Life in the Peloton Chronicles: The story of GreenEDGE

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In this month’s Chronicles Sveino and I have gone for probably our deepest dive yet - back to where we first got to know each other, taking a look at the formation of Australia’s first ever World Tour cycling team, GreenEDGE. 

Most of you will know the team - which is now known as Jayco Alula, already, and many of you may remember those first few years and big wins. These days it’s easy to take it for granted but when this team arrived in Europe it was fresh and very new, and it delivered right from the start - taking out thirty races, including Milan San Remo with Simon Gerrans in its first year of existence! 

As well as performing on the road the team had an amazing presence with guys like Dan Jones working to create the image of a real Australian team, and having a lot of fun along the way with a few unconventional ideas - like that infamous ‘Call Me Maybe’ video from 2012. 

For myself as an Australian being part of a team like GreenEdge was huge. It was as close as you could come outside of the World Championships to racing for Australia. The team represented a country and a culture, and for the international riders on the team like Sveino it was a chance to be brought in to the Aussie way and to be a part of a really special team. 

As riders we had both experienced the team from the inside, and it played a huge role in our careers, so for this episode we wanted to really get behind the scenes and understand how the team was built, what was the idea behind it, and how and why it worked the way it did. We wanted to cover all angles and hear about the parts that even we didn’t see or understand at the time. 

We were lucky to get hold of the son of the founder and the man who helped make it all work, Andrew Ryan, as well as head DS Matt White, star riders Simon Gerrans and Daryl Impey and our good mate Luke Durbridge who is now in his thirteenth pro season with the team. On top of all of that we spoke to the man behind bringing a lot of that fun hardworking (occasionally pie-eating) Australian culture videographer Dan Jones. 

Of course, Sveino and I also chip in with our own stories and experiences riding for and being a part of the team. 

This is a really special episode for myself and for Sveino. GreenEDGE formed a huge part of our racing career and there are so many memories there that this was a real gift to be able to record. We both really hope that it comes through to you guys and you take the time to give it a listen, it’s a big one but it’s a good one! 

Cheers!

Mitch