Western Australian Cameron Meyer will be a key figure in the team's quest for grand tour stage victories. (Image credit: Shane Goss/licoricegallery.com)
Cam Meyer is a familiar protagonist at the Australian national championships with wins the criterium and time trial in recent years. However, until today, a podium result had eluded the West Australian in the road race.
Having taken up the chase of solo leader of the race 90km from the finish, Meyer was unable to close the nine minute gap to Jack Bobridge but started his Dimension Data career with the silver medal.
“I’d always gone well around here but it was the situation of being in a big team like Orica so I wanted to start the season strong. Obviously moving teams is a little bit of motivation and you want to prove it was a good choice and I came out today and showed I had good legs. It’s a good start for me," said Meyer who had teammate Nathan Haas finish fourth.
“I was part of Jack’s win, I was part of my brother’s win, I was part of Luke Durbridge’s win, I was part of Simon Gerrans’ win. I was just like ‘geez, I just want to get on the podium’. For me to get on the podium means all the hard work I’ve done is shown and I can go into the next races, Tour Down Under and have a crack.”
Both former GreenEdge riders - Bobridge and Meyer - weren’t fancied to take home the green and gold jersey on their racing debuts with new teammates. While several riders and teams were underestimating Bobridge’s ability to go long, Meyer explained that once the news came through he new it was going to be a hard chase.
“Once I heard the situation and that Jack was in it [the breakaway], I am thinking 2011 when he won and they are giving a bit too much gap and big teams of Orica and Avanti, ‘it’s too big, you let Jack Bobridge go like that, it’s going to be a hard chase’. You could see it was too big to bring back,” he said.
“I was thinking ‘he’s going to blow at some point ‘his legs are going to go but I think it was only in the last lap but all our legs were going as well. He thoroughly deserved it.”
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Meyer added he knew he was racing for silver and therefore was more concerned with who was behind him rather what his gap was to Bobridge.
“They kept telling me it was three, four minutes to Jack and I was saying ‘I don’t want to know about jack’ I am probably not going to get him so I want to know what’s behind. Is Gerro coming? Who’s coming? They whole time in the back of my mind was to keep going and try and get the silver medal and be on the podium.
“He was blowing but I would have needed to be going 60km/h. He had three minutes and that’s just a little but too much,” Meyeer said of whether he could have caught Bobridge on the final lap. “If we went another two laps, which I wouldn’t have enjoyed, I think it was just too far."
Meyer will make his WorldTour debut as part of Dimension Data next week at the Tour Down Under before heading to the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race on January 31 in Geelong.
