Mark Cavendish condition:

Team Sky are happy to announce that Mark Cavendish has recovered sufficiently from his recent bout of illness to make his Team Sky debut in the opening stage of the Tour of Qatar.

The world road race champion, 26, did not take part in Team Sky’s training ride on Saturday after falling ill on his flight from London Heathrow to Doha on Friday night. Instead, he spent the day resting under the supervision of Team Sky’s medical team and his progress has since proved encouraging.

Team Sky’s Sports Director Steven de Jongh said: 

“We’re all delighted that Mark has been able to battle back from the bug he picked up coming out here and it will be a real boost to the rest of the guys to know that he’ll be starting today.

“Our medical team have done a fantastic job in looking after him and Mark has followed their advice to the letter. Clearly, he’s not going to be at his best in the next few days but we’re hoping he’ll get stronger with every passing stage. 

“We’ll continue to keep a very close eye on him but hopefully he’s over the worst of it now.”

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Three of the fastest times ever recorded in Australia were ridden today at the 2012 Subaru Cycling Australia Track National Championships at the Adelaide Super-Drome.

South Australia's Jack Bobridge, Rohan Dennis, Alexander Edmondson and Glenn O'Shea blazed their way to an all comers record for the 4km team pursuit with an astonishing 3:56.834. Fellow South Australian Annette Edmondson inked her name in the record book in qualifying and then bettered the mark in the final of the women's 3km individual pursuit where she won gold in a time of 3:30.586.

Outside temperatures were in the mid-30s and inside the velodrome conditions were perfect for fast times and scuttlebutt around the vene was that the South Australian quartet, featuring two reigning world champions in Bobridge and Dennis, had their eye on a record.

Powering around the track in front of an adoring home crowd they were almost two seconds ahead of their rivals at the one kilometre mark and at half way were more than four seconds faster.

Queensland's quartet of world champion Michael Hepburn, Mitchell Mulhern, Nicholas Schultz and Jesse Kerrison were doing a fair pace themselves but SA was gaining with every pedal stroke.

Five laps from the finish SA caught and passed Queensland before powering on to record the fastest ever time on Australian soil. It shaved 79 thousandths of a second off the 2010 time of 3:56.913 set by Bobridge and Hepburn with Leigh Howard and Cameron Meyer at the Track World Cup in Melbourne.

The time was also faster than that ridden, albeit on a different track and under different conditions, by Bobridge, Dennis, Hepburn and West Australian Luke Durbridge to win the the 2011 world title in Apeldoorn, the Netherlands.

For Bobridge, who missed last week's Santos Tour Down Under due to a hand injury sustained when he crashed in the time trial at the road nationals earlier this month, the win was sweet consolation.

"I've had a bit of a run lately with sickness and crashes, so to come back and do that, it boosts my confidence as well," said Bobridge whose last team pursuit effort was in Apeldoorn. "To be honest, I didn't expect to see 3:56 on the board, but sometimes you need something like that just to give you a bit of a kickstart again.

"It's just shows we have depth there in the team pursuit, with young guys like Alex coming up and being able to start and finish a '56 ride.

"Also it doesn't just give the state team confidence, it gives the national team a good look in and confidence leading into the next world cup and to the worlds," Bobdrige added after being presented with the Southcott Cup for the third straight year.

Dennis meantime has had a pehnomenal month winning both the national under 23 road race and time trial titles before taking out the mountain classification and best young rider jersey for his fifth place overall at the Santos Tour Down Under. He pulled out with four laps remaining in the morning's qualifying ride, but recovered well for the final.

"Obviously it's been a long month and it sort of caught up to me," admitted Dennis. "It was more a mental battle, not being able to finish that heat hurt me a little bit.

"It helped as well putting me fourth wheel as after Tour Down Under I don't have a lot of that initial burst so it let me settle in a bit more.

"I didn't do as much as these guys, but I just made sure my turns were hard," Dennis added.

Queensland's Hepburn was in awe of his counterparts after receiving his silver medal.

"That was a fairly classy ride by SA, and there wasn't a lot we could do tonight and we thought we were moving alright, but then they just steamed right around us," said Hepburn, who last night won the individual pursuit crown. "They have four world class riders and two world champions, so we did what we could do.

