Photography by Cor Vos & various

Who should be in the Australian Tour de France Team of the Century

by Craig Fry

Tomorrow at the Australian Cyclist of the Year Awards in Melbourne, Cycling Australia will announce its Tour de France Team of the Century to celebrate 100 years of Australian riders taking part in the world's biggest bike race. We asked CyclingTips' historian, Associate Professor Craig Fry who would be in his Team of the Century and why.

Like many fans of Australian cycling, I am waiting with genuine interest for the announcement tomorrow of Cycling Australia’s Tour de France Team of the Century.

As someone who collects, researches, and writes about Australian cycling history, I’m all for celebrating this country’s century-long involvement with the Tour de France – regarded by many as the world’s greatest bike race.

If I am being really honest though, I think it’s a little arbitrary to choose nine riders from a list of 50 over 100 years spanning wildly different racing, equipment, conditions, cultures, and other challenges. Why not celebrate all of the 51 Australians who have rolled up to the Tour de France start line?

The value of an Australian Tour de France Team of the Century

Don’t get me wrong. I think the Aussie Tour Team of the Century is exactly the type of thing that the newly installed Board and Executive at Cycling Australia should be doing. It’s a long overdue step by this organisation towards promoting the rich history of Australian bike racing.

Cycling as a sport is in need of positive good news stories that promote the achievements of our elite riders on the international stage. Indeed, the implicit idea behind the Tour Team of the Century concept is to tell a positive story of Australia’s strength and achievements on the world road cycling stage.

Such stories hopefully inspire wider interest in cycling as a sport to watch and support, to participate and ultimately win in. Arguably, the future success of Australian road cycling depends in part on new cohorts of junior riders coming through with aspirations of riding the Tour some day.

The thing is, the stories of Australian cycling success that are often told through highlighting the best, or the fastest, or the most frequent winners are not the only possible source of inspiration available to us.

Personally, I prefer the stories in cycling that are about enduring courage, determination, the ‘underdog’ prevailing, interesting characters, and human frailty. These were the things I thought about when selecting the following nine riders for my Australian Tour de France Team of the Century.

Team of the Century

1. Cadel Evans - General Classification

Australia’s first Tour de France winner in 2011 was also second in 2007 and 2008, and rode in a total of nine Tours. Cadel was 2009 World Road Champion, and his career longevity and achievements are extraordinary in mountain bike and road cycling. Evans’ skill and contributions to Australian cycling are beyond dispute, but it is his interesting character that gets my attention.

Ianto Ware, author of in my opinion one of the best books ever written about the Tour (“Twenty One Nights In July”), wrote of Evans: “He was like the anti-hero of Australian sport; embarrassingly emotional, more akin to the kid everyone picked on at school than the one who’d always been winning the annual Sports Day ribbons”.

That’s why I like him. He personifies perseverance and determination, and he rides like it looks like he’s feeling.

2. Russell Mockridge - General Classification

The shy dual Olympic Gold and dual Commonwealth Gold medalist, and three-time Australian Road Champion (1956-58), was equally good on track and road. He was the first Australian rider to finish the Tour de France in the post-war years – he was 64th in the 1955 Tour in which he was invited (with John Beasley) to ride for Charly Gaul’s Luxembourg mixed international team.

mockridge

Only 69 of that year’s 150 riders finished. Russell Mockridge was tragically killed on September 13 1958 when he was struck by a bus near the Dandenong and Clayton road intersection in Melbourne during the Tour of Gippsland. My selection here is based on demonstrated potential. I regard Mockridge as Australia’s best ever cyclist, and I am confident he would have gone on to even greater success in Europe.

3. Stuart O’Grady - Domestique

Stuart O’Grady and the other past Australian Tour riders who have tested positive or admitted doping during their careers won’t be an inclusion in the Cycling Australia team because of its avowed anti-doping stance. I have included O’Grady here even though I have written elsewhere criticising the apparent lack of sanctioning of O’Grady after his doping admission.

O’Grady’s experience and achievements at the Tour are formidable (a record 17 starts, and time in the yellow jersey in 1998 and 2001), and he reached the pinnacle of the elite level on road and track (including Olympic Gold). O’Grady is better value as a super-domestique and on-road captain than a stage sprinter in my opinion.

