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Simon Clarke wrote history on Sunday when he clinched the mountain classification jersey at the Vuelta a España after three weeks of racing. In his Grand Tour debut, the 26-year-old delivered ORICA-GreenEDGE their first Grand Tour jersey, the second polka dot jersey for Australia.

"I think this was even more exciting than it might have been because it was unexpected," said Clarke. "With a team full of strong sprinters we expected to bring home the green jersey at a Grand Tour. I don't know that any one had even thought about the polka dot jersey. It's come as a good surprise for me to be able to contribute this win to our successes this year."

"I'm happy to be able to do this for the team," Clarke added. "I'm especially happy to be able to do this for Shayne [Bannan] who has supported my development over a lot of years. This is a great way to repay him for what he has done for me and the entire team."

Clarke won the fourth stage of the Vuelta a España from an early break and banked enough mountain points in the process to earn the polka dot jersey. Forced to relinquish the jersey following stage eight, Clarke continued to pocket points during the second week of racing and moved back into the jersey after stage 14.

"When Simon first took the jersey, I told him to keep in mind that it's always worn by the big mountain climbers at the Tour of Spain," said Sports Director Neil Stephens. "We thought it would be nice for him to keep it for a few days but never imagined he would have it in Madrid. After he got into a move with Cam Meyer on stage 13, Simon took more points. That's when we started to think there was a real possibility there for him to make his mark in this way."

"The boys had a great Vuelta," Stephens added. "Allan Davis was up there at the finish on nearly every sprint and came really close to a stage win a few times. We also saw some great riding from Cam Meyer, and it's surely a sign of what's to come from him. The whole team should be proud of everything they accomplished."

The battle for the polka dot jersey went down to the wire. Clarke held a slim two-point advantage in the classification ahead of the penultimate stage that included five categorized climbs.

"I really didn't know if it would be possible to win until I got into the breakaway yesterday," said Clarke. "It has been so difficult to get up the road over the last week of racing. Everyone had tried, myself included, and we hadn't been able to do it. There was no way to keep the jersey without getting into the break. Once I got into the move, I knew I had the legs to go for it."

The hard-earned jersey was a team effort. ORICA-GreenEDGE devoted themselves to covering attacks and launching Clarke up the road.

"The team put their full support in me to chase this jersey during the last week of racing," noted Clarke. "Without their help I couldn't have won it."

On an extremely hot race day Craig Alexander fell one short of retaining his 2011 title after a stunning bike leg by eventual winner Sebastian Kienle of Germany. We saw Kienle almost win the US 70.3 championship in April this year win a fast finishing Timothy O’Donnell only caught him in the last stages of the run to take the win. Kienle did the same race in April, slow swim, dominated the bike and ran solidly to almost get the title.

“They told me I had to improve my swim because you can’t win it on the bike. Well I proved something different,” the German said.

“I took a big risk on the bike but you have to risk something to win it. I never had the feeling I had the title in hand until the finish line because just look at the people chasing me, the fastest in the world.”

Crowie is putting the final touches on his defence of his World Ironman Title and he felt he produced an honest defence of the world championship he won at this distance last year. “I had a strong swim, pushed the pack on the bike and think I had one of the quickest run splits. That’s a good performance in all disciplines but you need to be great to win a World Ironman Title. Sebastian was great today.”

The depth of almost 50 countries represented today means that there are no easy wins in this race in the Nevada desert. “After Sebastian’s bike display on this course I was pleased to get within just over a minute of him at the finish.”

Craig is good mates with Bevan Docherty and any day you can toe the line with a two time Triathlon Olympic medalist of his class is going to be a challenge. “Bevan showed his pace early and kept myself and the chase field honest for the first 2 laps of the 3 lap run course. As usual, Bevan gave himself every chance.”

Today’s result confirms the challenge in contesting world titles at both half and full distance Ironman events and Craig is looking forward to another 8hrs of racing in Hawaii against some of the same guys from today and the additional full distance Iron Man specialists.

Simon Gerrans took a convincing win at the GP Québec following a late attack on the last lap of the WorldTour race. The Australian National Road Champion joined Greg Van Avermaet (BMC) up the road ahead of the penultimate climb.

"It's fantastic to win today," said Gerrans. "This is some of the hardest racing on the calendar. It's fantastic racing in Québec on an exciting circuit with great crowds and great ambience."

Early attacks gave way to an eight-rider break that was caught with two laps left to race. Relentless counter-attacks followed. As teams repeatedly sent riders up the road, Gerrans calmly bided his team in the bunch.

"This circuit is a tough little circuit," Gerrans noted. "There are a lot of corners. It's always going up and down. We started out especially fast today and made the race quite difficult. There were a lot of tired guys at the finish."

