In this second post in my teams of 2018 series, we'll take a leap from a new pro-continental team to a collective of teams operating at the highest echelons of their respective levels: the three teams of the Greenedge family: both Orica-Scott's and U23 squad Mitchelton-Scott.

Mitchelton-Scott is Orica's feeder team for the male squad, and they've been pretty successful. The continental season in Asia is still going on as we speak, so their most recent victory is about week old, when Jai Hindley took a stage and GC in the Tour of Fuzhou. Their proudest moment probably must have been the Baby Giro, where the team took both the second and third place in the general classification, in addition to two stage victories and a slew of podium spots.

Lucas Hamilton celebrating with two teammates just behind him

As a feeder team, losing your biggest talents is not a problem: the question is where they're going. Team star Lucas Hamilton will join the big league with Orica Scott. Hamilton was second in the Giro and won the Tour d'Alsace and the Oceanic Continental Championship. He's a great time-trialist, with a lot of potential. Two other super talents likewise make the step up to the world tour, but they're scooped up by different squad than the parent outfit. Whether it's the connections that Bling Matthews has laid down, Jay Hindley and Michael Storer turn to Team Sunweb. With Hindley a huge GC talent and Storer an aggressive attacker, these are sore losses for the Greenedge school. 29-year old Cameron Meyer was a stagiair with the youth outfit for a short while as part of his return to road cycling after his temporary departure for personal reasons. From January, he will rejoin his old team of Orica-Scott.

It's a family affair 🎥 @estecharu introduces younger brother @BrayanChavesr, the newest member of @GreenEDGEconti 🚴🏼🇨🇴🚴🏼 pic.twitter.com/PqMo1B8qVg

— ORICA-SCOTT (@OricaScott) 20 november 2017

According to procyclingstats, all Chinese riders will leave the team as well. None of these riders provided the team with important results, but the problematic effect of this exodus is that Mitchelton-Scott is now left with only two riders from 2017: Harry Sweeny and U23 champion Samuel Jenner. I wonder what this exodus, if it really comes to fruition, will mean for the team's licence, which is currently registered in China. The team has only announced two new riders so far, but they're certainly interesting: the first is Jacob Hennesy, who rode for British Cycling's academy this year. The start of his season was amazing, winning the U23 Gent Wevelgem, leaving the likes of Neilson Powless and Eddie Dunbar behind him. The other one is one that you may have seen: Brayan Chaves, younger brother to superstar Esteban will join the team. As big of a smile as his famous brother, Brayan has been mostly riding national and South American races with the Colombian EPM team so far. According to the DS, he shows the climbing talent you'd expect from the family, but the team will expose Brayan to as many different race situations as possible, to see where his talent might flourish best. 

Orica Scott's Women's team has had a stellar year. Annemiek Van Vleuten was a sensation throughout the cycling world, and her win on the Izoard and in Bergen's ITT were sovereign. With this, she's become the first world champion that Orica had ever had. Add to that her podium and stage victories in the Giro Rosa and good placings all through the year, and it's easy to understand how she ended up on the second place of the UCI Women's World Ranking. She has signed for the Australian squad for at least two more years, and I'm willing to bet she will be a prime contender for the Giro Rosa. Adjudant Amanda Spratt, who placed 5th in the Giro, will also be staying with the team. 

A mayor loss for the team is Katrin Garfoot. The German-born Australian struggled with ilness during much of the season, yet nevertheless managed to bookend the season with great results in the early pre-season and two medals in Bergen. She had previously announced that she would retire after the Commonwealth Games held in Australia in April, but most expected her to stay with Orica up until that point. Opting out of traveling to Europe, Garfoot will attempt to race the Australian summer races with the national squad instead. Garfoot is not the only one leaving Orica: Rachel Neylan moves to the new Movistar team, while Loren Rowney retired in early January this year. Rowney will return to professional cycling in 2018 though, as trainer and coach with Britain-based Drops Cycling. After Emma Johansson, it seems Orica still has trouble holding on to retiring riders with staff-ambitions.  

Orica has managed to snare one of the women's peloton's biggest transfers: top-sprinter Jolien d'Hoore will transfer to the outfit. d'Hoore won stages and single day races all through the season, culminating in the Madrid Challenge. In the past year, Orica was lacking top sprinters, but Sarah Roy and especially Gracy Elvin were developing serious results. They will now most likely end up in d'Hoore's train, although Elvin will probably be able to go for personal success in some of the cobbled classics. Initially, I admit I was a bit saddened by this, thinking Orica would've done better by developing their own talent. Then again, some say the best education for a sprinter is in the train of a better sprinter, so I think this match might work out very well.

