Australian Brett Lancaster will ride for the GreenEdge cycling team during the 2012 season, as announced by the team today. This makes Lancaster the fifth rider from Garmin-Cervélo to join the new set up along with compatriots Jack Bobridge, Cameron Meyer, Travis Meyer and Matt Wilson.
“I’ve been riding for Australian teams since 1997, when I went to my first junior World Championships. Now I get to ride for an Australian team all year round. It was an obvious choice,” Lancaster said.
This won’t be the first time that the 31 year old joins a team at its inception. Most recently he was part of the Cervélo Test Team that joined the peloton in 2009. Lancaster found personal success on the team by winning stage two in the Tour of California in 2010.
“I was involved with Cervelo when it first started and people were sceptical of joining because of the unknown. But that turned to surprise for everyone else once we started racing and getting strong results,” he said.
“It’s just about everyone bonding together and getting out there and doing it. I can’t wait to get out there and do it as part of GreenEdge.”
The Australian squad is applying for a ProTeam licence and should it be successful, it will be the first team from the country to enter the top level of the sport. GreenEdge has put together a strong line up, particularly for the Classics season, and has already signed experienced racers such as Stuart O'Grady (Leopard-Trek), Robbie McEwen (RadioShack) and Simon Gerrans (Sky Procycling). This week it also announced the signing of Commonwealth Games champion Allan Davis from the Astana team.
“The group of guys we’ve got for the one-day races and short tours is outstanding. It’s going to be tough to get a spot in our team for the big Classics,” he said.
“We can also do stuff at the Grand Tours, like hunting for stage wins at the Tour de France.
“Sure we may not have a big guy to race for the overall win in the Tours of France, Italy or Spain but we’re heading into our first year so let’s not rush things. This group will be successful and we can build from there,” said Lancaster.
His biggest career results to date are winning the prologue in the Giro d’Italia in 2005 and being part of the team pursuit squad which won gold at the Athens Olympics. However, the last few seasons Lancaster’s been a workhorse on the team and will again fulfil that role on GreenEdge.
“I’ve really enjoyed working with Tyler Farrar this season as part of his lead-out train at Garmin-Cervélo,” he said, making it clear that he’s prepared to give his backing to others.
“And being part of [a] team with Thor Hushovd for the last few seasons has been a great experience. I was part of his lead-out train last year but he’s been that strong this year there’s hardly been any need to lead him out.”