By Jamie Finch-Penninger – @FishysCP
With the announcement of a new sponsor, new name and new roster for Avanti Iso Whey Sports for 2016, we take the opportunity to look at who is in, who is out, and how it might shape the teams National Road Series defence in 2016.
Ins: Ben O’Connor, Oscar Stevenson, Sean Lake, Pat Lane, Liam Aitcheson, Matthew Zenovich, Robbie Hucker, Sam Crome
Outs: Patrick Bevin, Ben Dyball, Jason Christie, Scott Law, Tom Davison, Aaron Donnelly, Matthew Clark, Luke Fetch, Mark Tupalski, Taylor Gunman
‘Tis the season the season to be finalising rider lineups on the Australian racing scene, and four-time running NRS teams classification winners Avanti have announced a squad that sees a lot of turnover in its riders. 9 leave the squad, and 8 have come in to replace them, with the team bosses clearly not afraid to make changes to try and improve. Racing across the Asian and Australian calendar takes a deep squad, and the recruitment plans Avanti have set in place look geared to being competitive in all conditions.
The big loss is undoubtedly NRS Individual Rider of the Year for 2015 Paddy Bevin, who easily wrapped up the classification despite missing the latter part of the season and focusing most of his efforts on performing well in Asia. He proved his versatility there as he took varied results; beating Caleb Ewan in a sprint in the Tour of Korea, winning a summit finish in the Tour of Taiwan and maintaining a commendable level of consistency throughout. He will certainly be missed, but his elevation to the World Tour with Cannondale-Garmin is arguably going to strengthen the squad, as Avanti Iso Whey has built a reputation of developing riders to take the step up to the higher levels of the sport, and successes like Bevin make it the destination of choice for every rider that has pretensions of riding in the biggest races. So whilst they will miss the New Zealander’s ability to win almost any race that he takes to the start line, every pedal stroke he turns in the World Tour peloton further advertises the team’s ability to develop the stars of the future. That is a formidable recruitment tool, as almost every rider in the NRS harbours dreams of making that breakthrough to the top level of the sport.
A number of the new faces at Avanti Iso Whey will be looking to follow that same pathway as they join the team for next season. Ben O’Connor is a promising young climber who looks to have the goods to compete with the best in Australia, if not next year, then quite soon down the line. He will want to show that he can confirm that potential by reproducing his good results on the climbs in the past consistently over the course of a season. Jayco U/23 World Tour Academy member Oscar Stevenson is a very talented rider, but it is worth noting that he will only be riding for a limited time with the squad before he heads back to Varese with the Academy squad. He’s best against the clock, but is strong over the hillier terrain as well, and will be a prominent rider for the team in the early season Asian Tour races.
The former African Wildlife Safaris pair of Sean Lake and Pat Lane are a solid set of additions to the squad. Lake became the first back to back winner of the Grafton to Inverell this year, again proving his reputation as a strong man of the peloton, who thrives at putting down the power on tough terrain. Pat Lane is a bit more of a versatile style of rider, he does a bit of everything and can be relied upon for his canny racing style as well as his strength. He maybe hasn’t fulfilled the potential that he showed earlier in his career as he raced for the World Tour Academy squad and the Continental team Synergy Baku, but he’s hardly old at 24 years old, and still has plenty of time to reach the promise that he showed as a youngster when he was winning U/23 races in Europe.
Robbie Hucker has had a rough time with illness in 2015, but he returned strongly to racing with a 2nd overall at the Tour of Southland in New Zealand, and he will hope to consolidate on that performance with a strong performance across next season. He will no doubt be itching to return to the Pro Continental level after not having his contract renewed by Drapac from last season. He could well be the pickup of the season if he can shrug off the illness which decimated this season and return to top form. Joining him is his good mate Sam Crome, who will be looking to build upon his strong showing in the NRS last year. His strongest performances came in the Tours of Perth and Tasmania, and he turned a lot of heads as he took the racing to the bigger names of the peloton. If he can continue the upward trend in his form, he could well be in for a very good season.
Rounding off the new additions is the New Zealand duo of Liam Aitcheson and Matthew Zenovich, who are relative unknowns in Australian cycling circles. They did both perform well in the Tour of Southland, perhaps on the basis of those showings they were picked up, though Avanti obviously has ties with New Zealand and would be expected to have a decent knowledge of the top talents there.
Whilst the departure of Patrick Bevin cannot be overstated, and the departure of other strong riders like Matt Clark, Taylor Gunman and company created a void, it is clear that that gap has been filled by a collection of versatile and talented athletes who will be competitive at every race they attend. Most importantly, the team will retain the services of Joe Cooper, who many regard as the best climber in Australia and New Zealand racing. The roster will still retain that talismanic figure that they can confidently base a race plan around, with still plenty of tactical flexibility offered by all the other strong riders who themselves would be the outright leaders of many of the other NRS squads.