Simon Gerrans waving off

Finally, it's time for Orica Scott's men's World Tour team. Although the core of the team will remain largely the same as in 2017, the team will see some serious changes, including the departure of one of their very core members. When the Greenedge family just entered the scene, Michael Matthews and Simon Gerrans were their main attractions: opportunistic sprinters who could hold their own on rugged terrain and through chaotic finishes to outmanoeuvre the pure sprinters. Bling left the nest last year for a new role as pure sprinter with Team Sunweb, this year Simon Gerrans is leaving. Gerrans hasn't been raking in the wins like he used to do for a long while -although his honours list is still impressively filled with second and third placings-, but he seemed to fill an irreplaceable role as road captain. You would be forgiven for thinking he would fulfil this role until his retirement, but not so: after rumours linking him to Astana, Gerrans moves to BMC for the 2018 season, with the aim of supporting friend & fellow Australian Richie Porte as well as Rohan Dennis and Scotson Miles.

The team's classics squad also takes some heavy losses: although reports had Jens Keukeleire sign up for some extra years, in the end the Belgian decided to turn to home team Lotto-Soudal, who sorely missed success in this year's classics. Supporting classics riders and occasional sprinters Magnus Cort and Mitch Docker also leave for new horizons. With Ruben Plaza the team loses one of their most reliable mountain helpers, while King Lok Cheung, who didn't ride a race outside of Asia this year, was in all probability merely a signing to please the sponsor in the first place.

Matteo Trentin to be a sensation for Orica in 2018?

Now, what is the team bringing in in return? The most notable signing is, without doubt, Matteo Trentin. When first rumoured, the transfer came a bit out of the blue, but taking into account the gigantic results the Italian sprinter has brought in since August the transfer is arguably a master bargain for Orica. There's some discussion online on whether Trentin will have to lead out Orica's main sprinter Caleb Ewan or will function as sprinter in his own right. I do think a pairing of Ewan and Trentin is quite likely: not necessarily as a work horse in Ewan's lead-out, but I think Trentin will mentor and teach Ewan in the art of positioning. He will undoubtedly get his own chances too in plenty of races, perhaps even in a grand tour. My hope is he will be allowed to give some of the classics a chance: I have a feeling there's more in it for him than a 9th place at the Omloop. New Zealander Jack Bauer comes along from Trentin's Quickstep.

In exchange for Plaza's mountain support comes almost legendary Mikel Nieve. I admit I had a soft spot for the physical giant Plaza, but Mikel Nieve is more than his match. The Basque was a core helper in Team Sky's last three grand tours, and salvaged the team's grace after their designated leaders faltered in two grand tours before that. He is a powerhouse and will be of great service to the team's young GC riders.

Mikel Nieve is of proven climber's pedigree

In conclusion I suspect that where Orica's women's team has made a great investment in the sprint, the men's team has a more balanced transfer season. Matteo Trentin turned out an unexpected superstar, although one wonders if he can fill the lacuna in the classics section, which now relies mostly on Luke Durbridge, Mathew Hayman and Chris Juul-Jensen, of whom, although admittedly they're all very decent riders, only Juul-Jensen seems to have much further to grow. In the mountains the combined strength of Mikel Nieve, Roman Kreuzinger and the three GC hopefulls of Yates, Yates and Chaves should be able to hold firm. What the team might miss is someone who would fill the roll of road captain in the way that Keukeleire and Gerrans could, especially with the slew of very young Australian talents in the guise of Jack Haig, Damien Howson, Robert Power and now Lucas Hamilton, who have all been touted as the next great Australian stage racer. After an extraordinary 2016 and a 2017 plagued by injury, 2018 is going to be a year of all or nothing for the team.


If you want to see more like this, here's part one: an analysis of Euskadi-Murias. Keep an eye on this page for our next instalment, featuring a squad chosen by popular request on my twitter account.


Images courtesy of Cyclingnews, Greenedge Cycling and Ciclo21.

All things considered, Basque cycling isn't in a bad state. Mikel Landa is poised to become the standard bearer for Spanish Cycling after a year of tremendous form and equal drama. Mikel Nieve and Pelle Bilbao have shown themselves as some of the most reliable luxury doms while many others, such as the brothers Gorka and Ion, continue good form and the likes of Igor Anton and Omar Fraile figuring as rogueish stage hunters. And yet, many yearn back to that orange paragon of Basque cycling: the Euskadi WT team.

Five years after the demise of this fan-favourite, several small teams stand poised to claim their share of that cult status. The most direct link to the old team might be Fundacion Euskadi, who have Mikel Landa himself as official ambassador. Yet it's another team, the commercially sponsored Euskadi-Murias that's staking the highest claim, by announcing a leap to pro-continental level with a guaranteed wild card for La Vuelta. With their green jerseys they might not be reminiscent of the carrot-orange squad that more recent fans, like me, have learned to adore, but the original Euskaltel raced in green-blue-ish jerseys for years. Now, even on continental level the team did not exactly stand out in terms of sportive success. In this blog I hope to analyse whether they'll stand a better chance with their transfers in 2018.

The team during the 2017 Tour du Limousin, with Aitor Gonzales (staying in 2018) wearing the KOM for a day

Murias-Euskadi in 2017

The number of victories for the plucky team unfortunately is down to zero. Their best finish in a GC or stage was third, in the general classification of the GP Beiras e Serra da Estrella, a three-day Portuguese UCI 2.1 race. The team's only podium spot was Beñat Txoperena, who is staying with the team for next year. 

