After some badly weeks (months) for Oz Cycling, the team finally got some reason to celebrate: William Ford took a surprising win at Tour de Delhi! Thanks to a late attack a few kilometres before finish, Ford and Pokerstars' Frederik Nolf could build a small gap on the sprinting pack (with likes of Bennati and Mohs), which helped Ford winning ahead of his attack-companion Nolf and top-favourite Bennati.. Simon Clarke added a decent 5th place for Oz Cycling, while Mark Renshaw showed himself in the break (surprisingly.. he finished 23rd). "It's a great day for our team after some difficult and sometimes frustrating races", said manager T.S. Moha.

While there's not much action for Oz Cycling at the moment (except the provisional GC-lead for William Ford in ProTour's Eire Tour), the management is happy to reveal the new shirt for upcoming season. While the whole list of new sponsors will be announced at the beginning of the new season, manager T.S. Moha still wanted to take the chance to show the team's fans, which colors our riders will wear in 2013: "Our favourite designer laidbackmarc proved his skills - once again. We're so happy with the new design and want to thank marc for this work".

Some of you may notice a change of sponsors, but it's not the right time to announce any new sponsors by now. T.S. Moha: "We'll keep our direction and stay Aussie, that's for sure. It also depends on how satisified our current investors will be, as we missed several sponsor goals, but National Australia Bank (nab) will remain as our main sponsor: the nab-star also is a main part of our new shirt's design".

William? Yes, William Ford! After winning the Tour de Delhi earlier this year, Ford grabs another huge win for a struggling Oz Cycling Project (which may finish last in Cont-League). A couple of weeks ago, we already "praised" Ford's effort for this young team. But now, in the team's second ProTour-race (after Tour of Qatar), he wrote a piece of history: it happened in fifth stage of FBD Eire Tour, when Ford slipped into the leader-shirt by finishing 3rd in the stage out of a breakaway.



Ford was expected to lose his lead during the final stages, which had some tricky profiles. But things turned out well for Oz Cycling, with several succesfull breakaways and a less aggressive bunch of pre-race favourites. This - and of course a good team effort, leading Ford to the finish without any crash - led to the first stage-race win for Oz Cycling.. and to the first ProTour's stage-race won by a Conti-League-equipe! Thanks, William!

Bobridge adds another white jersey - finishes 4th overall!

Finally, it happened! Oz Cycling Project managed to achieve it's first season-goal, with Bobridge finishing 4th in final GC of Herald Sun Tour! He also added his fourth white jersey as best young rider within a stage-race this season, once again proving his important role for the new team.



While Baden Cooke failed to get his first win in this season, rising star and local hero Jack Bobridge almost made his first stage-race podium, finishing only 3" behind compatriot Allan Davis, who climbed onto final podium by winning the final stage. "There's no better way to achieve one of our goals in Australia, with our fans behind us", said manager T.S. Moha: "The last few races went very well for our team, so we're already looking forward to next year, where we hope to finish better". Speaking of the rankings, Oz Cycling is still hoping to defend a 2-points-lead (!) over Japanese team Meiji-Fuji in Asian rankings, heading two races in China and Japan!

Herald Sun Tour Final GC:

1	Kristjan Koren	California Giant Berry	15h57'54
2	Vasili Kiryenka	T.CS Bank - OJSC	+ 5
3	Allan Davis	Hollister	+ 8
4	Jack Bobridge	Oz Cycling Project	+ 11
5	Kim Kirchen	Jayco - Red Bull	s.t.
...
15	William Ford	Oz Cycling Project	+ 1'37

What a year, what a finish.. for a few days, it looked like Oz Cycling could end this season with a bang: Bobridge got the team's first season goal late in the season by finishing 4th overall in Herald Sun Tour. This made the whole team hoping to reach their last goal, 5th in Asian rankings.. OZC had to defend a 2 points-lead, but failed to do anything good in both Japan Cup and Tour of Taihu.. so.. one achieved season goal and a couple of closely missed - plus finishing last in Cont-Div-rankings! "Well, most people did exactly expect a season like that. Of course we'd hoped for more, but in the end, we have to be thankful for some wins", said manager T.S. Moha on the season-ending's party: "We will be back for more and we can promise our fans, that we will stay away from relegation in the new formed Pro Continental Leauge!"

