place) and proved his favorite-status for those TTs. We always knew, this race would be a tricky one, as our pure TT-specialists tend to struggle on longer road races. But of course we could hope for Ford to hang on for more.
A nasty crash on second day would already destroy his dreams of an outstanding GC-result. Olman though avoided any serious trouble in the further days and repeated his 4th place in the second timetrial to finish 4th in GC eventually. So a nice result, even though Ford most probably could have taken the overall win without his bad luck.
Our premium sprinter Matthew Goss had no chance against a dominating Dan Holloway, but he did quite well with four Top-5 finishes and two 2nd places (4th in points). For the third time in a row, Oz Cycling grabbed the team's competition to make for a decent race overall: stage-win, 8x Top-5 in stages, best team and 4th in GC.
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| tsmoha |
Posted on 30-09-2014 21:43
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Directeur Sportif
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Oz continues to deliver on cobbles - Visconti this time!
After a rather long abscence, the Oz Cycling Project's manager TS Moha is finally back at his office and so we want to revive our HQ with updates from all races, we took part at in the meantime. We'll kick off this reviews with two cobbled HC-races (held back in late March and early April).
A less eventful E3 Prijs saw a group of 30 riders finishing in the front group, with our Italian veteran Giovanni Visconti grabbing a decent 10th place eventually. Worth a mention: AMEXpc with two on the podium, Eisel grabbing a prestigious win.
A way more action-packed Tour of the Battenkill would eventually become even more succesfull for our cobbles-loving squad: with serious attacks already being launched halfway through a tough race, both Visconti (6th) and Jesus Del Nero (13th) managed to finish the race in the leading group, completing a very nice cobbled double-header for our team. Worth a mention: AMEXpc with two on the podium, Breschel grabbing a prestigious win.
#Results E3 Prijs - Harelbeke
| 1 | Bernhard Eisel | AMEXpc | 5h11'12 | | 2 | Gert Steegmans | Gazelle | s.t. | | 3 |  Matti Breschel | AMEXpc | s.t. | | ... | | 10 | Giovanni Visconti | Oz Cycling Project | s.t. |
#Results Tour of the Battenkill
| 1 | Matti Breschel | AMEXpc | 5h21'42 | | 2 | Tom Veelers | Team Hornbach | s.t. | | 3 | Bernhard Eisel | AMEXpc | s.t. | | ... | | 6 | Giovanni Visconti | Oz Cycling Project | s.t. | | ... | | 13 | Jesus Del Nero | Oz Cycling Project | s.t. |
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| Alakagom |
Posted on 30-09-2014 22:01
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World Champion
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The cobble niche for Oz seems to be working quite well. Visconti is a perfect PCM rider and proving so this year!
And glad to have you back 
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| TheManxMissile |
Posted on 30-09-2014 22:19
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Tour de France Champion
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Still <3 U, and still love the HQ graphics etc etc
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Toms Skujins
![imgur.com/KlJUqDx.jpg[/img[img]]https://imgur.com/yUygrQ.jpg](https://imgur.com/KlJUqDx.jpg[/img[img]]https://imgur.com/yUygrQ.jpg)
Tanel Kangert
Linus Gerdemann
Mikhail Ignatiev
Yevgeni Nepomnyachsniy
Dan Holloway