The team's top performers -using PCS points as a metric- are Mikel Bizkarra and Garikoitz Bravo. This last one is also responsible for perhaps their most visible performance: a hard fought 9th place during the opening stage of the 2.hc Vuelta a Burgos, among a packed field of world tour squads including winner Mikel Landa's Team Sky.  Both Bravo and Bizkarra are staying in 2018. Garokoitz Bravo, at 28, is also the team's oldest rider, but that's going to change.

Garikoitz Bravo in the run in to the finish of stage 1 of the 2017 Vuelta a Burgos

Who is leaving the team?
Two riders are going into retirement, while three others are leaving for other shores. Adrian Gonzáles leaves for rival team Burgos-BH who are stepping up to PCT status as well, while former stagiair Rodriguez and Eneko Lizarralde do not have a new squad yet. This means that five riders will not ride for the team in 2018, with ten new signings more than making up for the loss. Interesting detail: most of these five, including the two going into retirement, are among the younger riders of this quite young squad.

Murias-Euskadi have signed one rider from the old Euskaltel WT squad

Who is joining the team?
There's been a slew of new signings, but only one of them comes from the old Euskaltel world tour team, Jon Aberasturi. Nevertheless, the 28 year old still has a way to grow, delivering rather decent results in the past two years for continental team UKYO. In Hainan he was able to outsprint Jakub Mareczko before the latter went on a legendary 5 day winning streak. Aberasturi is a sprinter who can surive a few hills, a recipe we'll see for more off among the new signings. According to their website, the team doesn't see Aberasturi as part of the train, but rather as someone who can sprint to bring the team victories.

Two of the new signings come from Caja Rural, formerly the only Spanish PCT squad. The Basques manage to nick Eduard Prades and Hector Saez. Saez is a young time trialist annex domestique, but Prades might fulfill a bigger role. Like Aberasturi, he can sprint ánd punch. Although taking his best results in sprints, he can match the likes of Alexis Vuillermoz on sharp uphill finishes. It's his versatility that could have made him a dangerous client for the recent Tour of Turkey. I know nothing of his personality, but his combination of versatility and experience would make him a valuable road captain for this squad.

Eduard Prades taking a win for Caja Rural

When Euskadi-Murias announced its rise to pro-continental level, twitter user Fernando Lopez and I immediatly pointed at two names we expected the team to sign. (Truth be said, we also pointed at a lot of other names, hoping for example that Pelle Bilbao would resign his comfortable WT position to ride for the homeland, but I digress.) The names we expected were Mikel Aristi and Enrique Sanz. Aristi is a young rider from Fundacion Euskadi stock, with a descent sprint who can handle a long ride. Enrique Sanz is famous as the nephew of Movistar-manager Unzue's nephew. He spent four years in his uncle's employment before slowly falling down the ranks. This last year, he's been performing surprisingly well in (non-UCI) races in the UK circuit for team Raleigh-GAC. He's likely to become the team's main sprint cannon.

Not the whole team is from Spanish/Basque stock. Cyril Barthe, who was a stagiair last season and turns pro with the team this year, is from French Basque Country. He won two sprint stages in the recent Volta a Portugal do Futuro, a youth race in Portugal. The other is a Frenchman too, and is points-wise the biggest fish joining the shoal: Julien Loubet rode the 2017 season for Equipe Armee de Terre, and managed to win this year's Tour de Finistere in a month in wich his team was on an absolute roll. He seems to be a classics type, able to withstand suffering and endure. He rode for the world tour squad of AG2R in the past, and although he's the oldest rider of the squad at 32, he'll be gunning for more victories.



Conclusion
All in all, the team has grown in strength enormously. Contrary to national stereotypes, the new squad seems rather light on the climbers, and the reinforcements show a real focus on sprints. I suspect that this is partly out of frustration after a season without wins. Perhaps the younger talents brought in or staying over from 2017 show more affinity for the high mountains. Fernando Barceló is one example who might shine in the climbs if properly develloped, but any classification or mountain goals are definitely plans for the long term rather than the short. Throughout the season they'll try to mix into the sprints in the smaller fields, with Loubet hoping to repeat his 2017 season in classic-like rides such as the Tro Bro Leon Euskadi-Murias' season highlight will be the Vuelta d'Espagna, for which they have gotten a guaranteed wildcard. If the sprinter's field would be the same as it was last year, the team might be able to play a role in the sprints there with Sanz. With the World Championships being particularly unsuitable for sprinters though, it's not unlikely that some top sprinters will focus on the Vuelta instead, in which case Euskadi would not be able to match. I think the team knows this, and it's notable that the team in their releases does not assign their fast men to 'lead-out' or "sprinter'' status, so the team will probably race the Vuelta like you would expect from wildcard teams: by animating the breakaway. Loubet, Prades, and Aberasturi they've got great riders who can finish off a successful break, if they can survive the higher mountains.

I wish the team much luck, and they'll need it, but it will be great to see the Basque flag represented on the higher levels again. We'll have to see after this winter. Aupa!