"Having said that, is great for the sport and an event like this that the event can attract so many world champions.

"There are not many sports in the world where you can pay $10 and see so many of the world's best in the sport compete at an event like this," added Hepburn.

The fourth member of the world champion team, Luke Durbridge, joined Michael Freiberg, Stephen Hall and Bradley Robson to secure the bronze medal for West Australia, posting a time of 4:05.507 which was too good for the New South Wales team of Benjamin Harvey, Scott and Jackson Law and Jackson-Leigh Rathbone (4:06.02).

In the women's 3km individual pursuit final, South Australia's Annette Edmondson backed up her blistering qualifying time with an even quicker final.

Earlier in the day, she posted 3:30.586 to eclipse the mark set eight years ago by New Zealand's Sarah Ulmer at the 2004 World Championships in Melbourne.

Tonight Edmondson went over half a second faster in the final crossing the line in 3:30.078 to finish seven seconds ahead of Ashlee Ankuindoff of New South Wales who stopped the clock in 3:37.264.

"I was feeling a little bit flat between qualifying and the final - I didn't know how I was going to go," admitted Edmondson. "But I just wanted to back up, I wanted to go out there and do another good time.

"I didn't expect to go another 3:30 - that was definitely not part of my imagination.

"I'm absolutely rapt, I'm so happy with my form right now ... it's better than what I wanted it to be," Edmondson added.

Defending champion Josephine Tomic (3:35.241) from West Australia defeated team mate Melissa Hoskins (3:41.049) in the bronze medal race.

In the under 19 men's team pursuit Victoria won the Bill Young Trophy for the third year in a row after defeating South Australia in the final.

Reigning junior world champions Jack Cummings and Alexander Morgan, plus Thursday's time trial gold medallist, Zac Shaw and Evan Hull, combined to ride a time of 4:08.745. They were more than six seconds faster than South Australia's Joshua Harrison, Thomas Kaesler, Robert-Jon McCarthy and Miles Scotson (4:14.830).

"It is fantastic to back it up for Victoria and especially with the rainbow bands on for Alex and I," said Cummings who teamed with Alexander Morgan, Caleb Ewan and Jackson Law to win the junior world title in Moscow last August.

"I haven't really had the best nationals so far, so to come out and ride a really solid time with a great bunch of guys, it's awesome," said Cummings. "The pressure of the rainbow jerseys is something good as it gives you that extra burst to go that little bit harder."

The New South Wales team of Caleb Ewan, Nathan Bradshaw, Tirian McManus and Nicholas Yallouris (4:14.491) claimed the bronze medal against West Australia's Trent Derecourt, Bradley Lindfield, Luke Vitler and Theodore Yates (4:17.480).

In the under 19 men's sprint Victoria's Emerson Harwood broke through for his first national title. Harwood was the fastest qualifier and dispatched team mate Jacob Schmid in straight heats in the best of three medal round to claim gold. 

"I have mixed emotions right now about how hard I have worked, it means a lot," said Harwood. "The final against Jacob was tough as we know each other really well so we had to play some different moves."  

South Australia's Alex Radikiewicz was too good for team mate Jai Angsuthasawit to claimed the bronze medal, also in straight heats.  
Victoria's Caitlin Ward claimed her maiden Australian title taking out the women's under 19 keirin. Ward attacked at the bell lap and held off a strong charge from Korea's Jihae Park who was second with West Australia's Allee Proud third across the line. 

"I am just so happy, this is just amazing," said Ward.  "My uncle told me at my very first race that 'when the flag drops, the BS stops', so when I attacked I just gave it my all as I figured that nothing I did at that moment could be worse than if I did nothing at all."

In the women's sprint quarter finals reigning world champion Anna Meares and Sydney's Kaarle McCulloch breezed through to the semi finals where Meares will face Catherine Culvenor and McCulloch rides against with Victoria's Ziggy Callan.  

The thrilling program of racing wrapped up with the under 19 men's and women's points races.

Trent Derecourt (WA) won gold in the men's under 19 25km points race using tactical nous to outmanoeuvre pre-race favourite Caleb Ewan (NSW).

Ewan established a strong lead early but a solo attack by Derecourt inside the final 30 laps of the 100 lap event saw him grab sprint points and a 20 point bonus for lapping the field. The eighteen-year-old then countered a number of late attacks to claim the gold medal with a tally of 31 points.

