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| A Team That Was a Laughingstock Is Getting Serious | |
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| NICE, France — After the first stage of the Tour de France on Saturday, Orica-GreenEdge was ridiculed by the peloton: its team bus had become stuck on the finish line as riders descended upon Bastia, causing a series of events that sent the race into chaos. | NICE, France — After the first stage of the Tour de France on Saturday, Orica-GreenEdge was ridiculed by the peloton: its team bus had become stuck on the finish line as riders descended upon Bastia, causing a series of events that sent the race into chaos. |
| Three days later, after its second consecutive stage win, in which its leader, Simon Gerrans, took the yellow jersey, the team has become the toast of the 100th Tour. | Three days later, after its second consecutive stage win, in which its leader, Simon Gerrans, took the yellow jersey, the team has become the toast of the 100th Tour. |
| On a beautiful summer day in Nice, the riders for Orica-GreenEdge, an Australian team, were the fastest on Stage 4’s 15.5-mile team time trial course around the Mediterranean city, narrowly beating prestage picks like Omega Pharma-Quick Step and Sky by three-quarters of a second. | On a beautiful summer day in Nice, the riders for Orica-GreenEdge, an Australian team, were the fastest on Stage 4’s 15.5-mile team time trial course around the Mediterranean city, narrowly beating prestage picks like Omega Pharma-Quick Step and Sky by three-quarters of a second. |
| Some of cycling’s best-known television images may be of solo mountain breakaways and sprinters raising their arms after vanquishing rivals, but every rider is part of a nine-man team at this year’s Tour de France, which ends July 21 in Paris. | Some of cycling’s best-known television images may be of solo mountain breakaways and sprinters raising their arms after vanquishing rivals, but every rider is part of a nine-man team at this year’s Tour de France, which ends July 21 in Paris. |
| The team time trial, which was last held at the Tour in 2011, pits each team’s riders against the clock. Most teams on Saturday had nine, except for those like the French team Cofidis, which had eight. | The team time trial, which was last held at the Tour in 2011, pits each team’s riders against the clock. Most teams on Saturday had nine, except for those like the French team Cofidis, which had eight. |
| It is indeed a team effort, with riders taking turns at the front of the group, striving to keep a fast pace going. Wearing their team’s white-blue-and-green jersey, Gerrans and his team surprised the field. | It is indeed a team effort, with riders taking turns at the front of the group, striving to keep a fast pace going. Wearing their team’s white-blue-and-green jersey, Gerrans and his team surprised the field. |
| “We were by no means the favorite, but we’re a well-balanced, strong team,” said Gerrans, the sixth Australian to wear the yellow jersey as leader of the Tour. “We thought that if everyone could play their role, if people didn’t try to do too much or too little, we would have a chance to finish very close to the top.” | “We were by no means the favorite, but we’re a well-balanced, strong team,” said Gerrans, the sixth Australian to wear the yellow jersey as leader of the Tour. “We thought that if everyone could play their role, if people didn’t try to do too much or too little, we would have a chance to finish very close to the top.” |
| It was not as close as Gerrans’s victory Monday in Stage 3, however, when he beat Peter Sagan to the line by less than a wheel’s length to claim the team’s first Tour de France stage victory. | It was not as close as Gerrans’s victory Monday in Stage 3, however, when he beat Peter Sagan to the line by less than a wheel’s length to claim the team’s first Tour de France stage victory. |
| Started in 2011, Orica-Green-Edge is Australia’s answer to Britain’s Team Sky. Built around a deep corps of Australian riders like the sprinter Matt Goss and Stuart O’Grady, who is in his 17th Tour de France, it has quickly achieved success. | Started in 2011, Orica-Green-Edge is Australia’s answer to Britain’s Team Sky. Built around a deep corps of Australian riders like the sprinter Matt Goss and Stuart O’Grady, who is in his 17th Tour de France, it has quickly achieved success. |
| Nothing, however, prepared it for what has happened this Tour. | Nothing, however, prepared it for what has happened this Tour. |
| “Yesterday was big,” said Matt White, the team’s general manager. “The biggest win for the team ever. Today, we didn’t really expect it.” | “Yesterday was big,” said Matt White, the team’s general manager. “The biggest win for the team ever. Today, we didn’t really expect it.” |
| Gerrans said that his victory Monday was the result of months of preparation, but he could have said the same thing about Tuesday’s stage. Of all of the sport’s disciplines — climbing, sprinting, individual time trials — the team time trial demands the most precise timing and coordination. Teams do not just show up at the start line. They rent former Formula One tracks in Marseille to experiment with different bikes, wheels and rider formations, as BMC Racing did after the Giro d’Italia in May. Garmin-Sharp, which won the Tour’s last team time trial, in 2011, abandoned race radio in favor of giving riders direction over a loudspeaker mounted on the trailing car. And Sky, with four of its nine riders based in or around Nice, had intimate knowledge of the course. | Gerrans said that his victory Monday was the result of months of preparation, but he could have said the same thing about Tuesday’s stage. Of all of the sport’s disciplines — climbing, sprinting, individual time trials — the team time trial demands the most precise timing and coordination. Teams do not just show up at the start line. They rent former Formula One tracks in Marseille to experiment with different bikes, wheels and rider formations, as BMC Racing did after the Giro d’Italia in May. Garmin-Sharp, which won the Tour’s last team time trial, in 2011, abandoned race radio in favor of giving riders direction over a loudspeaker mounted on the trailing car. And Sky, with four of its nine riders based in or around Nice, had intimate knowledge of the course. |
| But none of them were able to best Orica-GreenEdge: Garmin-Sharp finished sixth, Sky third and BMC Racing ninth, 26 seconds off the pace. Riders on each team are given the same finishing time; Tuesday’s time trial was not decisive in terms of the overall classification, but BMC’s finish put Cadel Evans 23 seconds behind Chris Froome, the Sky captain, who is three seconds behind Gerrans. | But none of them were able to best Orica-GreenEdge: Garmin-Sharp finished sixth, Sky third and BMC Racing ninth, 26 seconds off the pace. Riders on each team are given the same finishing time; Tuesday’s time trial was not decisive in terms of the overall classification, but BMC’s finish put Cadel Evans 23 seconds behind Chris Froome, the Sky captain, who is three seconds behind Gerrans. |
| A time trial is perhaps the only time professional cycling resembles golf. Riders or teams who finish early are left to watch their rivals complete the course. Orica went off toward the end of the afternoon, but there were still four teams behind it. As the day ended, though, with only RadioShack left on the course, the excitement was palpable. | A time trial is perhaps the only time professional cycling resembles golf. Riders or teams who finish early are left to watch their rivals complete the course. Orica went off toward the end of the afternoon, but there were still four teams behind it. As the day ended, though, with only RadioShack left on the course, the excitement was palpable. |
| “We did a great time trial, we’re happy,” Gerrans told French television as he waited for the final results. “We’ll have to see what happens,” he said diplomatically, but then broke into a big smile. | “We did a great time trial, we’re happy,” Gerrans told French television as he waited for the final results. “We’ll have to see what happens,” he said diplomatically, but then broke into a big smile. |