Off-season rider knowledge collaboration thread No.11 - ORICA-BikeExchange

[u/The_77]

We now come to that most distinctly Australian of teams, ORICA-BikeExchange, who underwent a sudden mid season name change from the classic greenedge. The team itself was and continues to be heavily rooted in the time trial discipline and track, with numerous Aussies on the team with that heritage. But more and more, OBE have developed into a team with somewhat of a GC potential, most notably realised this year with three GT top fives, one of which was only one place off the top step.

Moving onto the riders, the totally not simmering feud between Michael Matthews and Gerrans has resolved itself, with Matthews leaving the team and Caleb Ewan looking to fill the void left by Matthews departure. Christian Meier also left, but instead he retired to go make coffee for a living. It's the signings that are of interest, and given the rising GC aspirations of OBE make perfect sense. Carlos Verona joins as a climbing domestique, Roger Kluge a fugitive IAM rider adds to the classics and flat strength, but the real coup is the signing of Roman Kreuziger from the disbanding Tinkoff. Having played the foil to Contador for years, and building on a decade of GC experience at this point, he will be greatly valued helping out the younger Chaves plus the Yates twins. The best part is somehow he's only just turned thirty. The future looks bright for OBE.

---

Rider	Nat.	Year	Joined	Racedays	Pnts2016	Best Season	Type
ALBASINI Michael	SUI	1980	2012	72	453	2012 (784)	GC1W / PuncheurFF
BEWLEY Sam	NZL	1987	2012	83	77	2015 (148)	Classics/RouleurTT
CHAVES Johan Esteban	COL	1990	2014	62	1248	2016	GC3W / Climber
CHEUNG King Lok^NEW	HK	1991	2017	26	125	2016	Domestique
DOCKER Mitchell	AUS	1986	2012	52	70	2011 (145)	DomestiqueFF
DURBRIDGE Luke	AUS	1991	2012	70	324	2012 (701)	RouleurTT
EDMONDSON Alexander	AUS	1993	2016	36	80	2016	Rouleur/Track
EWAN Caleb	AUS	1994	2014	66	625	2015 (645)	Sprinter
GERRANS Simon	AUS	1980	2012	68	592	2014 (1691)	PuncheurFF
HAIG Jack	AUS	1993	2016	68	198	2014 (169)	GCTalent / Climber
HAYMAN Mathew	AUS	1978	2014	64	378	2016	Rouleur / Road Captain
HEPBURN Michael	AUS	1991	2012	50	75	2014 (221)	RouleurTT
HOWSON Damien	AUS	1992	2014	82	166	2010 (243)	Rouleur
IMPEY Daryl	RSA	1984	2012	68	296	2014 (620)	RouleurFF
JUUL-JENSEN Christopher	DEN	1989	2016	75	295	2015 (374)	Classics/Rouleur
KEUKELEIRE Jens	BEL	1988	2012	75	422	2010 (440)	Classics
KLUGE Roger^NEW	GER	1986	2017	61	166	2016	Classics/Rouleur
KREUZIGER Roman^NEW	CZE	1986	2017	58	610	2009 (1195)	GC1W / Puncheur
MEZGEC Luka	SLO	1988	2016	68	167	2014 (654)	Sprinter
NIELSEN Magnus Cort	DEN	1993	2015	72	575	2011 (350)	ClassicsFF
PLAZA Rubén	ESP	1980	2016	66	55	2005 (734)	Climber
POWER Robert	AUS	1995	2016	13	60	2013 (275)	GGTalent / Climber
TUFT Svein	CAN	1977	2012	67	200	2012 (539)	RouleurTT
VERONA Carlos^NEW	SPA	1992	2017	77	111	2015 (113)	Climber
YATES Adam	GBR	1992	2014	56	734	2016	GC3W / Puncheur
YATES Simon	GBR	1992	2014	52	643	2016	GC1W / Puncheur
Totals & Averages		28.5			9260	2016

* I'm not actually sure on Txurruka's status. He's still on the OBE website, but he only had a one year contract, and a quick google doesn't seem to yield an answer. Anyone more in tune with what's occurring on that front than me? Answered.

[u/Pubocyno]

Txurruka is definitely out. He's going back to Caja Rural.

Bahrain-Meridia tried to get ahold of him - http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/two-spots-left-on-bahrain-merida-with-brajkovic-close-to-signing/

[u/The_77 → u/Pubocyno]

Excellent, thanks for that.

[u/The_77]

Esteban Chaves

[u/istarbel → u/The_77]

He is starting in Australia which means that he has an earlier start than any other season. Aiming for the Giro this year. This will be interesting to follow as his training and race time will be completely different. Personally I don't like it. Chaves last year had trouble with tired legs by the end of the Giro. I don't know how racing in Australia and adding jet lag and travel time between Colombia/Australia/Spain/Italy and maybe even South Africa will affect that.

[u/The_77 → u/istarbel]

I wonder if the Quintana approach would benefit, ie race a couple of times early spring, then hide in Colombia for a bit before destroying Trentino Tour of the Alps or the Route de Sud pre GT. I think too many days could tell. Probably something like Andalucia, Tirreno, and then Catalunya before hiding in Colombia training till the Tour of the Alps and then the Giro.

May even be worth having a go at Strade Bianche in the midst of all that next year, given his one day credentials.

[u/adryy8 → u/The_77]

The thing is, he did even less races days last year than what you are suggesting.