Ewan placed second with 23 points and his team mate Tirian McManus collected the bronze medal with 18 points.

"It hasn't sunk in yet, I mean this is my first Australian championships," said Derecourt after collecting his first ever gold medal at an Australian championships.

"I came here with the goal of putting in a good ride in the individual pursuit and at least medalling in the points race.

"I didn't really have a plan coming in here, but then I saw an opportunity to take a lap and it took a while, but I finally got there."

Taylah Jennings (QLD) controlled the under 19 women's 20km points race from start to finish placing in nearly every one of the eight sprints in the 80 lap event.

Jennings, along with West Australian Elissa Wundersitz, South Australia's Jessica Mundy and Victoria's Imogen Jelbart created much of the pace through the race, but it was Jennings who piled on the points at every opportunity. She had an unassailable lead heading into the final sprint but just to make sure she blasted clear of the field and ended the race with 31 points to take the gold medal ahead of South Australia's Jessica Mundy (19 points) and Tasmania's Georgia Baker (11 points).

"This is pretty exciting, I didn't expect this at all, I am over the moon," said Jennings after being presented with her third gold medal in two days. The seventeen-year-old also won the time trial gold in the afternoon session and yesterday won the scratch race and was second in the individual pursuit.

"The plan was to go out and get points early as I knew the West Australians, in particular Elissa, would attack.

"It is hard when everyone is watching me and everyone wants my wheel and it is hard to get people to work with me, plus it was a really fast race too, but I really enjoyed it," Jennings said.

The 2012 Subaru Cycling Australia Track National Championships are being staged from Thursday January 26 to Sunday January 29 6 at Adelaide's Super-Drome. A detailed event schedule, ticketing information, entry list and results can be found on the Cycling Australia website

Victorian Simon Gerrans has sealed a fairytale debut for the fledgling GreenEDGE Australian professional cycling team by claiming overall victory in the 2012 Santos Tour Down Under.

Gerrans joins team mate and local hero Stuart O'Grady and today's stage winner German Andre Greipel (Lotto-Belisol) as the third rider in the event's 14 year history to win the trophy twice.

Sunday's final stage was raced over 20 laps of a street circuit at Elder Park on the banks of the Torrens River north of the Adelaide CBD. The 90 kilometre finale set off with the air temperature at 37 degrees celsius but the heat from road made racing conditions much hotter.

31 year old Gerrans went into the stage tied on time with Spaniard Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) but as race leader because of a lower total when the pair's places on previous stages were tallied. There was also a handful of other riders hoping to improve their positions. But GreenEDGE were up to the challenge and vigilant throughout the stage making sure they covered every move.

"When I was told yesterday that I was getting the leader's jersey, I didn't feel any pressure at all, it was just a nice surprise. I knew it would give us a tough job for this last stage, but as it turns out, I can't be happier," said Gerran who two weeks ago won the elite men's road race crown at the nationals. "This is just fantastic. I can't thank the GreenEdge team enough for this victory.

"We had a tough task today to control Alejandro Valverde who is a classics rider. The last lap was very fast," said a jubuliant Gerrans whose wife Rahna was in Adelaide to witness his win. "It's an even sweeter victory than my first one here in 2006. It gives me the opportunity to thank for the first time the Ryan family (GreenEDGE team owners Gerry and Andrew) and (GreenEDGE General Manager) Shayne Bannan for putting this team together. It couldn't be a better start for us.

"I had Robbie McEwen looking after me (and) that was pretty special since it was his last race in Australia," said Gerrans of his team mate McEwen who going into today's stage held the record for the most stage wins in the history of the Santos Tour Down Under. Greipel today equalled that record when he grabbed his 13th stage victory.

"What can I say?" said Greipel after flashing across the line a good bike length clear of Australian Mark Renshaw (Rabobank) and Italian sprint ace Alessandro Petacchi (Lampre). "The team Lotto-Belisol has just been amazing in leading me out to my third win of the week.

"It looks easy but it's not," he said. "I was nowhere in the front on GC (overall) this year but I'm happy with the sprint finishes. I always like to come to South Australia. It's just nice to start the new season here rather than train in Europe."
 