4. John Beasley - Domestique

As the oldest living Australian Tour de France rider, John Beasley (senior) deserves a spot on sentiment alone. But make no mistake; John Beasley was also one of the best riders of this generation and Australian Professional Road Champion in 1951. He started in the 1952 and 1955 Tours de France, but was a DNF in both.

In the 1952 Tour de France (won by Fausto Coppi) Beasley started with the Luxembourg international team led by Charly Gaul. Beasley was the only one of the four-member Australian team sent to Europe that year to gain selection. The great French champion Louison Bobet, after riding against Beasley in 1952, was reported to have said “the Australian was world class and could win almost anything”.

5. Robbie McEwen - Sprinter

No contest here really. Twelve stage wins and three green jerseys (2002, 2004, 2006) in 12 editions of the Tour de France. Aggressive, outspoken, and one of the characters of Australian cycling (and the pro peloton) between 1997 and 2010. McEwen achieved great things during a time in the Tour sullied by doping, and he did so without a consistent lead-out train or the assurance of assistance in some of the teams he rode for.

Robbie McEwen was one of the most exciting of the Australian riders to watch into the new millennium. His race smarts over the last few hundred meters of a stage, coupled with his bike handling, raw power and speed, and obvious courage make him the best Australian pure sprinter ever to ride the Tour de France.

6. Mark Renshaw - Lead-out

A six-time Tour starter, Renshaw’s reputation and achievements as lead-out man for sprint aces Thor Hushovd, and Mark Cavendish speak for themselves. Coming to the professional road peloton from a long list of junior and senior track sprint championships, Renshaw is super fast in his own right and prepared to be aggressive and put his own race on the line if necessary.

Renshaw doesn’t take a backwards step in the lead up to the stage finish (remember his disqualification for headbutting Julian Dean in the 2010 Tour? ) – a courageous powerhouse any Tour team would want.

7. Adam Hansen - Lead-out

Former Australian Time Trial Champion (2008) Adam Hansen has an amazing record of 10 consecutive Grand Tour completions (the 2011 Vuelta, and three Grand Tour ‘triples’ in 2012, 2013 and 2014). Currently a part of the lead-out train for Andre Greipel, Hansen is a tough and powerful rider capable of his own wins (having won stages in the 2013 Giro d’Italia and 2014 Vuelta a Espana).

8. Richie Porte - All-rounder

Relatively new to the Tour, Porte has four consecutive starts between 2011 and 2014. He helped Alberto Contador to fifth place in the 2011 Tour de France (and first in the Giro d’Italia), and was also key in Brad Wiggins’ 2012 Tour win and Chris Froome’s win in 2013. Porte can climb and time trial, and is regarded by many as someone who can transition from his current super-domestique role at Team Sky to be a genuine future GC contender.

Perhaps Porte is a possible successor to the position held by Cadel Evans in Australian cycling, but he may need to move teams to get the opportunity in the Tour de France. I have written elsewhere about Richie Porte’s apparent qualities – for these reasons, and the potential he has demonstrated in a relatively short professional career thus far, I would have him as an unofficial co-captain on the road in support of …

9. Sir Hubert Opperman - Team Captain

‘Oppy’ is one of the most revered cyclists of all time in Australia. A long distance endurance rider with no peer, Hubert Opperman captured the imagination of this country with his remarkable cycling feats and numerous records. His contributions to Australian cycling both on home soil and abroad are second to none.

Untitled-2

Oppy started and finished two Tours, including in 1928 (finished 18th) in a four-man team rather than 10 as was the norm of the day – made even more remarkable considering that year’s Tour included 15 team time trials. In the 1931 Tour de France Oppy finished a creditable 12th after crashing several times, getting dysentery, and reaching sixth in the GC at one point.

Oppy is my choice for Team Captain because of his position in the pantheon of Australian cycling, and the tough conditions of the era in which he rode at his peak – the equipment; support (or lack of); the training, nutrition and recovery practices; the road surfaces. There is no other rider on the list of 51 that would displace Oppy from this position in my view.