"I stayed quiet most of the race," he added. "I really gambled on it being back together for the last lap."

Just inside the final four kilometers, Van Avermaet made his move. Gerrans jumped to respond. The duo worked together to distance themselves from their chasers. Peter Sagan (Liquigas-Cannondale) posed the biggest threat as he jumped from the bunch and nearly bridged across.

"I attacked with everything I had and got away with Greg," explained Gerrans. "I saw Peter was really close behind us, and I know how fast he is. I kept the break with Greg moving to make sure that Peter didn't get back on."

Inside the final kilometer, Gerrans and Van Avermaet had a small gap on Sagan and the chasing field. Around the final corner, Gerrans lead Van Avermaet towards the line. Van Avermaet opened the sprint. Gerrans came around him with enough time to celebrate his victory in Old Québec.

"We just managed to hold them off," said Gerrans. "I'm happy to have pulled off the win. It's a great feeling to be riding strong at the end of the season."

Tiffany Cromwell finished a strong second at GP Plouay after instigating the race winning breakaway. The Australian has shown consistently strong form during the second half of the season, adding her first World Cup podium to a Giro Donne stage win and a top ten at the Vargarda World Cup.

"Today was a really big team effort, and it was my turn to fly the flag," said Cromwell after the podium presentation. "I'm happy to do the job and deliver the result."

The first two of five laps of the Plouay World Cup circuit contained the usual aggressive attacks, but without any major moves or splits dominating the early action.

"The start was fairly calm," noted Cromwell. "There were a few attacks but nothing went anywhere. During the third lap, everyone on the team took their turn going up the road. On the third lap, we split into a front group of about 30 riders. We had four of us in the move - Judith [Arndt], Claudia [Häusler], Shara [Gillow] and me."

Gillow launched repeated small digs following the initial split to force other teams to chase.

"Shara took on an important role today," said Sports Director Dave McPartland. "She was really active for the team, and her work allowed Tiff and Judith to wait for the right move."

Cromwell didn't wait for the right move. Instead, she created it. On the penultimate lap, the second to last time up the deceptively difficult highway hill, the front group blew to pieces. Ten riders made the selection including Cromwell and Arndt. Shortly after the split, Cromwell attacked.

"When I found out Tiff had instigated the move herself, I was really pleased," said McPartland. "She attacked and [Elisa] Longo Borghini [Hitec Products - Mistral Home] followed. Once those two had established a gap, [Marianne] Vos [Stitching Rabo Women Cycling Team] bridged across to form that group of three. Vos drove the break, and Tiff didn't ride to start with because we still had Judith behind. I gave the Tiff the okay to start rolling through once the gap went up to two minutes."

Ten kilometers from the finish, the final race of the World Cup series had turned into a three-rider contest.

"Vos attacked us on the last climb, and I had nothing left," said Cromwell. "She rode away from us but never got too much of a gap. I attacked Elisa on a small rise at 1.5 kilometers and got a gap on her. I held it to the finish to comfortably finish second."

McPartland was full of praise for Cromwell.

"Second for us from Tiff today is huge," he said. "This is a really positive sign that we're going in the right direction. I'm absolutely thrilled for her. This result means almost as much as any win we've gotten all season. She's been closing in on this all year. Most people don't realize that she nearly got on the podium at the Sweden World Cup last weekend. All they know is she ran seven out of seven, and they don't realize that she did a really special ride. Today is her reward for working hard all year."

"This certainly is big," admitted Cromwell. "It's on par with my Giro win. I've been trying to get a World Cup win for a while, and Plouay has been one I've hoped for. A top five here would have been amazing. Standing on the podium is really special. I'm so happy to do this for the girls and be in a position to finish off the work they did."

Cromwell was not the only ORICA-AIS rider to stand on the podium in Plouay. With the eight race World Cup series finishing today, Arndt confirmed her second-place overall standing in the series.

Luke Durbridge won the overall at the Tour de Poitou Charentres after moving into the leader's jersey on the stage four individual time trial. The neo-pro has won four individual time trials, two of which have set the scene for general classification victories, this season.

"It was a super, super hard stage today," said Durbridge. "Winning after a stage like that makes me feel like the team really deserves this win. It's a huge relief, and I'm happy to repay my teammates for all the hard work they did this week."

ORICA-GreenEDGE dominated the French stage race from start to finish with Aidis Kruopis winning the stage one sprint finish. Kruopis followed up his first victory with a second win on stage two. The leader's jersey moved from Kruopis to Durbridge on the third day of racing, a double day with a short road stage in the morning and an afternoon time trial. The team successfully defended Kruopis' lead in the morning. Durbridge time trialed into the leader's jersey later that afternoon.