Further back in the peloton were Valverde and Gerrans who crossed the line 25th and 27th respectively split only by Gerran's stage finish pilot McEwen who made sure the Spaniard was well marked.

"I'm just really happy and proud to be part of this team here at the Santos Tour Down Under. I'm not retiring today, that was my last Aussie race officially, but the season's not done. I am still going to race for another four months after this," said McEwen. "It's a fantastic way to go out as far as Australia racing is concerned. I joined the team and was really excited about being a part of the GreenEDGE project racing in an Aussie team, our national team. It was all about winning the jersey and that's the success for the team, it feels like a personal win to be a part of it."

Despite not being on the top step of the podium Valverde was satisfied to have won the Tour's first ever hilltop finish yesterday.

"I am very happy with finishing second in the Santos Tour Down Under," said Valverde. "The outcome is much better than I expected when I came to Australia. Today was a super fast stage with a bit of wind that made it even more difficult. I'm very happy."

At the end of the 803km six day event both Gerrans and Valverde remained deadlocked on 20:46:12 but Gerrans' stage placings added up to a total of 102 and Valverde's 175 giving the Australian the win.

"I certainly am [happy]," said GreenEDGE Team Director, Matt White, who last year steered Cameron Meyer to victory. "To win the Santos Tour Down Under with our newly crowned National Champion, we couldn't have written a better script. [I'm] elated, just elated."

Third place overall went to Portugese rider Tiago Machado (RadioShack-Nissan) who was eight seconds back with Canberra's Michael Rogers (Sky Pro Cycling) fourth at 14 seconds. On the same time as Rogers in fifth place was 21 year old Rohan Dennis (UniSA-Australia) who recently claimed both the under 23 time trial and road race national titles.

Dennis was in superb form this week to claim the SKODA King of the Mountain classification and the Cycle Instead Best Young Rider (under 26) trophy.

"I wasn't sure I was actually going to finish this race," said Dennis explaining the effect on him of the fast start to the stage. "I was pretty happy it slowed down, I think everybody was. With that surge at the start it almost slowed it down and made it a little bit easier towards the end."

Dennis was also given the Tanya Denver Award as the highest placed South Australian overall.

Norwegian Edvald Boasson Hagen had hoped to climb higher in the overall rankings today but an attack from Jan Bakelants (RadioShack-Nissan) netted the Belgian some crucial bonus seconds in the Jayco intermediate sprints and pushed Boasson Hagen back to seventh. Bakelants' audacious attack also saw him named the Hindmarsh Most Aggressive rider of the stage.

But Sky's Boasson Hagen did hold onto his lead in the Jayco Sprint Classification to claim the trophy with 56 points, six ahead of Greipel.

"I got the jersey but I would like to be more up in the final stage, but I managed to keep the jersey so that's a good thing," said Boasson Hagen. "It's an early start to the season and to be on top form now is difficult. I'm happy to be on OK form and I can still get better."

The Brilliant Blend Team trophy was awarded to RadioShack-Nissan-Trek who were 24 seconds ahead of Sky ProCycling after the times of the top three ranked riders from each team were tallied.

"We like to win a team GC and on top of that we managed to place Tiago, we are pretty happy with the outcome of the race," said team captain Jens Voigt.

The final word goes to the man considered the most successful cyclist of all time, Belgian legend Eddy Merckx who was a special guest at this year's event.

"It was a great race and I will be thanking everybody, everything was great," said Merckx.

Final Results Summary

• Stage 6 Winner - Andre Greipel (Lotto-Belisol) (GER)

• Santos Tour Down Under Winner - Simon Gerrans (GreenEDGE) (AUS)

• Jayco Sprint Winner - Edvald Boasson Hagen (Team Sky ) (NOR)

• SKODA King of the Mountain Winner - Rohan Dennis (UniSA-Australia) (AUS)

• Cycle Instead Best Young Rider (Under 26) - Rohan Dennis (UniSA-Australia) (AUS)

• Brilliant Blend Team Leader - Radioshack-Nissan

• Hindmarsh Most Aggressive Rider for stage 6- Jan Bakelants (RadioShack-Nissan) (BEL)

• Tanya Denver Award - Rohan Dennis (UniSA-Australia) (AUS) (Highest placed South Australian overall)

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By Simon Cadzow

 “Here come the Australians in their canary yellow”

The Twelfth Man (edited for television)

“What is it that makes something official? Something becomes official when it is given credibility by an authority. GreenEDGE Cycling has been given authority by the UCI and in cycling; it doesn’t get bigger than that.”