The value of picking a Team of the Century

Picking a Tour de France Team of the Century is a bit of harmless fun – something interesting to discuss or argue about with your fellow cycling friends. Do you include the dopers and cheats, or just the ‘angels’? Should the team only include the most successful, or is there room for the nice guys who never finish? Can a team like this be selected on sentiment and potential?

Whatever the thinking behind the Tour de France Team of the Century concept, for me the main point of the exercise is to highlight the history of Australia’s involvement at the Tour de France over the last 100 years.

Each and every one of the 51 Australian riders to have started in the Tour de France since 1914 are worth celebrating. The personal stories behind the journeys these individuals took from their first race to the Tour start line are an important part of Australia’s cycling heritage – even the cheats, the dopers, the fools and the larrikins.

Whoever the nine riders are from the list below that make the cut, I for one hope that Cycling Australia also has plans to preserve and celebrate the stories of every Australian cyclist who has ridden the Tour.

Maybe one day the history of Australia’s female Tour riders will also be celebrated by Cycling Australia – whether that be the Grande Boucle Féminine Internationale / The Tour Cycliste Féminin, La Course, or the other Grand Tour equivalents over the years.

Who would be in your Australian Tour de France Team of the Century? From the list below you need to pick: two riders for the general classification, two key domestiques to support the general classification riders, one sprinter, two lead-out men for the sprinter, one all-rounder and one team captain.

The 51 Australians to have ridden the Tour de France

1. Don Kirkham (1914)
2. Iddo Munro (1914)
3. Ernest Bainbridge (1928)
4. Percy Osborne (1928)
5. Hubert Opperman (1928, 1931)
6. Frankie Thomas (1931)
7. Oserick Nicholson (1931)
8. Richard Lamb (1931)
9. John Beasley (1952, 1955)
10. Russell Mockridge (1955)
11. Bill Lawrie (1967)
12. Don Allan (1974, 1975)
13. Phil Anderson (1981-1987, 1989-1994)
14. Allan Peiper (1984, 1985, 1987, 1990, 1992)
15. Shane Sutton (1987)
16. Omar Palov (1987)
17. Michael Wilson (1988, 1989)
18. Stephen Hodge (1989-1992, 1994, 1995)
19. Neil Stephens (1992-1998)
20. Patrick Jonker (1994, 1996-1999)
21. Scott Sunderland (1996, 2004)
22. Henk Vogels (1997, 1999)
23. Robbie McEwen (1997-2000, 2002-2008, 2010)
24. Stuart O’Grady (1997-2013)
25. Jay Sweet (1999)
26. Brad McGee (2001-2005)
27. Baden Cooke (2002-2005, 2008, 2012)
28. Matthew Wilson (2003, 2004)
29. Michael Rogers (2003-2007, 2009, 2010, 2012-2014)
30. Nick Gates (2003, 2004)
31. Allan Davis (2004, 2005)
32. Cadel Evans (2005-2013)
33. Luke Roberts (2005, 2010)
34. Matt White (2005)
35. Simon Gerrans (2005,-2008, 2010-2014)
36. Brett Lancaster (2007-2010, 2012, 2013)
37. Heinrich Haussler (2007-2009, 2014)
38. Adam Hansen (2008, 2010, 2012-2014)
39. Mark Renshaw (2008-2012, 2014)
40. Trent Lowe (2008)
41. Matthew Lloyd (2009, 2010, 2012)
42. Wes Sulzberger (2010)
43. Matt Goss (2011-2013)
44. Richie Porte (2011-2014)
45. Jonathan Cantwell (2012)
46. Rohan Dennis (2013)
47. Simon Clarke (2013, 2014)
48. Cameron Meyer (2013)
49. Luke Durbridge (2014)
50. Mathew Hayman (2014)
51. Zak Dempster (2014)

About the author

Craig Fry is a Melbourne-based researcher, writer and amateur cyclist. His cycling articles can be seen here at CyclingTips, at The Conversation and The Age. You can follow him on Instagram at Pushbikewriter and on Strava. You can contact him at [email protected].

