Ambitious African Wildlife Safaris Cycling Team aiming high in 2014

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The team at the bay crits(Image credit: Jarroꦫd Partridge - jxpphotography.com)

Having announced its 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:applica🦄tion for a UCI ꦑContinental licence in order to race the 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Jayco Herald Sun Tour and provide more opportunities for its expanded roster, Cyclingnews sat down with director sportif Joel Pearson along with𝓰 team manager and co-founder Steven Waite to ta💛lk about the team and the 2014 season.

Steven Waite: The original charter is to develop riders so they go off and sign professional contracts. The five year plan was to get to Continental leve🐻l, so we’re certainly ahead of schedule, but our plan is to be a development team based out of Melbourne that rides that full National Road Series (NRS) calendar and supplements that with riding the Continental component further down the track. Whether w𒊎e take that a step further with our five-to-ten year plan will probably be when we really look to accelerate the process.

Joel Pearson: A few years ago Drapac made it compulsory to have studies alongside racing but they proved that couldn’t be done. These days you have to be occupied and have something to do and studies are spot on as it’s not as demanding as standing on your feet all day bu෴t in terms in going down the road, making univers𒁃ity compulsory with riding is difficult if you want to be a professional rider.

Steven: When we said 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:we were running a training camp, that was the drive for us getting fifty serious candidates. We only invited a ♋handful, we really did vet them pretty heavily. I like to spe🌠nd a week with people before we buy them for the whole year. It’s very intimate to be away all season, staying in small accommodation you obviously put yourself to the sword on the bike together.

Pearson: We’ll race it as a team but if someone’s really got their sight set on a result you can’t begrudge them for that. Amongst our riders we have four guys who are capable of going ok so they’ll take leadership roles and the others will give service such as keeping them out of the wind for as 🥃long as possible or fetching bottles. We don’t really have a rider who can go with the big hitters for the last two laps or so.

Joel: Throughout my career I raced through Asia, Europe, everywhere with NRS teams and Continental teams like Genesys and there are always little races, like 2.2’s throughout Asia were all you have to do is pay your airfare and they look after you from the moment you get there. That sort of thing is attractive to us a team because we can give all the guys a bit of a bolstered up roster. The NRS races interstate have six riders so you’re leaving half the guys at home sometimes so if we can pick up a few 2.2 invitations, I’m sure the riders will be happy to pay their airfare to get ♊to Asia.

Steven: The NRS consistently pumps out professionals and we’ve see that the last few years to when Richie Porte came out. I think from 2009 you can say that consistently there has been one or two professionals come out of the NRS. It’s a good pat on the back for the series. I think the last two years the series has gone out of control, its really stepped i♔t up a significant level and that is from Cycling Australia’s point of view and the teams like ourselves coming into the market strengthens it as have Drapಞac and international riders coming back to Australia.

Joel: In terms of riders getting recognised, if you do well in that one, you’re a good bike rider. It will be a motivation for us to get our guys in good condition for the race and do well there. The Warny’s a difficult one as we don’t really have the guys who can deal with long distances and once you go over 200km it’s a different bike ra🎐ce. We’ve got Nathan Elliot who has proven that 😼he can race at the level, he came third at the Grafton to Inverell last year.