Simon Cadzow (yes that’s the writer but I thought it sounded so cool I had to use it)

Today the 14th of January 2012, they were unveiled. I was there.

The men and women of GreenEDGE Cycling: the riders; the team managers/directors; the kit, and perhaps most important of all, a certain karaoke video clip.

Right now in Australia they are hot news. At the Santos 2012 Tour Down Under, the first event on the WorldTour Calendar, they begin their story; their official story, now on the international stage.

I like a good story.

Many things have been said about the development of this team. It has spent time in coming; Time well spent. Money invested; Money well spent. The toil of labour; People well invested.

It has been talked about, dreamed about and even in some cases, Mr S O’Grady, perhaps prayed about.

The cynics cry “Why even try?” “It cannot be done” “Waste of time” “will it ever happen?” but those with heart, soul, mind and most importantly strength of will, have known better. 

And now it’s official. 

It is easy to just sit and watch; Harder perhaps to reflect. To think of this moment as it will be when looked upon from some point in the future. When looking back.

Australia. For the first time ever. Has a team of its own on the international elite level circuit.

We as Australians are good at jumping on board successes. We share success amongst ourselves well, claim victories easily and distance ourselves from defeat whilst simultaneously managing to shed blame.

But with GreenEDGE we should jump on board; we should leap with both feet. They call to Australia to do so and with good reason. Not because they are hot news, but rather because of whom they are, what they stand for, where they have already trod and where they seek to tread. 

Every one of those involved are tried and tested and simply put, are people, who we as a nation can be proud of both as cyclists and as people.

 To quote Theodore: 

“It is not the critic who counts; nor the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; because there is no effort without error and shortcomings; but who does actually strive to do the deed; who knows the great enthusiasm, the great devotion, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at best knows in the end the triumph of great achievement and who at worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly. So that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat”

GreenEDGE is about to spend itself in a most worthy cause and will dare greatly and WILL know the triumph of great achievement and their place will never be with cold and timid souls knowing neither victory nor defeat. 

It has begun. 

It is official. Get on board. www.greenedgecycling.com

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Victoria's Simon Gerrans, 31, has been crowned Australian champion after a thrilling elite men's road race at the 2012 Mars Cycling Australia Road National Championships in Buninyong, near Ballarat.

GreenEDGE's Gerrans, the only Australian to have claimed a stage win in each of the 'Grand Tours', Tour De France, Giro d'italia and Vuelta a España, edged out Tasmania's Richie Porte (Team Sky) and Victoria's Matthew Lloyd (Lampre - ISD) in a sprint to the line at the end of the 163.2 kilometre race. 

"This is such an honour, it is far and above one of my proudest moments in cycling and to now (I get to) be crowned Australian champion for the next twelve months, and to be able to wear the green and gold through all the big races in Europe," said Gerrans.

"I just capped off some great team work from GreenEdge today, I am so proud of all of the guys," he added. 

A field of 140 riders set out to conquer sixteen laps of the 10.2 kilometre course and the pace was fierce from the start. Repeated attacks and counter attacks had the fans enthralled as Australia's top talent battled for the green and gold in a brutal contest that saw only 21 of the 140 starters complete the race. 

Every lap saw the peloton whittled down and by the time the race went under the start finish arch for the bell lap, 23 of the world's best headed into the final ten kilometre showdown.

On the final climb of Mt Buninyong Gerrans made his move with Lloyd hot on his tail.  Porte struck out to join them but the pair in front made it tough and it wasn't until the final few kilometres that Porte managed to get on the wheel. Then came an engaging game of cat and mouse before Gerrans, the superior sprinter of the three, outfoxed his opponents on the final run into Buninyong to claim the title in front of around 20,000 fans.  

"The way the race unfolded didn't really go to plan, but it went to plan that I won it," said Gerrans. "I was going to try and save as much as I could for the last few laps of the race, but as it turned out, the race was blown to pieces after about 50 kilometres.  

