Orica GreenEdge were spurred on by their disappointment at the national championships and won the Tour Down Under because they 'wanted it more than other teams' according to Matt White.
The Australian WorldTour team came into the Tour Down Under with pressure on their shoulders after they missed out in the men's national road race with Jack Bobridge putting in a phenomenal performance to clinch his national title. However White's team rallied with Caleb Ewan and Simon Gerrans winning two stages apiece in the Tour Down Under, and the latter collecting the overall honours to boot. Overall, it was one of the most dominant and well-drilled displays the team has put together in their short history.
"A big factor is motivation. I don't know how other teams prepared for the race, all I know is the effort my riders put in, but as soon as the break went on stage 1 we made our intentions clear," White told Cyclingnews Tuesday morning.
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"Everyone knew that we were going after the race and we took responsibility from the very start. It was a really big effort from the team."
The Tour Down Under marks the opening of the WorldTour season and Orica sit atop the individual rankings thanks for Gerrans' overall win in the race. White used the pressure and criticism from nationals to re-focus his team for the race.
"We took a bit of criticism coming out of nationals and a lot of people read into a lot of things based off one day of racing. I wasn't concerned because it was the first race of the season, of that distance, and in January. You never really know how guys are going to go in the heat so early in the year.There was a combination of things, and not to take any credit away from Jack Bobridge's ride, but we had a good turn around. People were writing us off for Tour Down Under after nationals and that worked well for the team. We had a plan, we didn't let nationals effect us and we had seven guys committed to our Tour Down Under objectives every day.
"I think it brought the group closer together and it worked in our favour."
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