Tags: Craig Fry, Cycling Australia, History

Dave

How about subbing in Baden Cooke, a winner of the green jersey, for EPO’Grady.
- jules
  
  this is like persecuting someone who’s come out and admitted to masturbating. it’s ridiculous.
  - jules
    
    in no way should that be interpreted as admitting that I masturbate. just to be clear.
    - Sean
      
      I doubt your hand was even moving…..it’s ok bro.
- Rosco
  
  McGee.
  Could even sub him in for Porte. McGee did finish 8th in the Giro in the middle of the EPO ero. Oh and he won 2 stages.
Craig

WOW - not sure I’d agree with that list. Not to take away from the talent riders you’ve mentioned but I see some glaring omissions.
My list as follows;
1) Cadel Evans - We’ve ridden the ups and downs with Cadel but he has always committed his sole to this race and without question Australia’s best ever GC rider
2) Robbie McEwen - More talent than the average rider and it took the best sprinter the world has ever seen in Cav to unseat the legend
3)Phil Anderson - Come on, has to be there.
4)Neil Stephens - and still giving
5)Baden Cooke - Green Jersey! There aren’t too many AUssies with one of those in the closet
6)Michael Rogers - Central to the success of HTC and now Tinkoff Team Captain
7)Hubert Operman - For laying down the foundations of Australian cycling
8)Simon Gerrans - Has done enough, but thankfully has more to come
9) Porte - Becasue their are thos recent champions who could not have achieved without him
Apologies to Stewie - I just widh you hadn’t or to be honest just wish we never found out (we respect you but - cant look past it). Peiper, Hodge, McGee, Lancaster and Hansen. All to be acknowledged.
The best thing about an opinion is it’s your own. Enjoy the discussion!
- Manoah Gutknecht
  
  I am definitely more comfortable with this list… but leaving out Hansen! Proven tour rider! and think of the special addition shoes he would come up with. He is a must!
donncha

“I have included O’Grady here even though I have written elsewhere criticising the apparent lack of sanctioning of O’Grady after his doping admission.”

So you complain that O’Grady wasn’t sanctioned enough, but you’d still do him the honour of picking him for a Team of the Century? Hypocrite.
- Neil
  
  Settle down…. Your reference to hypocrisy is tenuous at best.
  - donncha
    
    hypocrite: noun, a person who acts in contradiction to his or her stated beliefs or feelings.
    Seems spot on to me. If he wants to claim O’Grady is deserving of a spot, that’s fine, but don’t complain that he wasn’t sanctioned enough while also awarding him a great honour.
    - donncha
      
      OK, on reflection, and having had an arvo bike ride, perhaps calling him a hypocrite is overly harsh. Let’s just leave it as I don’t understand how he can award O’Grady such a significant accolade whilst also reckoning that he deserves further punishment for his doping.
      - Push Bike Writer
        
        The following sentence originally appeared in the submitted piece after the one you quoted, but was edited out before publication: “In the Team of the Century context, if the Cycling Australia anti-doping rule were to be applied consistently the truth of the matter would likely exclude many of the group of 50 from across all eras – including some of our biggest names.”
        
        Put simply, O’Grady should not be ruled ineligible for the CA TdF Tour of the Century if there are other riders from the 50 who should also be ineligible but are considered or make the cut.
        
        My point here is about CA needing to apply its own exclusion criteria consistently. It has nothing to do with my thoughts on the actual punishments riders receive for doping / positive tests.
        
        Craig Fry
        
        jules
        
        there’s no way to settle this issue. cycling is so damaged that you either turn a blind eye to it or expunge its history. there’s very little middle ground and people get hung up on trying to reconcile the two perspectives. it is what it is (or was, hopefully).
        
