Daily Cycling Facts 17.01.12

On this day in 2011, GreenEDGE launched with the express aim of entering the first Australian Tour de France team in the 108-year history of the race. The team is managed by Shane Bannan and Andrew Ryan with Neil Stephens as directeur sportif. Clothing is provided by sponsors Santini Maglificio Sportivo and bikes by SCOTT Sports SA, financial backing by industrialist Gerry Ryan, owner of Jayco Australia. It plans to recruit 75% of its riders from Australia and - welcome news in these times - will also run a women's team. At the time of writing, 18 of the 30 riders (the maximum permitted in a UCI ProTeam) are Australian, along with three Dutch, two Canadians and one each from South Africa, Switzerland, Japan, Belgium, Eritrea and Lithuania.

Luca Paolini
(image credit: Fanny Schertzer CC BY-SA 3.0)

Katusha's Italian rider Luca Paolini was born in Milan on this day in 1977. Paolini's home was raided by police as part of Operazione Athena in 2006, but no evidence that the rider was using doping products was found and he did not undergo any prosecution.

Miguel Martinez, a French cross-country mountain biker and winner of a gold medal for the event at the 2000 Olympics, was born in this day in 1976.

Christophe Riblon, winner of the Stage 14 Ax-3 Domaines (mountain finish) in the 2010 Tour de France, was born today in 1981.

David Stevenson was born in Clough, Ireland, on this day in 1882 and represented Scotland at the 1912 Olympics in Stockholm and where he was part of the squad that finished the Team Time Trial event in fourth place. After the Games, he seems to have vanished from history - the rest of his life, including the date of his death, is unknown. Rudolf Kramer, born on the same day in Vienna, was part of the Austrian team that finished in 7th place in the same event that year. Like Stevenson, his later history and date of birth are unknown.

Other birthdays: Michael Vaarten (Belgium, 1957); Robert Schneider (USA, 1944); Max Leiva (Guatemala, 1966); Lutz Heßlich (East Germany, 1959); Robert Burns (Australia, 1968); Grégory Rast (Switzerland, 1980); Michael Weiss (Austria, 1981); Mohamed Touati (Tunisia, 1939); Don Myrah (USA, 1966); David Brinton (USA, 1967); Allegro Grandi (Italy, 1907, died 1973); Claude Carlin (France, 1961).

Tomorrow: Captain Gérard's Folding Bicycle and Thor Hushovd