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2010 season roundup - Ruaraidh McLeod Sep 3rd, 10. Ruaraidh McLeod shares his season roundup after his first year as a Kiwi ... read more |
Hushovd the victor in Vuelta Sep 3rd, 10. Cervélo TestTeam’s Thor Hushovd delivered an impressive victory after climbing over a short ... read more |
Vuelta Espana 2010 Stage 6 resultsSep 3rd,10. Results from Stage 6 of the Vuelta Espana ... read more |
| Season roundup - OEX Team Enterprise |
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Andrew Ward, Eliot Crowther and Al Dempsey Stage 5 Tour of Geelong
Racing in Australia were Jeremy Yates, Eliot Crowther, Thomas Hanover, Al Dempsey, Brett Tivers, Andrew Ward and Patrick Bevin. During the series the team wore many of the prized jerseys, had most aggressive rider titles, but they didn't manage a win. As they weren't living up to sponsor expectations, OEX Team Enterprise came home early. They've now re-established their goals and are looking ahead to the PowerNet Tour of Southland. RoadCycling.co.nz's Sarah Christian talked with team manager Courtney Black about their Australian season, the NZ summer season and future plans.
Tom Hanover celebrates the most aggressive rider jersey after Stage 1 Tour of Geelong
The experience confirmed that kiwis aren't far behind this level and the experience and knowledge gained about the Australian racing scene has been worthwhile for the whole team. The team worked really hard and enjoyed the experience, they gave it their all which I am proud of, but of course I am disappointed we did not win a race. This was at least partly due to bad luck with our sprinter Brett Tivers breaking his collarbone part way through the first tour. That affected our results a lot, but all teams face bad luck at some stage and to the riders' credit I think they did their best to step up when bad luck required it. I talked a lot to other teams while over there and this put a few things about what we have achieved in perspective. One of the bigger Australian teams, Drapac Porsche, started in 2003 with one rider and got an official team together in 2006. OEX-Team Enterprise is under a year old, run by one 23 year old, and has looked after a total of 12 national and international riders. Although the Australian win remained elusive OEX-Team Enterprise has done pretty well. There were many ups and downs during the season. What was the highlight/lowlight for the team? 
Brett Tivers signs autographs for school children at Tour of Gippsland
The lowlight was Brett breaking his collarbone, that really gutted the team. The race was a build up for him and he was flying. Another lowlight was when we arrived it turned out I could not rent the larger cars we had booked over there as I was under 25. We ended up with a ute for the first race! (That's all I could get). Highlights, I will have to say our riders and helpers and the positive team attitude, we had a ghetto blaster and we always turned up to races in a good (loud, dancing) mood. The Aussies have a great attitude, on the bike they know the job they have to do and do it well, off the bike they chat, enjoy each other's company and don't mind helping out each other. From time to time NZ racing gets a little catty but I think our team almost out-did the Aussies this time - at one point the AIS mechanic even jumped ship and joined us for a boogie! You have some events on your calendar you aren't racing. Why have you cut the Aussie season short? I love cycling and helping riders achieve their goals, but like business, performance reviews are needed to hold people accountable. The riders and I were informed before we left if we did not have a win after the Murray Tour we had to come home. Although this is hard, and perhaps a new concept to New Zealand sport, it is important; no one wants to throw money at a team that isn't holding up its end of the bargain. Accountability is something that I think is really important so from my point of view the performance review was and will continue to be a significant part of how the team runs. I see Jeremy Yates is riding Sun Tour for a different team. Wasn't that a tour OEX Team Enterprise had scheduled? 
Jeremy Yates leads Tom Hanover at the Tour of Gippsland criterium
The Jayco Herald Sun Tour is a Continental race and for various reasons we have decided not to become a Continental team (yet). So although we had both the money and the invitation the only way we could race it was under the NZ national license. I met with Keiran Turner (BikeNZ CEO) after the tour of Wellington in January and I proposed that we would provide the sponsorship for a team to do the Tour of Langkawi and Herald Sun Tour if they could provide the license. The money and organisation would have come from us and we would have selected four riders and Bike NZ would have selected a further three. Initially things looked positive, but contact from Bike NZ dried up and I have not been given a reason. Is OEX Team Enterprise still planning on riding the Tour of Southland? Yes, Tour of Southland is a goal for us as results down there will secure us sponsorship for next year. Jeremy is planning to do his usual damage down there, our goal is to go for stage results and maybe a jersey. The team is,
When you launched the team you had plans to establish the team as the best in Australasia, and to eventually race in Europe. Is this still the goal? Yes, this is a long term goal though. I would love to take the team to Europe but that will require a much more professional set up. I am not just talking money, more generally cycling in NZ has to lift its game. As a whole we all need to be realistic and not live in a lala-land where it's easy to believe that having the same equipment put us on par with European racing. For example worrying about looking good and heart rate or wattage numbers doesn't help much if it means forgetting the importance of hard training, hard racing, stretching and resting. It is my view that a professional approach is the fastest track to performing like a professional. One important intermediate step we are focused on is helping individual riders with their careers long term. Riders like Andi Bajc, Alex Meenhorst and Jeremy Yates are able to move forward individually much faster than we can as an organisation. We are not interested in keeping European standard riders back in New Zealand so that we can get glory in club races. I see it as a great credit to our team that a rider like Alex has been able to come off a summer season with us and just fly in Europe this year. This is one of the reasons that we have not become a Continental Team as it allows riders who have been competing in Europe to return and share their experience with younger riders and likewise it doesn't prohibit a rider like Jeremy from gaining valuable exposure and experience in a race like HeraldSun Tour with another team. Much of this will come together under a different tack I am currently working on that I believe will help younger (Under 19/23) riders reach the top.
Read the season round-ups of all the kiwi internationals..Greg Henderson, Peter Latham, Alex Meenhorst, Tim Gudsell, OEX Team Enterprise, Matt Sillars, Roman Van Uden, Alex McGregor, Heath Blackgrove, Wade Mangham, Glen Chadwick, Genevieve Whitson, George Bennett, Logan Hutchings, Michael Torckler, Josie Giddens, Jesse Sergent, Tom David, Jack Bauer, Sam Bewley, Rushlee Buchanan, Clinton Avery, Ryan Wills, Cath Cheatley plus recent interviews with Alison Shanks, Hayden Roulston and Jo Kiesanowski. More to come... |
Oct 2nd, 09. OEX Team Enterprise's manager Courtney Black talked to RoadCycling.co.nz about the season gone, the realities of sponsored cycling and the team's future goals.