Tom Southam's career as the head sport director with Australian Pro-Continental team Drapac Pro Cycling got off to the perfect start when Wouter Wippert took his and the team's biggest win to date when he sprinting to final day victory at the Tour Down Under.
The early victory set high expectations and while there was no repeat WorldTour win, the team had breakthrough wins and podium finishes in North America but the 2016 season will see the team turn its attention to racing and performing in Europe. The team has lost Wippert to Cannondale-Garmin but recruited several young talents that Southam is hoping can deliver in one-week stage races which will be its bread and butter in 2016.
"Our biggest win came so early at Tour Down Under which was as much as we could have hoped from in that race. There were a few other highlights, Wippert was obviously very close in California, Lachie Norris winning a stage in Utah … I think overall it was satisfactory," Southam told Cyclingnews of how he saw the season on the eve of the team's training camp.
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The team's wins in 2015 included stages of the Jayco Herald Sun Tour, the Tours of Taiwan, Japan and Korea before Norris' breakthrough win at the Tour of Utah ahead of Brent Brent Bookwalter. Southam explained he was unsure how the 28-year-old would perform in the US but is now backing Norris for bigger and better things in 2016.
"Lachie stepped it up a gear this year and started winning and I think he's proved he can do which is an important step. I was unsure at California whether he even wanted to win and wanted to be a leader or just wanted to help. He answered that himself and it's great," he said. "Lachie came sixth overall at US Pro Challenge, if you'd offered that to the team last year it would have been massive. This year it like 'ok, that's kind of another result' it was good but your expectation rises as you get more successful."
While Southam can confirm Norris' protected status at the Tour Down Under and Jayco Herald Sun Tour early-next year, the reality of being a Pro-Continental team means Drapac need race invitations before fully mapping out the season ahead.
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