The final stage of racing provided fast, furious action from kilometer zero. The first hour, covered in a blistering pace of 49 kilometers/hour, saw the peloton split into two distinct groups. Durbridge, surrounded by three teammates, made the front group of 60 riders. Leigh Howard, Christian Meier and Jens Keukeleire ensured Durbridge's safety in the hectic kilometers that followed.

"We started the stage with the idea that we would control during the first 100 kilometers," noted Durbridge. "From there, we thought we'd get to the circuits and have a few guys left to help me out near the end of the race. That is not how the race unfolded at all. Straight out of the blocks, FDJ lit it up, and almost immediately they had split the whole peloton in half."

"In a way, their tactics worked to our advantage," continued Durbridge. "With their split we still had four riders in the front group, and we were able to sit on the back of FDJ and conserve energy slightly before we got to the circuits. Everyone was in a world of hurt with the pace FDJ set."

In the second to last lap, Durbridge had an untimely mechanical.

"My big chain ring stopped working properly and I had to get a bike change," Durbridge explained. "The whole team pulled over to wait for me, and they got me back on. The final was super hectic, but I never panicked. I knew Christian, Leigh and Jens would take care of me, and I had every confidence that if I stayed together with them, they were strong enough to get me out of any trouble I might get myself into."

Feeling strong at the finish, Durbridge contested the sprint, crossing the line in fourth.

"With three kilometers left to race, I still had pretty good legs, and I knew there was no chance the field would drop me," said Durbridge. "I put myself into a good position with the sprint. I ran fourth on the stage and saw that the guys in front of me were not on the general classification. I knew then that we had done it."

In addition to three stage wins and the overall jersey, ORICA-GreenEDGE leaves the Tour de Poitou Charentres with Durbridge's best young rider's jersey and Kruopis' points classification jersey.

"We came into this week with high expectations," admitted Durbridge. "[Sports Director] Lionel [Marie] gave us our objectives, and we accepted them and took them on board. As a team, we all realized what we needed to do and we rose to the challenge. Lionel set a high bar, and we not only reached that bar, we exceeded it. It's been a fantastic week for the team, and hopefully we continue like this for the last few months of the season."

Simon Clarke (Orica-GreenEdge) claimed stage 4 of the Vuelta a España and Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha) moved into the overall lead at the summit finish at Valdezcaray on day that saw Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) lose his red jersey in rather contentious circumstances.

Valverde was one of a number of fallers in a crash inside the final 30 kilometres, just as Chris Froome’s Sky team was looking to split the peloton in the stiff crosswinds that buffeted the race on the run-in to the day’s final climb.

While Valverde was picking through the debris at the rear of the field, Simon Clarke was riding to the first win of his career up ahead. The Australian had been part of the day’s early break and he was the only one of their number who could match Tony Martin’s (Omega Pharma-QuickStep) pressing at the foot of the final climb.

Martin and Clarke had a lead of 4 minutes at that juncture, the steepest section of the Valdezcaray, and they measured their effort perfectly on the shallower slopes that followed in the final 9 kilometres to hold off their erstwhile companion Assan Bazayev (Astana). Even when an Alberto Contador acceleration behind dramatically cut away a large swathe of their lead in the finale, the pair refused to panic and emerged to fight out a tense sprint at the summit.

Clarke showed considerable sangfroid in the closing metres, marshalling Martin to the front and then refusing to accept his invitation to lead out from distance, before dispatching the German with room to spare in the sprint.

"Tony is a really good time triallist, but I thought I could have him in a sprint. I made sure to have him in front in the wind,” Clarke said. “This is my first win as pro, I've been a pro for four years and I've tried so many times, I've had so many seconds and third places, I'm just so happy.

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Corrective Action - PRO Atherton Direct Mount Stem

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Simon Gerrans, the only Australian to have won a stage in all three Grand Tours and the current Australian National Road Champion, further carved out his unique place in Australian cycling history as he delivered the first WorldTour victory to Australian’s first WorldTour team. It is the second overall win for Gerrans at the Santos Tour Down Under.

“This is a fantastic victory for GreenEDGE because this is the best way we can say thank you to the Ryan family, Shayne Bannan and all the people that have helped put this team together,” said Gerrans. “I’m really happy, and I can’t thank my GreenEDGE team enough for all the support this week.”

Gerrans took the ochre leader’s jersey on the queen stage of the six-day stage race. Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) bested Gerrans in a two-up sprint atop Old Willunga Hill, and although the two riders were tied on time after the fifth day of racing, Gerrans earned the right to don ochre by virtue of count back.

“I was pleasantly surprised to learn that I was in the lead after Stage 5,” noted Gerrans. “I thought Alejandro had the lead after his stage win, and we’d have a tough job to get it off of him, but we had it so it all worked out in the end.”