        Push Bike Writer
        
        Jules, I think it is simpler than that. Whatever response the governing bodies choose to go with it merely needs to be applied consistently. Unfortunately, this has not been the case internationally, or in Australia. Cycling Australia’s new Board and Executive will hopefully be different. We will get some indication of that when the official TdF Team of the Century is announced tomorrow.
        
        jules
        
        i don’t quite agree Craig. i predict they will exclude riders identified as having doped, and include those who have escaped that fate. i say escaped, rather than ‘did not dope’ as we all know that the majority of older cyclists doped. it’s just a fact. CA knows that, but it’s expedient to pretend they’re ‘innocent until proven guilty’. i don’t think consistency alone cuts it.
        
        but then - neither am I not getting my panties in a knot. as i said above, it is what it is.
        
        great article though Craig, i’m not blaming you!
CGradeCyclist

I reckon its a great initiative!! The tricky part about selecting your team is matching in with the selection criteria ‘structure’ - you end up tearing your hair out as you leave out so many great riders…

Here are my picks:
2 x GC riders - Cadel Evans & Sir Hubert Opperman
2 x GC domestiques - Phil Anderson & Russell Mockridge
1 x Sprinter - Robbie McEwen
2 x Sprinter lead-outs - Mark Renshaw & Adam Hansen
1 x All-rounder - Simon Gerrans
1 x Team Captain - Mick Rogers

Reserves - would have LOVED to find spots for Baden Cooke and Brad McGee, but who would they unseat…??

http://cgradecyclist.blogspot.com.au/2014/11/cycling-australia-tdf-team-of-century.html
Neil

This was always going to be controversial.
My two cents, Phil Anderson has to be a GC option. Stuart O’Grady is nowhere near as good in the mountains as a support as Porte or Rogers, McGee would provide more options and as much lead out support as Hanseeno and I’d have to have Gerrans in as an all rounder (Porte stays in the team as domestique).
But let’s all settle a little and agree we can have different opinions…
Momentum

Note that of the 50 riders who have participated, 26 of them had their first tour since 2000. #gatheringspeed
Michael K

Mine would be:

2 x GC riders - Cadel Evans & Sir Hubert Opperman
2 x GC domestiques - Phil Anderson & Michael Rodgers
1 x Sprinter - Robbie McEwen
2 x Sprinter lead-outs - Mark Renshaw & Adam Hansen
1 x All-rounder - Brad McGee
1 x Team Captain - Simon Gerrans

The only others i would include would be Hodge,and O’Grady but they can;t be so it makes it easy. Cooke is unlucky that only one sprinter is inlcuded. But thats the reality of the Tour team, just ask Griepal!
jules

Hansen is a great rider but specifically as a lead out - is Brett Lancaster a better option?
- Teezy
  
  That’s easy: NO.
  No disrespect to Lancaster, but Hansen is……unstoppable. How many successful lead-outs has Lancaster been a part of compared to AH? I know the sprinter seals it, but….we are talking about lead out riders here.
  Next time TDU rolls into Adelaide, just watch what Hansen does to the entire peloton at the end of the crit on the first day. Whereas other domestiques might do ‘hard turns,’ when Hansen goes to the front, he just eviscerates the entire bunch, lap after lap. The fact that he can also do this at world tour level - and regularly gets his man up for the win - is further proof of his class.
  Having said that, maybe I need to re-watch some Lancaster footage….
Kieran Degan

15 team time trials. Hahahahahaa. They obviously didn’t have to worry about TV viewing.
Mark

Agree on Evans, Opperman, McEwen without doubt.

Personally I’d drop Porte from the list (but he will almost certainly be on there one day). Replace Porte with Phil Anderson… Let’s face it,nearly anyone else after Anderson wouldn’t even be considered if it wasn’t for him.

Putting aside O’Grady’s admitted doping, he should be on there, but agree it’s a dilemma.

Hansen I’m in two minds, and the rest I don’t know enough about to make a a decision one way or another.
Demi Mate

The first person to consult on these is Mike Tomolaris, both the real and fake twitter versions. You cannot account for a compiled team of the century list that only includes riders from 1997 onwards. Genius. Secondly (is that thirdly?) Phil Anderson is one of only a few certain starters, if not for GC than as an all rounder or road captain.Can we also leave out the dopers (O’Grady, Stephens etc) from the lists? Ok I feel better now.
- Mark
  
  Ha ha. Agree. Saw his list and was a bit dissappointed. Tried to comment but the registration process was too hard on the SBS website!
Simon

