Team: GreenEDGE Cycling

2011 WorldTour ranking: N/A

Website: http://www.greenedgecycling.com/

Twitter: @_GreenEDGE_

2011 highlights:

• None – GreenEDGE is a new team for 2012. However, current GreenEDGE riders achieved the following with their previous teams:
• Matt Goss (HTC-Highroad): 1st at Milan-San Remo, 2nd overall and won one stage and the points classification at the Tour Down Under, won one stage at Paris-Nice, won one stage at the Tour of California, 2nd at World Championships road race.
• Cameron Meyer (Garmin-Cervelo): 1st overall and won one stage at the Tour Down Under, Australian national time trial champion.
• Michael Albasini (HTC-Highroad): Won one stage at Vuelta a Espana, won mountains classification at Tour of Basque Country, won one stage at Bayern Rundfahrt.
• Robbie McEwen (RadioShack): 1st overall and won two stages at Tour de Wallonie-Picarde, won one stage at Tour de Wallonie.
• Jack Bobridge (Garmin-Cervelo): Australian national road race champion.
• Simon Gerrans (Sky): 3rd at Amstel Gold.
• And this month Gerrans and Luke Durbridge won the Australian National Championships in the road race and time trial respectively.

Riders to watch:

• Luke Durbridge
• Matthew Goss
• Cameron Meyer
• Robbie McEwen
• Stuart O’Grady

Why I’m following them:

Being married to an Australian, I have adopted the country as my honorary second nation except when it comes to cricket, rugby and other sports in which they are superior to Britain – which, let’s face it, is most of them. So, given their stated aim of having Australian riders form 75% of their roster, I am particularly intrigued by how GreenEDGE’s debut season will unfold.

The team already boasts an interesting mix of youth and experience, with a strong emphasis on sprinting. 39-year old Robbie McEwen will look to end his career on a high, but GreenEDGE’s lead sprinter will undoubtedly be Matthew Goss, a key member of Mark Cavendish’s sprint train at HTC-Highroad and winner of Milan-San Remo last year. New Zealand’s Julian Dean (who joins from Garmin-Cervelo) will most likely be Goss’ main lead-out man.

Entering his 18th season, Stuart O’Grady will be GreenEDGE’s road captain at the big races, bringing one of the peloton’s biggest engines and a wealth of tactical nous to a squad long on talent but short on experience. In particular, look for under-23 time trial world champion Luke Durbridge (who is still 20) and multiple track world champion and 2011 Tour Down Under winner Cameron Meyer (23) to make a big impact.

Meyer will defend his Tour Down Under title (see our race preview here) this week, supported by an all-Australian team comprising McEwen, Durbridge, Gerrans, Goss, O’Grady and Leigh Howard. Goss is probably the team’s best bet for the overall this time around, however.

Watch out for regular updates tracking GreenEDGE’s 2012 season over the coming months.