"Then with a couple of laps to go, Cameron Meyer (GreenEDGE) who was out the front ran out of gas and it became an even playing field as we had the same amount of guys at the front as a lot of other teams, so it was pretty much every team for itself and we lost our advantage.  

"I have done a lot of hard work over the past couple of months to start the season in good shape, so that's why it is such a thrill that all that hard work has paid off with a win." he added.  

Despite being forced to battle it out in a sprint at the end of the race, the experienced Gerrans revealed he was confident heading into the final moments although he had been a little worried when he and Lloyd thought that it was Tour of Spain stage winner, CJ Sutton (Team Sky), a talented sprinter chasing them not Richie Porte.

"It was only about five hundred metres before the line when I realised that it was Richie Porte, so I was a little less worried knowing it was him," said Gerrans. "Coming to the finish after a long tough race like that one with a time triallist and a climber, I knew I had a bit of a kick on me to finish off a race like that, so I was confident coming to the line."

The win gave the GreenEDGE team it's first professional win and Gerrans paid tribute to his teammates efforts during the race. 

"It is such a great way to start a season with a new team and some big races here in Australia to get the season under way, I was really motivated to start the season in good shape," Gerrans said.

"It was a race that had everything in it we just really tried to dominate the race with numbers at GreenEDGE and try to have guys in the breakaway all day long."

Defending road champion Jack Bobridge, his GreenEDGE teammate Luke Durbridge and Garmin-Cervelo's Nathan Haas, were strong early while five time Olympian Stuart O'Grady (GreenEDGE) was also driving the pace including a stint out in front with another of the strongmen of the day, Mathew Hayman (Team Sky).

Garmin's Heinrich Haussler also threw his hat in the ring halfway through when he set off in pursuit of 2011 national time trial champion Cameron Meyer with Meyer's team mate Luke Durbridge latched on like a limpet to Haussler's wheel.

Meyer at one stage was more than three minutes ahead and many thought he might have stolen the march on the field but after a solo 30 kilometres in the lead he was caught after some solid chasing by GreenEDGE's rivals.

Two other riders amongst those to make their mark today were Will Clarke (Champion Systems) and Bernard Sulzberger (Team Raleigh) who finished fifth and tenth respectivelty and who were solid performers throughout the day. Their efforts saw them earn selection as the final two riders for the UniSA-Australia national team line up to contest the Santos Tour Down Under, the opening WorldTour event of the season.

Back on the podium Lloyd, 28, who won the title in 2008, was ecstatic to be back on the podium after a disappointing 2011.

"About 600 metres out, I thought 'I've got to go' and I made the attempt and I know we're not fantastic sprinters, you'll never see me sprint fast in my life," Lloyd explained. "And I knew Simon would be following me and once he went, he was way too strong.

"(But) I was mega-stoked for Simon, and Richie, it's a race that's very special and I'm humbled to come second to him (Gerrans), because he's a brilliant bike rider," said Lloyd. "The jersey, once you've got it you can never be taken away and was beautiful to see."

Lloyd, who signed with Lampre-ISD late last year, says the team has given him a new lease on life.

"It's incredible - I've never actually felt better in cycling as far as I can remember," he said. "It's been awesome, because you come into an environment with a new team and you know the injuries are gone.

"My ambition for the day was to put the (race) numbers back on and rejoin the professional ranks and the key factor for me was just the involvement and feeling like I was doing what I love.

"Maybe that's reflected in the results." he added.

It was the first national road race result for Porte, 26, who was fourth in 2008.

"At the end of the day, I was told to back myself, and maybe I did, well I did lead it out up that back climb," said Porte. "I knew I was never going to be as punchy as Simon and Lloydy at the finish and I think it was probably the slowest sprint for second place ever.

"But to end up third, I was happy with that. It's a much better start to my year than (previously)," he said

One of only four Team Sky riders in the main field along with Sutton, Mathew Hayman and Michael Rogers, Porte made no excuses after the race, instead he is looking ahead to the Tuesday's time trial.

"My team was incredible, but I guess we had quality, not quantity, but hats off to GreenEDGE," he said. "I have trained specifically for the time trial, so now I need to recover and come out swinging on Tuesday."

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The 2012 UCI Track Cycling World Championships has joined forces with The Squeaky Wheel to pay homage to the much loved tradition of the vintage bicycle poster.

