Commonwealth Games champion Allan Davis has said that he intends making the 2012 Olympic road race and world championships his big targets during next season, which will be his first with the new GreenEdge team.
The explosive rider was has been confirmed as the 22nd and latest signing for the new Australian squad, which is currently targeting for a WorldTour licence with the UCI.
“The style of race that we should have at the Olympics suits me,” he stated, thinking ahead to London 2012. “I was third at the World Championships last year, fifth in 2004, despite getting tangled up with another rider a few hundred metres from the finish line, and twelfth in my second year as a professional in 2003. So I’d be silly not to try and get a good result in these sorts of races.”
Davis has been a professional for eleven years, spending the first two with the Mapei-Quick Step team, then competing with ONCE-Eroski/Liberty Seguros, Discovery Channel, Mitsubishi-Jartazi and Quick Step teams. He has spent the past two years with the Astana team.
During that time, he has clocked up many strong results including those aforementioned results at the Commonwealth Games and world championships, as well as stage wins in the Deutschland Tour, the Tour of Poland, Eneco Tour, the Vuelta a Murcia and Volta a Catalunya, plus second in Milan-Sanremo and Paris-Brussels.
He’s regarded as a sprinter who can also climb well over medium hills, as shown by his overall victory in the 2009 Tour Down Under.
Now 31 years of age, he said that racing for Australia in the past has enabled him to dig deeper and aim higher. “I’ve always taken a lot of pride in representing Australia and wearing the green and gold. Watching people sing the national anthem when standing on the podium is something that I’ve always been inspired by, regardless of what sport it is,” the 31-year-old said.
“It’s a privilege to ride for your country, so the first step in achieving my goals at the Olympics and World Championships is to get the results needed to be selected for the team.”
He said that he can draw on that inspiration in racing for the GreenEdge team, which will be his country’s first-ever squad at that level.
“National pride plays a big part in Australian teams performing so well at big international races. Now, with GreenEDGE, instead of getting that sort of spirit once a year we’ll get it every time we race,” he said.
“It’s exciting to be part of the first Australian team at this level. The whole package is a dream come true.”
Davis has had quiet 2010 and 2011 seasons but hopes to turn things around in 2012. He will join Astana team-mates Simon Clarke, Tomas Vaitkus in the new team, as well as compatriots such as Robbie McEwen, Jack Bobridge, Cameron Meyer, Stuart O’Grady and Matt Goss.
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GreenEdge signings to date:
Jack Bobridge, Cameron Meyer, Travis Meyer, Matt Wilson (Garmin-Cervélo)
Michael Albasini, Matt Goss, Leigh Howard (HTC Highroad)
Stuart O'Grady (Leopard-Trek)
Pieter Weening, Sebastian Langeveld (Rabobank)
Simon Gerrans (Sky Procycling)
Allan Davis, Simon Clarke, Tomas Vaitkus (Astana)
Robbie McEwen, Fumiyuki Beppu (RadioShack)
Svein Tuft (SpiderTech powered by C10)
Jens Mouris (Vacansoleil-DCM)
Baden Cooke (Saxo Bank-SunGard)
Daniel Teklehaymanot (neo-pro)
Wesley Sulzberger (FDJ)
Jens Keukeleire (Cofidis)