Sponsor Goals

WIN Tour Down Under FAILED (20th, Ford)
TOP 5 Down Under Classic FAILED (7th, Cooke)
TOP 5 Herald Sun Tour ACHIEVED (4th, Bobridge)
STAGE-WIN Tour of Southland FAILED (2nd Stage 3, Laidler)
TEAM STANDINGS TOP 5 Asia FAILED (8th)

Oz Cycling Project's biggest achievements

Tour de Delhi (Ford), Nedbank Cycle Classic (Bobridge), Wellington Stage 4 (Lewis), Ras de Cymru TTT, Tour of Japan Stage 7 (Bennett)

FBD Eire (PT, Ford)

4x Bobridge, 1x Ford

Tour Down Under (Matthews)

U23 World Championships ITT (Durbridge)

Continental Division

1		Team Bianchi	5068
2		Rapha Condor - Qhubeka	4830
3		Jayco - Red Bull	4461
...
27		Cerne	1765
28		Meiji - Fuji	1506
29		Oz Cycling Project	1323

The pictures

#1 William Ford - Almost loaned out to Festina right before the season, Ford took his chance to slip into a leader's role. He finished on podium in Tour of Taiwan, grabbed a surprising win in Indian Tour de Delhi and finally wrote history by winning the ProTour-race FBD Eire! He couldn't prevent the team from failing it's Conti-League-goals, but still: Ford is one of Oz's winners in 2012!
# 2 Jack Bobridge - He felt a lot pressure as 2nd-best paid Oz-rider (360,000€), but just like Ford, "Bobo" managed to handle his expected leader's role very well. He was the first OZC-rider to win a classic (Nedbank Cycle Classic), he was the first OZC-rider to achieve a sponsor-goal (4th in Herald Sun) and he collected 4 white jerseys in 2012. Bobridge is "ready to step up as the team's captain".
# 3 George Bennett - Well, a tough choice. Bennett is OZC's best paid rider (375,000€), but he wasn't expected to score too many points in his first year though. Still, he proved his talent by winning a stage in Tour of Japan and fighting for a Top-5 in Tour de l'Avenir (currently 4th with one stage to go).

# 1 Baden Cooke - 139th in final Conti-League-rankings.. pretty says it all, doesn't it? Cooke joined this project as the team's captain, but only showed some good sprints early in the season (7th Down Under Classic, 2nd Mumbai Cyclothon I and three stage-podiums). Sure, he's an aging sprinter, but he still missed his goals.
# 2 Mark Renshaw - "I'm worth the money they pay me!" (Renshaw, one year ago). Well... one season, no notable result and 280,000€ "earned" wage later, Renshaw's words sound pretty cynical, right?! Little short of "Vantomme-sque" Free agent-to-be.
# 3 Roster management - Don't blame it all on the riders. One thing is for sure: the management has to do better in 2013! A couple of riders were overpaid, Cooke's strength had been overestimated, several riders (like veteran Hilton Clarke or Dean Windsor) were mostly unused the whole season. With 4/5 of the sponsor goals failed, manager T.S. Moha has to do find a better way to spend the budget.

The season's almost over, but George Bennett still was on a mission: Tour de l'Avenir! Oz Cycling's Kiwi and future's hope fought for a Top-5 in GC, and even though he missed it close by losing his 4th in final stage up the famous Mount Ventoux, Bennett did perform very well. He managed to win sixth stage in a close finish and his 6th overall is also a decent achievement. Manager T.S. Moha: "We know George's talent. But his two stage-wins (his first came in Tour of Japan earlier this year) show us, that George DOES know his talent, too. And that's more important than our hopes in his future. If George does believe in himself, he is a worth every second of work we all did and will spend!"



Final GC:

1	Ryan Eastman	California Giant Berry Farms	43h55'28
2	Paolo Scarponi	Wiggle - San Pellegrino	+ 1'44
3	Thibaut Pinot	Wikipedia	+ 3'01
4	Peter Sagan	Ferrari - ERG	+ 5'47
5	Carlos Betancourt	Hollister	+ 6'58
6	George Bennett	Oz Cycling Project	+ 7'25

Today Jack Bobridge's seasons officially ended: for a moment, it looked like he could end his first season with Oz Cycling Project as Australia's new road-champion. But his solo-attack was empty-handed, as he got caught close to the finish and saw Mitch Docker taking the title. Oz's new (?) captain finished 4th in both RR and ITT..

Facing a rumour, that Bobridge may leave Oz Cycling in 2013, Oz's manager T.S. Moha spoke to the local media today: "It's apparent, that we will have to look for the best solution, for both Jack and our team. And one year in ProTour for Bobo may become true, as soon as we see a chance, that will work well."

Rumours are afloat, that Bobridge met Festina's manager. T.S. Moha: "It's no secret, that we are in good terms with Team Festina, yes. But it's too early to comment on unverified stories like this one."