Coupers Brewery (est.1852), Australia's oldest and only remaining faimly brewery, is pleased to announce the formation of Coupers Premium Ales Cycling.
Based in Adelaide, South Australia, the home of the UCI ProTour event Tour Down Under, Coupers Premium Ales Cycling has been granted Continental trade team status and will subsequently compete in the 2010 UCI Continental Tour. While ambitious, Coupers management believe the aim of ProTour competition by 2013 is attainable, potentially making Coupers Premium Ales Cycling the first Australian ProTour team. While ProTour promotion is the long-term goal, the immediate goal is to promote local talent and raise the profile of professional competitive cycling within Australia and Oceania.
Young manager, Mr. Jim Socott will take the reigns for 2010 and 2011 with an option to extend his contract for a further year until, December 2012.
The team in currently in talks with a number of riders, however it is expected that the team will be composed largely of young Australian riders, with exceptions being made on a case by case basis. The team roster is expected to be finalised by 1/12/09.
For further information, contact:
And with that, it was out there. The project I'd been working on for months was beginning to come to fruition. We were only going to be a small team, at first anyway, but I couldn't see any reason we couldn't be competitive. I'd already signed several young hopefuls to the roster, and was working on a couple of bigger names, but that's another press release for another day.
Edited by thommo09 on 02-07-2010 07:38
With only limited funds at my disposal, I was going to have to rely on young unknowns to make up the bulk of my team and with that in mind I'd spent the previous few weeks travelling the country, watching club races and hassling the wise old locals for information.
These long days in the cold of winter had paid some dividends and I signed the first five riders to the roster before the project had even been announced:
Che Rowe - 18
At only 18, Che will be one of the youngest members of the squad and I'm really not expecting much from him over the first couple of years. Found at a track meet in Sydney, he had an excellent turn of speed for a developing rider, however he's obviously going to struggle on anything other than the flat.
Tony Trent - 18
Found at the same track meet in Sydney, Tony and Che were the stand out riders of the group. Tony, clearly posseses a better kick than Che, but I'd say Che has him covered in most other areas.
Aaron Fallon - 20
Calling himself a climber, Tony is obviously delusional. However, after watching him descend in the Tour of Bright, I'd say he's more suicidal. Either way, it looks like mountain stages might be where he's most comfortable...he just has to stay with the peloton to get there in the first place.
Greg Nicholson - 21
I saw Greg at a few different events, so it seems he takes his preparation seriously, but it was definately the Victorian State Champs where he caught my attention, winning the U/23 ITT comfortably. So we have our first time trial specialist.
Steven Perez - 19
I'd known about Steve for some time and had watched him rise through the ranks at my own local club to the point where he was regularly winning the A-grade criteriums over summer (against some highly credentialled locals, I might add). However, I'm well aware that its a huge leap from local star to professional, but with a solid sprint for such a young rider, I've got high hopes that Stevie can make an impact in time.
Already a month in and no new signings. It seems last months press release didn't make waves in the cycling world like I'd been hoping. Not to worry though, I'd been researching local and national cycling records over the past few weeks, looking for any available riders that might fit the bill. I hadn't been having much luck until I went through the records of my old favourite team, Drapac Porsche. Turns out they had a few 'old' squad members who hadn't found a new ride elsewhere; Ben Day and Mark O'Brien. So I set about getting in touch to sound them out.
Mark O'Brien - 22
Mark was rapt when I called him and his enthusiasm was so contagious that I offered him a contract right then and there. I don't know much about him, except that he seems to be a reasonable all-rounder, although he likes to call himself a climber. We'll see...
Ben Day
I remember watching Ben in a couple of the larger races a few years back, in fact I was impressed by his time-trialling ability and was really keen to get him on board. Unfortunately, he wasn't so keen to hear from me:
"Hello"
"G'day, is that Mr. Ben Day?" I asked.
"Who's asking?"
"I'm Jim Socott, sporting director of Coupers Premium..."
"I know who you are" he interupted, "I haven't returned your calls for a reason mate."
"Well fill me in" I replied.
