At the end of 2014, Melbourne-based National Road Series (NRS) team CharterMason Giant announced it would be racing under a Continental licence for the upcoming season. The upgrade afforded the team a start at the inaugural Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race as well as a start at Australia’s other UCI event, the Jayco Herald Sun Tour in February.
While results weren’t forthcoming at the UCI events, it was to be expected due to the fact that the team was still forming its nucleus, the team showed themselves in breakaways and at the front of the peloton. Only months previously, riders were riding for themselves, unsure of how to ride as a team.
The first race of the 2015 NRS calendar, the Tour de Perth, had a different feel from previous editions with a twilight prologue replacing the opening criterium. Having occupied the hot seat before finishing ninth at the Sun Tour prologue, former mountain bike eliminator world champion Paul van der Ploeg duly delivered on his favourite status for the win.
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"Going in we always knew that we were a chance in the prologue having Paul there just with his eliminator background which is a very similar type event," the team’s sports director Damien Harris told Cyclingnews. "I thought it was a good opportunity to get the yellow jersey early and to give the team a good boost right from the get go with the first stage of the tour, and stage of the NRS as well. That went to plan which was perfect."
While the team lost the yellow jersey the next day, German sprinter Raphael Freienstein made it two from two with victory in the bunch sprint finish.
"We always knew we might be about to hold onto the jersey for another day in Perry Lakes with the circuit there finishing in a bunch kick," Harris added. "As it happened, the race was all split up and we had three guys in the front group which was good. Obviously Raph ended up winning the stage and if there had been time bonuses, then he would have been in yellow but that’s just the way it is."
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