It’s a difficult exercise and if the riders were consulted you’d have a bunfight. Five speed gears versus 22, carbon or steel, helmets or not, brandy with arsenic, amphetamnines or cortisone, epo, HGH and blood doping. Wool vs lycra .. ad nauseam :-)
JBS

Sorry, but its a bit hard to take serious any team that doesn’t have Phil Anderson in it. I’d at least slot Phil into the backup GC role and drop either O’Grady or Mockridge.
Craig R

Is it just me or would a track team of the century also be fitting?
As far as a TDF team goes gotta have Phil Anderson in there….!
- Demi Mate
  
  That may follow, perhaps also a greatest women’s road team? For the Track Danny Clark is first pick, for the women, Liz Hepple, Kathy Watt and Anna Wilson would be walk up starts. Both lists I hope more knowledgable cycling types could help out with.
Mark

Phil Anderson for O’Grady and that’s a team.
Sean

F ck all the phill andrerson comments (i haven’t read past jules interesting revelation). Allan Davis (2004, 2005) - Does this guy take the trophy for being the most unlucky or having the biggest flop of a career ever. Al was a huge talent, whats everyones thoughts? yes he suffered from being a fat pig during summer most years, besides that i mean.

Regarding Phill? didn’t he used to open a drawer full of XYZ and explain his form that way?? just repeating what blokes have said.
- PAUL R
  
  great input !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Demi Mate

Does it say anywhere all the riders have to be male by the way? Whilst it never ran as long as the mens event, there was a Tour Feminin for quite a few years.
Missing Russell

Is it 50 or 51? Russell Mockridge’s name is missing from the bottom list?
- Push Bike Writer
  
  Good catch. We’ll fix it. Thanks.
Robert Merkel

Interesting exercise.

Think Hansen, very fine rider that he is, is an lucky selection. Technically, I reckon you could pick Rogers there and have a better case given his part in the Highroad train (notwithstanding his work as a GC domestique for Wiggo).

As for Mockridge, given that this was specifically about the Tour de France it’s hard to pick him. Massive talent, clearly, but didn’t really get the chance to show it consistently at the highest professional level.
PAUL R

Phil Anderson has to be there,great rider and a all round great bloke that is well deserved of a place in the team.i had the pleasure of spending four days with him and skoda early this year at the TDU,it was a weekend that i will never forget.

I found him to be very down to earth,now i know that being a great bloke doesn’t mean you’re in the team but if you look back be was one of the great Australian riders of his era.

And still is pretty good going up hills,riding with him up Norton Summit with him it was a walk in the park for him.
- Dave
  
  +1
  
  First non-European to wear the yellow jersey, first Australian to win a TdF stage, first Australian to win a TdF classification (young rider) makes him a certainty along with Evans and McEwen. Everyone else gets to fight for six places.
900Aero

Very, very hard to pick:

2 x GC riders - Cadel Evans & Sir Hubert Opperman
2 x Super Domestiques - Phil Anderson & Adam Hansen
2 x Sprinters - Robbie McEwen & Baden Cooke
1 x Sprinter lead-outs - Mark Renshaw
1 x Roleur - Simon Gerrans
1 x Road Captain - Michael Rodgers

Reserves: Russell Mockridge, Richie Porte, Allan Peiper
- Dave
  
  I can’t see Rogers getting in with his positive test. While the suspension was waived, he still kept the test and lost his result in the Japan Cup.
  
  Sub in Mockridge for Rogers and appoint Peiper as the DS and you’d have a team!
  - Teezy
    
    You do realise Peiper admitted to doping in his autobiography, right?
    
    Oh, I get it. Ex-dopers actually make awesome DS’s. Ok, he fits right in. Could’ve chosen White for the same reason.
http://cyclingtips.com.au Matt de Neef

For those that are interested, Cycling Australia’s Tour de France Team of the Century is as follows:

GC: Cadel Evans, Phil Anderson
Domestiques: Richie Porte, Michael Rogers
Sprinter: Robbie McEwen
Lead-out: Brad McGee, Mark Renshaw
All-rounder: Simon Gerrans
Team captain: Sir Hubert Opperman