"Look, I left Drapac because I was sick to death of living out of a suitcase in dirty, stinking hostels, only to get up before sunrise to ride with a bunch of talentless no hopers! Plus, I haven't been on a bike for over two years. So no, Mr. Socott, I'm not interested in your little project" CLUNK, he hung up.
Not to be deterred, I called straight back.
"Ben, just hear me out, please"
"You've got 30 seconds" he said rather bluntly.
"I understand your concerns, but the reality is that we've got a group of really talented and dedicated youngsters ready to have a go, all we need is someone who can guide them and, more importantly, lead them when the going gets tough out on the road. Someone with experience, but still talented enough to finish off their hard work. And don't worry about our budget, Coupers are a very generous sponsor" I lied, but I was getting desperate and we really needed a 'big' name on the team "I want you to be our leader for next year, and you can even keep that daggy little tickler on your chin."
"Your 30 seconds is up" he said, as my heart sank.
"Just think about it, you've got my number now, you can call me at any time" I said before he hung up again.
'Great' I thought.
Thankfully, that afternoon I got a call from Mark O about a rider he'd met a few years earlier and who was now looking for a ride.
John Devine - 24
Well that was a lightning fast signing! No more than several hours after Mark had called and John was the newest member of our team. A steady climber from the US (thankfully the sponsor has a market in homebrew products over there, so I can't see it being a problem) who I know almost nothing about, but, hey, things are looking dire and he can't be any worse than the rest of the clowns I've signed so far.
Edited by thommo09 on 21-04-2011 06:24
Over a month since my last entry and, thankfully, we've made some progress with our signings.
David Stick - 21
To be honest, Dave is a bit of a nothing rider for us. I'm really not expecting him to be up for much more than water bottle duty, but he's always done well in club TT's and a few people have said he's got an excellent attitude, so I'm willing to give him a go. Might not see much of him this year though, to be honest.
I've also widened my search for free agents and have come across some interesting prospects. It took some very late-night phone calls, but I finally got the guy I was after.
Dan Fleeman - 27
The ex-Cervelo Test Team rider is by far the strongest we've managed to snare. A genuine chance for results in some of the smaller tours, Dan will more often than not be our leader. He'll also show his worth in the hilly classics and his experience will be invaluable to our team of youngsters. His nationality might be an issue with the sponsor, but I'm sure I can find a way to spin it.
So, with roughly 2 months until I have to present my squad of 12 to the sponsors and media, I only have 3 spots on the roster left, better make them count!
"HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU....HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU....HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAR JIM....HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU"
It was my birthday and I thought I'd use the occassion as an opportunity to get the guys together. All of the riders were there that I'd signed so far, except for Dave Stick, who decided he had better things to do. Not a great start for the lad, but I'll let it slide this time.
After a few of Coupers finest, and as everyone is leaving, Dave and a mate of his arrive...blind as bats. Young Dave proceeds to tell me all about this drunk friend of his and how I should sign him to the team. "Not likely" I think as I call a cab for the two louts.
The next morning as I'm cleaning up from the previous night's activities I call Dave, hoping to wake him.
"Righto, tell me about your mate" I say, after its clear that the lad isn't going to leave it. Dave proceeds to tell me every little thing about his young friend. He's adamant that kid is a machine and worth a shot and it turns out the lad actually plays football at my old club. A few calls later and my contacts confirm what Dave is telling me; he's a natural born athlete, but his attitude is rubbish. Who knows though, he can't be any worse than Dave. So a few phone calls later and the young party animal is part of the team...fingers crossed he'll be worth a few laughs at least.
John Thomas - 18
Unknown.
Edited by thommo09 on 02-07-2010 07:39
Only a week until presentation time and I still have 2 spots to fill! I'm starting to stress and basically anyone will do.
Going over my earlier leads again and I realised there's another ex-Drapac rider currently not riding.
Gene Michael Bates - 28
A solid all-rounder with a reasonable finish and a huge heart, absolutely exactly what the team needs. Has a lot of experience and will give us someone to really work for.
I rang him straight away to organise a meeting for the 27th.
27/11/09
Well Gene has just left my office and is the new leader of Coupers Cycling! A huge coup for such a small team and will give us the real possibility of some results next year. Sure, he's not a standout in any area, but with some clever tactics and a touch of luck he'll score a few points here and there.
