Let us turn to a team that all have a sweet spot for. Should you not have a sweet spot for such a team, then you either were not around during the heyday of the Backstage Passes or you have a heart of stone. The cast of characters this Aussie team assembles is contagiously funny and goofy. But do not be deceived by any of the rowdy backstage videos you have seen of them choreographing music videos, popping too many celebratory beers, or mingling and egging on the fans before, after, and during the races….this team not only knows how to party, they achieve results of high praise. This motley crew embarks on another season in a fresh new looking uniform. Some say it harkens back to the days of Leopard-Trek, a fair comparison. For the first time since those legendary GreenEdge days white is the predominant color. It was less than a decade ago, but surely that was this team’s days of yore. There best results came more recently, but it was those days when they were in the ascension and carving out their name and forging their path forward. They would win sensational races like Milan-Sanremo or Liege-Bastogne-Liege with Simon Gerrans, rip off great stage victories in the Giro and Tour, and make music videos to Call Me Maybe, Won’t Back Down, and Uptown Funk. They began to reach their zenith in 2016 off the back of Mat Hayman’s beloved Paris-Roubaix win, and Estaban Chaves’ phenomenal summer on podiums at both the Giro and Vuelta and the top step of il Lombardia. In 2018, Yates came close in the Giro and found redemption winning the Vuelta. Perhaps the past two seasons have not fully been up to par, but still they have achieved excellent results for the land Down Under, and it seems they are prepared to target victories across the calendar once more this year in 2021.
Still in the proudest of places must be mentioned Yates. The big shock this time around: the name is only singular this year, for one of the Yateses has moved on. Twin brother Adam decided it was a time for a change to the fertile and overcrowded verdant pastures of Ineos Grenadiers. But Simon, the Yates that won the 2018 Vuelta and came O! so close in the 2018 Giro is back once more. Can he rekindle that Giro magic he had in 2018? How we all loved that May! A long time it shall be before his exploits at that Giro are forgotten. In the “Grandy” that was to be the headliners’ duel between Chris Froome (Israel Startup Nation) and Tom Dumoulin (Jumbo-Visma), Yates upstaged them both for the first three quarters of the race. From Mt Etna to the Colle delle Finestre he was the man of the match. Remember it? He gifted Chaves the Etna stage when they went one-two. He rode up the boot of Italy with the storming strength of the Allied Army in World War II—he had no equals. He won three stages, and almost hawked down Froome on the grueling Zoncalan. He superbly held his own in the fateful third week time trial against reigning TT World Champion Dumoulin. For an entire fortnight he was the name at the tip of cycling world’s tongue. But alas! he had dug too deep. A crack showed on Stage 18 on the tricky hilltop finale, and on Stage 19 the implosion proceeded. It is in all the history books already, the day Chris Froome threw down a Herculean effort if ever there was one to resurrect his GC campaign, the day it seemed Fausto Coppi or Eddy Merckx or Charly Gaul rode ahead of a shattered peloton once more. It was a difficult loss, but there will never be better competition to be vanquished by. And Yates redeemed himself at the Vuelta that year with a handy victory. And yet, for the past two seasons he has been trying to finish off this business with the Giro, but his 2019 challenge unraveled early, and in 2020 his race was robbed before it got going when he came down the Coronavirus in the early days. What does 2021 hold for the man? Rumors say he shall ride both the Giro and the Tour, but which shall he target? And does he plan to be on top form for the Olympics a week after the Tour? He is 28 and in the prime of life, surely he shall challenge for a Grand Tour once more. Already the list of challengers for the Tour grows deep, perhaps this is the year to finish business at the Giro, to finally bring home ALL the bacon!
What about the homecoming that cannot feel more right? Over the off season, Michael “Bling” Matthews has returned to his Aussie team. Too often had he to share leadership within this team, and regardless of team, on the rare chances he had full leadership in any team O! too often has he been upstaged by a more talented rider of the same mold. How often did he have to buttheads with Gerrans back in the day? How many times on a podium has Matthews had to stand atop a lower step than Peter Sagan (Bora Hansgrohe)? O! But what about that 2017 Tour where Sagan was booted? Who battled Marcel Kittel with his five stage wins all the way to Paris for the Green Jersey, and yes, who came out victorious? This Michael Matthews. Too often we have not gotten to see his best, he has won stages of all three Grand Tours, he has dazzled us at Paris-Nice, he has shown glimpses of greatness in the one-day Classics or any race with some lumps on the profile. As Team Bike Exchange seem to dial back their GC ambitions for this year, surely he shall have his opportunities to be well placed and strike out for victory on the biggest stages.
And what about the return to the top we beg for most? He is only 31, it is not unheard of, it is not impossible, O! may he wind back the clock! Estaban Chaves, the Colombian who is self-professedly half-Australian, the one whose smile should be in every dentist’s office for surely it’s worth two million bucks. He has resurrected his career before and in the past few years he has shown glimpses of that former greatness—of those heady 2016 days. The electricity that Orica team was producing at the 2016 Giro could have powered a Spanish nightclub, and victory would have been theirs had that ace, that Shark of Messina, that Vincenzo Nibali not have found his best form right there at the end. If I could pick one rider to get all their mojo back for one last memorable season, it would be this Estaban Chaves. Even through these dormant years, still he retains ownership over his keycard to the “Makes Your Day Club,” in fact throughout these years where he has only taken a couple Giro stages, his membership has been more solidified because we all ache and yearn to see his return to the top once more. Come on, Estaban, surely you have it in you! One more season, one more run at the Giro GC, one good run at the Tour, one more Vuelta where you bag another handful of stages and an Italian Classsic. You have won our hearts, may you warm them once again.
I brought up the reminiscings of the Orica-GreenEdge days at the beginning for this year’s lineup seems to invoke such times again. Simon Yates is still here for GC and I even hold my breath Chaves can put together another successful campaign, but with the return of Matthews and looking at beloved stalwarts like Sam Bewley, Michael Hepburn, Alex Edmondson, Luke Durbridge, Chris Juul-Jensen, and Cameron Meyer it really does feel like that most motley of crews really is starting to be reassembled. But there is still undeniably that recent look of the team with the proven quality of Mikel Nieve, Luka Mezgec, Jack Bauer, and Brent Bookwalter who have been good acquisitions of the past few seasons. And there is still the look of the future with talent that has not reached their peak as of yet with talents in the ranks like Dion Smith, Tsgabu Grmay, Lucas Hamilton, Rob Stannard, Nick Schultz, and more un-yet-named. Yes, this team from Down Under is something special, something to cherish and admire. Of course, of course, I wish them the best of luck this season.
Cycling Odysseys 