First ever jersey success from Down Under
The 2010 Giro d’Italia saw Australians secure an incredible three out of the four classification jerseys with Cadel Evans taking the points, Matthew Lloyd the mountains and Richie Porte emerging as the Best Young Rider. Until this year, an Australian has never taken home a final classification in the Italian Grand Tour.
Evans went into the Giro d’Italia as one of the favorites for the overall, but his BMC Racing team lacked the firepower of race winner Ivan Basso’s Liquigas-Doimo team. Despite being outgunned, the World champion wore the maglia rosa early on, and fought it out until the end. The former mountain biker took victory in the race’s epic stage seven, which included sections of trecherous strada bianchi that had been muddied over by the rain. His aggressive riding and strong performances throughout the Giro earned him the red jersey by the time the race reached Verona.
This year’s Giro d’Italia saw Lloyd come into his own on an Omega Pharma-Lotto team that had no leader for the overall. Ironically, Lloyd would have been working for Evans had his compatriot not switched over to the BMC Racing team last year. The freedom allowed the former Australian champion to ride his own race and turn his pedals to a stage seven victory in Marina di Carrara. Lloyd continued to ride an inspired Giro d’Italia and collect crucial mountain points on his journey to Verona. The 26 year old showed his promise in 2006 when he finished on the podium in the Baby Giro. He was brought onto the Belgian squad the following year and has spent his career as a trusted domestique.
By and large the biggest surprise for the Aussies in this year’s Giro d’Italia was their Best Young Rider Richie Porte. He emerged last month when he stunned some of cycling’s biggest names with a win in the stage three time trial at the Tour of Romandie. He then carried his momentum from Switzerland into the Italian Grand Tour. Porte found himself in the pink jersey for three stages early on in the race by virtue of his solid time trial performance and ability to stay out of trouble during the hectic stages. He then continued to impress throughout the difficult mountain stages to take the white jersey by a commanding 7 minutes and 29 seconds. Perhaps more importantly, in his first season riding at the ProTour level Porte rode himself to seventh place in the overall classification in what has been one of the most difficult Grand Tours in recent years. Under the tutelage of compatriot Bradley McGee and Dane Bjarne Riis he will have every opportunity to be Australia’s next big Grand Tour rider.
Australian cycling has been enjoying great success internationally during 2010, already having wins this year by Wesley Sulzberger (Française des Jeux), Brett Lancaster (Cervélo TestTeam), Luke Roberts (Milram), as well as by Matthew Goss, Michael Rogers and Leigh Howard from the American HTC-Columbia team. There are several young Australian talents riding at the ProTour level, and International Cycling Union (UCI) president Pat McQuaid hinted earlier this year that an Australian-backed ProTour team is already in the works. The Irishman said that the peloton could see a top-level squad from Down Under as early as 2011.