30/11/09
Unexpectedly, the phone rang at 9:15pm last night, just as I was about to offer local lawn bowls champion, Peter Devins, a contract.
"Hello" I answered
"Uhh, hi, it's, uh Ben Day here..." the voice on the other end stammered
"G'day Ben, how can I help you?" I quickly replied
"Look I've just finished dinner with Gene and he's told me that he's just signed for your team"
"Go on"
"Well, does your offer still stand?"
"Absolutely" I said
And suddenly I had no need for old Peter Devins, thankfully, I wasn't really sure his skills would be all that suitable for racing a bike...
Edited by thommo09 on 02-07-2010 07:36
Coupers Premium Ales Cycling is pleased to present the squad for the upcoming 2010 UCI Continental Tour season.
Leaders:
Gene Bates
Daniel Fleeman
Climbers/Puncheurs:
John Devine
Mark O'Brien
Time-Trialists:
Ben Day
John Thomas
Sprinters:
Steven Perez
Che Rowe
Domestiques:
Aaron Fallon
Greg Nicholson
David Stick
Tony Trent
While this is a young team, we hope that some strong results will be possible, and as such the main sponsor has set the following goals for the season:
Top 10: Ciclista Internacional a Mallorca Top 10: Tour Cycliste International du Haut Var Top 10: Giro dell'Appennino Top 10: Vuelta Ciclista a la Rioja Top 10: Gran Pemio Citta di Camalore Top 10: Tre Valli Varesine
We wish the team the best of luck for the upcoming season.
ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster wrote:
All the best young man, all the best. I see you're destined to be even worse in the sprints than me.
Yeah sprints definately aren't our strong point this season (not that we really have a strong point ), thankfully there are a few strong Australian sprinters out of contract at the end of this season (Sutton, Goss, Davis?). So just gotta struggle through until I can get my hands on one of them....hopefully.
The season started for the guys with an 8 day training camp in Sagres, Portugal; which sounds nice, but in reality they were staying at a school camp site, with all the luxuries that goes with such a place. Ben called me the moment they arrived to have a whinge, so I immediately scheduled a 5 hour endurance session for the next morning to help take his mind off it. The following 7 days weren't much easier as I was pretty sure most of the guys needed a tough workout, particularly the guys who had 2009 "off the bike", so to speak.
13/01/10 Australian Championships RR
The guys flew straight from camp to the Australian National Champs, where I was hopeful our heavy training camp would give the guys an edge come race day.
And it looked like my plan would pay off, with the guys breaking the pack up early on and putting as much as 4:00 between the peleton and the front group. Somehow though, what was left of the main group managed to pull the gap back and with a little over 20km to go Cadel Evans took off, with Gene hot on his heels and Robbie McEwan reacting slowly, but chasing hard. With just 5km to go, Evans was well clear with Gene and McEwan working together to keep the peloton at bay. Unfortunately, McEwan had way too much of a sprint for Gene to follow and nearly pipped Evans at the line, leaving Gene to roll in for 3rd in his first race on his new colours. Not quite what I'd hoped for, but a good start none-the-less.
19/01/10 Tour Down Under
I was amazed when I opened my email to read a message from Mike Turtur, giving us the green light to race in the 2010 Tour Down Under, I suppose I shouldn't really have been so shocked, given that I've known Mike for several years now and that we're well and truly a local team.
Anyway, we were in a ProTour race long before anyone had expected, and in our hometown, the sponsors were sure to be happy! Unfortunately I felt that the course couldn't have been worse for us, with the TDU being a sprinters paradise and our severe lack of sprinters being our Achillies Heel, the best we could hope for was a long break away to generate some publicity for the team.
Amazingly, we made a huge start to the week of racing, when Gene stepped up again and sliced past some highly fancied opponents to come home in 7th in the bunch sprint. While we didn't get a win, we sure celebrated like we had. Partying at a brewery is something else entirely and unfortunately I overdid it, more than a little bit. I awoke the next morning in the Eastern Parklands, with a splitting headache and minus the right leg of my Levis...God only knows what I did the night before!