 

‘Chasing Rainbows’ - a poster design competition taking the 2012 Track World’s back to a bygone era – will run as part of Melbourne’s Bikefest from early January to March 18.

 

Students, design professionals and bicycle enthusiasts will be encouraged to design a traditional bicycle poster in promotion of the 2012 UCI Track Cycling World Championships with a design brief to be release early in the new year.

 

The winning designer will pocket $1,000, with his or her winning design also used in an outdoor media campaign in the lead up to the 2012 UCI Track Cycling World Championships in April next year.  Four placegetters will receive $500 each.

 

An exhibition will be held in the final week of Melbourne’s Bikefest where a judging panel will decide the top five finalists and eventual winner.

 

Creative producer of The Squeaky Wheel Pip Carroll is excited about the prospect of bring a slice of history back to the modern world of the 2012 Track Worlds.

 

“Track racing has always held an important place in cycling culture, going right back to the days when outdoor velodromes were bursting with fans and competitors,” Carroll said.

 

“The vintage bicycle poster was as icon of this era and we are thrilled to include the local design and bike-loving community in a celebration of the 2012 UCI Track Cycling World Championships.

 

“A new generation of track bike enthusiasts has blossomed through the emergence of the fixed wheel bike culture, and Melbourne Bikefest is a great way for us to link these audiences to the championships.”

 

The history of the bicycle poster is well documented as The Squeaky Wheel’s Kathryn Thompson reports in her history of the bicycle poster.

 

Click here for more information about the poster competition.

 

The history of the bicycle poster

 

·        During the late 1800′s, bicycles rose to popularity and became the modern hobby craft as we know them today.

 

·        Bicycles manufacturers struggled to keep up with demand as society embraced the freedom the bicycle carried with it.

 

·        Bicycle companies were looking for a modern form of advertising to reach the masses, thus we saw the birth of the bicycle poster as the most popular form of advertising.

 

·        Bicycles were described as the most civilised, noblest and curious invention of mankind.  Many saw it a vehicle for freedom, especially women. Advertising reflected all of this thinking.

 

·        Bicycle posters could be seen on city walls and in bicycle shops throughout the city. They were so popular that by the turn of the century, more posters were created for bicycles than any other product.

 

·        Post WWI, society had changed, and thus posters and advertising changed too. Art deco became the predominant style with much smoother, simpler designs and straightforward text.

 

·        While poster artists were intrigued by the bicycle’s diffusion into society, they were completely ignorant to its form and functionality. 

 

·        Today, due to their general appeal and affordability, vintage bicycle posters became highly prized and valuable collector’s items.

 

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GreenEDGE Cycling's strong recruiting has taken it another big step towards becoming the first Australian pro cycling team to join the UCI World Tour next year.

The team, featuring veterans Stuart O'Grady and Robbie McEwen plus the likes of young talents Matt Goss, Jack Bobridge and Cameron and Travis Meyer, has been ranked by the UCI in the top 15 teams based on the racing deeds of its roster.

The UCI released its list of the top 15 in no particular order, along with those ranked 16th to 20th who could vie for the last three spots on the tour.

However GreenEDGE still has more hoops to jump through as a newcomer seeking a licence with a final determination not expected before November 20 at the earliest.

Australian Tour de France winner Cadel Evans' powerful US-owned BMC Racing Team was an obvious inclusion in the top 15.

Basque-owned Euskaltel-Euskadi is the only team in the top 15 in the 2011 team rankings to drop out of that list, falling to the 16-20 category.

The Omega Pharma-QuickStep team moves up from 16th overall in 2011 after acquiring Omega Pharma from its Belgian rivals Lotto and hiring many of the HTC-Highroad riders, reports cyclingnews.com.

Teams in the top 15: Astana Pro Team, BMC Racing Team, Garmin Cervelo, GreenEdge Cycling Team, Katusha Team, Lampre, ISD-Liquigas- Cannondale, Lotto Cycling Project, Movistar Team, Omega Pharma Quick-Step Team, Rabobank, RadioShack-Nissan, Saxo Bank Sungard, Sky Procycling, Vacansoleil, DCM Pro Cycling Team.

Teams 16-20: AG2R La Mondiale, Geox TMC, FDJ, Euskaltel Euskadi, Team Europcar.