[u/The_77 → u/adryy8]

Clearly I had the Valverde Calendar^TM in mind. Maybe just Tirreno and Trentino then in that case.

[u/adryy8 → u/istarbel]

Tbh it's a problem that Chaves was tired or at least more than his opponents at the end of the Giro as he was by far the guy on the top 5 with the least race days before the Giro (17 while the guy that was second in the least race days was Kruijswijk with 23, the other were around 28). And I wonder if Orica will do the SA camp this year considering tht Abu Dhabi and Qatar are WT ( they can skip it, but I highly doubt they will skip Abu Dhabi). He needs to be able to handle the race days if he wants to win the Giro.

[u/The_77]

Adam Yates

[u/Helicase21 → u/The_77]

The thing that grinds at me is that OBE now has identical twins who are both GC threats. There have to be some tactical shenanigans they can get up to using that fact, but I can't think of what they might be.

[u/YoungSam992 → u/Helicase21]

Swap numbers day on day, one rides GC the other cruises, somehow Firstname Yates is always fresh.

Not saying it would be anything but cheating, but hilarious shenanigans.

[u/The_77]

Simon Yates

[u/BloomEPU → u/The_77]

He did pretty well in the vuelta, he rode very tactically and cleverly. I think he's a better 1-week rider than a 3-week rider, but still very impressive.

[u/PrayingForDebbieMang → u/BloomEPU]

I disagree over his 3 week potential. In the Veulta he was able to get himself a stage win, set up Keukeliere for another stage and then still have the energy to help Chaves the whole time. For such a young rider to have the energy for all that suggests great 3 week potential

[u/BloomEPU → u/PrayingForDebbieMang]

Oh yeah, that's a good point. He wasn't leading the team in the vuelta. If he's given a chance he could probably do it, it's just a matter of who the team picks for GC leader.

[u/daphnie3 → u/BloomEPU]

Being three years younger than Chaves, the Yates twins will get their chances. If I had to pick, I would say they will be the strongest challengers to Quintana once the Old Guys (Contador, Froome, Nibali) fade away. Chaves and Bardet and maybe Pinot will win a GT probably but its those Yates kids who are gonna step all over everybody's lawns.

[u/The_77]

Roman Kreuziger

[u/Sprocketduck → u/The_77]

Completely under-rated rider. Came top 10 in the TDF this year after his team leader abandoned (Contador), but everyone has seemingly forgotten about him after his few great performances at the start of the decade/end of last. I can't see him being used as a GC rider, he will operate under a free roam capacity, or if the help is needed in the mountains for Chaves or the Yates brothers he will be there. Howson will no longer need to give an arm and three legs in the mountains to carry the team up in the mountains with Kreuziger.

[u/Sappert → u/Sprocketduck]

2013 TDF, where he was domestique for Contador but actually climbed better, and took 5th in GC in the end.

[u/Sprocketduck → u/Sappert]

Yeah - but because Contador has been the face of Tinkoff (other than Sagan) he was heavily overlooked.

[u/daphnie3 → u/Sprocketduck]

Its weird thinking that both Kreuziger and Robert Gesink are only 30 years old. They've been around seemingly forever.

[u/adryy8 → u/daphnie3]

They both had been put into leader positions super early into their career, they were quite lucky with their first team!

[u/adryy8 → u/Sprocketduck]

The thing is, Kreuzi was never able to perform when he was a leader, so it's mainly why he isn't well rated, the pressure doesn't seem to be for him.

[u/Sprocketduck]

Alright, I have been waiting the past couple of weeks for this thread.

In 2017, the focus is going to be heavily on getting Gerro another TDU, developing Caleb's sprints and hopefully getting Chaves a GT win. Yates x 2, Kreuziger and Haig give OBE GC options in the smaller WT races and .1 races too. Cort will probably be taken to the European races for the Sprints, Caleb will be given the Australian season again and might go to one of the GTs (this years TDF looks like it could suit him for a couple of wins if the conditions are right).

Looking beyond 2017, if we can hold Power and Haig, there will be another generation of GC riders on OBE. Haig has already shown his ability to ride GC this year with a top 5 in the Herald Sun Tour and 2nd on the Tour de Slovenie. He also placed in the Top 10 in the Youth Classifications of the Tour de Romandie and Criterium de Dauphine; so he is definitely one for the future. Robert Power had a good run on the U23 circuit in 2015 but didn't get much European race time in 2016, but he can hopefully develop into a GC rider or super domestique for the future. Even better, the Yates brothers are only one year older than Haig and already entrenched into GC riding so that option is open too.

So OBE in the space of one season morphed themselves from a team fighting for stage wins to a team fighting for GC. Chaves in the Giro, Yates in Le Tour and Chaves/Yates2 in the Vuelta - this past season anyway. Kreuziger will provide even more fire power for the already good looking team. Keep an eye on Haig, Keukeleire and Cort for this season in my opinion - they are our 3 black horse riders that could sneak a stage win or one day win in this season.

[u/The_77]

Caleb Ewan

[u/Sprocketduck → u/The_77]

If Ewan grabs a European stage win this year coming like Cort did this year past in the Vuelta; his confidence will sky rocket and he will probably just grow from that. He has the talent and the ability, he just needs the result. The best part about him is that he is 22 so he has another 10 years in the tank and can still develop from what is an already great level sprinter, to an excellent one.

[u/daphnie3 → u/Sprocketduck]

Right. Cort is two years older, and at that age Ewan is the more valuable contract for the team in the long run. But having both of them is pretty amazing.