A couple of quick calls and my old track coach, Richard Lewis, had agreed to look after the boys for the day while I searched for my missing denim and tried to repair the briddges I'd no doubt burned the night before. Apparently nothing exciting happened and the bunch finished in another sprint; Pettachi beating home Steegmans and Pozzato for the points.
It became apparent that my tactical nous wasn't going to make much difference in such a high quality field, so I put old Dick in charge for the next couple of days and it turned out I was right; bunch sprints with our boys nowhere to seen. Going into Stage 5 Snapper Point - Willunga, Pettachi held 8" over Steegmans and Pozzato, but with Willunga Hill looming was unlikely to hold that advantage at days end. Stepping back into the breach, I was hoping to keep Dan, Gene and ol' Benny Boy fresh before trying to get away over the hilly final few clicks. This tactic looked like it might work, as Dan powered away from the group with a little over 12km to go, followed by Hoogerland, Guiterrez and Sorensen.
Unfortunately for us, Dan didn't have the legs against this competition and ended up rolling in 2'53 back, in 30th position.
I managed to convince Richard to take control of the radios again for the final stage so I could spend some time with my family, not that it would make much difference as the Adelaide street circuit is sprinter central...and we don't have a sprinter.
Dick called me just before dinner to fill me in on the day. Nothing unexpected happened as the sprinters' teams controlled the race. Gene was our best finisher for the day in 100th. Dan got home 29th overall, just over 3'00 down, not a bad effort under the circumstances.
7/02/10 - COUPERS PREMIUM ALES CYCLING TAKES MAIDEN VICTORY!!
Well, what a week! After receiving two huge blows to our aspirations, the team turned it around at the Gran Premio Costa degli Estruchi, with my new favourite, Benny D, getting over the line for our first ever win!
The month started badly, with the organisers of both the Ciclista Internacional a Mallorca and the Tour du Haut Var turning our application to compete down. In fact, the refusal from the Tour du Haut Var was the bigger blow as I felt we had a really good opportunity to get Dan home in the Top 10 for the GC. The guys were obviously pretty down about the news, particularly after just finishing our first ProTour event, but I set about quickly finding an event to get some miles in the legs for the guys that will be going to the Tour of Oman. There wasn't much on offer but the Gran Premio Costa degli Estruchi looked like it might suit a couple of our boys if we played our cards right, and at the very least would give the boys a decent workout.
So we rolled up to the 178km classic with our A-team; all three leaders and the strongest back-up we possess and young John Devine making his debut for the team. I was very impressed by his performance and he set up the result for us from the start of the day, going away in the first break before being caught by the peloton and going away again immediately. John really worked hard and dragged the break away from the peloton, until there was nearly 5'00 between them with 100km until the line.
Hitting the long series of cascading climbs in the middle of the course and we could tell that young John wasn't going to have the strength to fend off the other 8 riders in the breakaway should it last the distance, so I told Benny D to hit the gas and see if he could bridge the gap. He went hard but fell behind a small group of strong climbers who quickly reached the front group, making it 14. Ben was struggling, but showed his spirit by eventually grabbing a wheel, giving us 2 riders in the breakaway, with still over 3'30 on the peloton. I quickly sent John back to protect Benny D and give him a chance to recover.
With a little over 30km to go, the breakaway still held almost 3'00 over the pack, and more importantly for us Ben was feeling good. So we sent John to the front of the group to drive the pace, and that he did, burying himself in a great show of teamwork. Ben sat at the back of the pace line until the final little climb around 8km from the line, where he attacked hard again, Martin Elmiger and Florian Stulder trying to hard to catch his wheel. In a show of his strength on the flat though, Ben built a gap of 40" with under 2km to go.
From here on he just rolled along to finish 32" ahead of the breakaway group, where young John tried to follow a sprinters wheel, but didnt have any juice left in the tank, coming in outside the top 10. A fantastic result for such a small team and hopefully something to lighten the mood at the next sponsors meeting. I'm not looking forward to telling them that we couldn't even get a gig at their first two major goals though... Edited by thommo09 on 02-07-2010 07:34
), thankfully there are a few strong Australian sprinters out of contract at the end of this season (Sutton, Goss, Davis?). So just gotta struggle through until I can get my hands on one of them....hopefully.
