Cameron Meyer (Australia) (Image credit: CJ Farquharson)
Cameron Meyer has rated the chance of Garmin-Transitions taking both the road and time trial Scody Australian Open Road Championship jerseys as high, after he won the elite men’s time trial today. Meyer put in a sensational ride to claim his first elite men’s title, winning over the 39 kilometre course by 28 seconds.
“I put it really high, actually,” said Meyer. “We’ve got four really strong guys, so I think we’ll be one of the strongest. I know it’s going to be a really tough field, you’ve got so many good riders on Sunday but we’ll play a good team roll and hopefully we can come away with both jerseys and take them back to Europe for our team.”
Team sport director and former professional Matthew White watched Meyer win on the Buninyong, Victoria course. He believes in former champion Matthew Wilson, rising star Jack Bobridge and West Australian brothers Travis and Cameron Meyer the team could win Sunday’s 163.2 kilometre event.
“We’ve got four guys going well and that means we’ve got four options to play,” said White. “Definitely Cam isn’t going to be our leader but we’ve got four wildcards and we’ll play it from there. Jack’s going quite well, Travis is quite handy and Matt Wilson always has a good ride around here. We’ve got a few cards to play.”
While White was keen to talk about team’s chances for the road race, his genuine delight for Meyer’s success today was obvious. White took Meyer under his wing during the youngster’s first year as a professional with Garmin in 2009.
“It’s a big thing too, his big race in Europe will be the Giro d’Italia and he gets to wear a national champion jersey,” said White. “It’s a big thing, it’s a big thing. Especially at the Giro, Tour de France and those sorts of races, so I’m happy for him.
“After the Melbourne Track World Cup this was the next goal for Cam, to win today,” added White. “I was actually hoping Mick Rogers would be here, it was a close call last year. In the end Luke Roberts has pushed him, if you look at the splits he was only at five seconds after 20 kilometres. Cam was really under pressure then, but he came home really good for quite a comfortable win in the end.”
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Garmin-Transitions isn’t the only ProTour team fielding a strong squad in Sunday’s race. While the team has depleted from the six-man super-team originally announced, Michael Rogers will still have Leigh Howard and Matthew Goss to support his title attempt.