Source: GreenEDGE website click to read full report

The Australian National Road Jersey will be seen in the European Peloton for both men and women for 2012.

The Elite Men's race was won by Simon Gerrans (GreenEDGE) and the Elite Women's Race was won by Amanda Spratt (GreenEDGE- AIS). Both rode brilliantly to secure their respective National Titles.

GreenEDGE have had a successful start to their first year as a World Tour Team. The GreenEDGE Women's team were the dominate team during last weeks Jayco Bay Criterium Series with Melissa Hoskins taking out the series.

GreenEDGE will be using PRO Vibe 7s & PLT Handlebars and Stems and Disc Wheels during 2012

The new 2012 PRO Bike Gear range is rolling into Australian bicycle stores now.

Head to your local store to check out what PRO has to offer this year to help Power your Performance.

For 2012 PRO have added some Tri Specific items to its range including Aerofuel Bottles and Bags. We now have products to suit all types of riding.

The Big Island of Hawaii has a vibe, there is a rhythm, a cadence that increases as race draws closer. For Craig Alexander this was the exclamation point on a season that has had it ups and downs. After the recent tumultuous period with bike sponsors, Crowie set about doing two things: the first was regaining the title - mission accomplished; while the second was to prove that the move to the new sponsor, Specialized, was the right one. Again, mission accomplished.

At the line Crowie leapt for joy and then collapsed, overwhelmed by the feat of his third win and the toll it had taken on his body. He then spent a period in the medical tent after the struggle of the final 3 kilometres took their toll. A new course record also exemplified how strong his day had been. A emotional and at times teary interview with Mike Reilly revealed Crowie was in this for his family and his supporters.

For Crowie this was the complete victory. A masterpiece. To wax lyrical, Crowie simply crafted the most beautiful win of his stellar career. It answered all the questions and proved his greatness. This surely must elevate him into the best triathlete Australia has ever produced. His Vegas win, backed up with his win in Kona today was the fitting end to a sensational season. "It started with a dream. I just can't believe it," said an emotional Alexander. "I was happy to win it once but three times I can't tell you what
it feels like but three times is unreal, I can't tell you what it feels like. "This sport has given me so much. Today was the performance that I've been dreaming of."

To read full report from first off the bike, click here

21 March 2011 - Matthew Goss (HTC-Highroad) celebrated the biggest win in his career last Saturday, beating Fabian Cancellara (Leopard-Trek) on the finish line at Milan - San Remo

The 24 year old Australia sprinter used Shimano's Dura-Ace Di2 combination with the extremely rigid PRO Vibe Sprint stem and PRO Vibe 7S handlebar.

The Return of Dan Atherton

In July of 2010 British mountain biker Dan Atherton sustained a terrifying injury. A crash at his own dirt jumps in North Wales resulted in a break of the C1 Disc in his neck. Just about the worst injury a rider could sustain and survive. Dan’s constant commitment and dedication that he puts into his riding was then needed to get him through the recovery. With months in a brace and none of his life’s usual manic activity, there were low moments along the way and plenty of time for contemplation. Dan’s determination to recover was only enhanced by his desire to return to the highest level of the sport that he has achieved so much success in before.
On the 20th January, Dan received the results of a final CT scan from Dr Robert Bray, the spinal specialist who has been overseeing his treatment. Red Bull’s Darren Roberts, the Atherton families personal trainer, accompanied Dan and had this to report, “The fractures have all healed and the tiny fragments of bone which are loose will be absorbed by the body over time, there was a slim possibility that an operation was required to remove these - but thankfully that op is not needed. More importantly Dr Bray said the words we've been waiting to hear since July 2010, 'you're good to go Dan, totally healed - get back on your bike and get riding hard. Try not to break it again'.”
It is with great happiness that we can announce Dan is now back on a bike and in full training, this moment was never a certainty as the injury to the C1 Disc was one of the most catastrophic ever seen. With strength and conditioning training to get him back to full race fitness his aim is to return to World Cup competition at the second round of the series in Fort William, Scotland. Concentrating on the discipline of downhill he’s hoping to take his new PRO-equipped Commencal Supreme bike back to the podium glory he enjoyed before this incident.

Vos claims 4th Cyclocross World Championship title in St Wendel

30 Jan 2011 ... SANKT WENDEL, GERMANY - Last weekend Marianne Vos succeeded in winning her 4th Cyclocross
World Championship title (3rd in a row!). On the tough course in St Wendel Compton initially set the pace, and only Nash
and Vos could follow. In the last lap Marianne went to the lead of the group and quite easily managed to create a small
gap which proved to be the winning move.