Renshaw the reserve – bold or political decision?

14 September 2011 | 0:00 - By Matthew Keenan

The non-selection of Mark Renshaw for the World Championships has certainly caused a stir, with many arguing dirty politics have kept him out of the team.

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Mark Renshaw's omission from Australia's Road World Championship team has sparked plenty of debate. (AAP)

In mid-February, immediately after Renshaw had won the Tour of Qatar ahead of Heinrich Haussler, I wrote a blog about the tough selection decisions that would need to be made ahead of this year’s race for the rainbow jersey. I had Renshaw as first reserve.
 
The sole reason I had him on the reserve list was that he is yet to prove himself in a major one-day classic over 250-plus-kilometres.
 
A 260km one-day race is ridden in a far different manner to a 220km Tour de France stage.
 
Due to the intensity of a one-day race the group that makes it to the finish, in contention for the win, is normally a fairly select one, rather than the big peloton we see in the sprint stages of the Tour.
 
For example there were just 25 riders in the sprint to the line at last year’s world championships.
 
The 2009 Milan-San Remo saw Cavendish sprint to victory from a group of 50, with gaps that had them spread over 22-seconds. This year Goss won from a group of eight, while at Gent-Wevelgem (210km), the sprinters classic, a group of 36 clocked the same time in a bunch sprint finish.
 
Renshaw’s best one-day result, to date, has been in the 2008 Vattenfall Cyclassic – Hamburg where he finish second behind Robbie McEwen.  That four-and-a-half-hour race was almost two hours shorter than the average elite men’s road race at the world championships.
 
Despite the argument I’ve made against him, my recent selection for Cycling Central, just ahead of the official Cycling Australia announcement, included Renshaw.  I just think he’s worth the punt. He's the undisputed best leadout man in the world. His loyalty is also undisputed. Mark Cavendish will attest to his selfless approach.
 
But Matt White, along with Kevin Tabotta, has made the decision and Renshaw is on the bench.
 
Politically motivated? Politically the best thing for White to do is pick a team that delivers an Australian, any Australian, to the finish line first.
 
Yes there are plenty of past team selections that have reeked of bias and favouritism. The process that saw Tony Davis pushed aside, at the last minute, for Dean Woods to ride the individual pursuit at the 1988 Olympics Games set the benchmark on this front.
 
As for this being one of those cases, I’m not so sure.
 
The flip side to this being a dirty, politically motivated decision, is we have a new team manager prepared to make a tough decision that he knows will be against popular opinion.

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Comments (15)

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21 Sep 2011 0:12 AEST

mary

From: rosanna

i think they selected the team too early; then they could have seen that renshaw was up for it. there is no doubt he can make the distance. i wonder what really happened at the selection table.

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16 Sep 2011 22:07 AEST

Ludo

From: Guilford

Have you seen todays stage suck your wheel.

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16 Sep 2011 14:15 AEST

Maria Szczerba

From:

Renshaw deserves to be in! Come on selectors! He won the Tour of Qatar and that to me in my books deserves an inclusion to the team and selection! Anyone who can win the Tour of Spain deserves selection!

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16 Sep 2011 0:43 AEST

Terry

From: Swansea

I was disappointed at Renshaws and Hansens omission from this team, but that disappointment has be overtaken by the self serving comments above by Matt. I looked to Matt Keenan to be credible and unbiased, but this has left me with a very bad taste in my mouth. We all want to see GE get off the ground and equally, we want to see the 9 strongest and most recently reliable guys out there slogging it out for the best result at the WC.

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15 Sep 2011 15:52 AEST

Matt Keenan

From: Copenhagen

Hi Ian, yes I have been doing some work with GreenEDGE. But given my blog is based on a piece I wrote in February, well before the team's long list was even announced, and that I've moved from not including Mark in my selected team then to now disagreeing with the CA decision not to select him I didn't think it was relevant. As stated above, my objective view is that I believe Mark should be in the team.

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15 Sep 2011 11:53 AEST

Mick

From: Newcastle

Rogers isn't there to win he is there as a worker. Why would you pull horse power out for a finisher? I would have come down to renshaw or hausler.

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15 Sep 2011 8:55 AEST

Jason

From: Windsor

Renshaw and also Adam Henson should be in,Henson will and can sit at the front and do all the hard early work,just ask P.Gilbert. Cooke and Rogers I would drop,and I am a fan of both so it's not a easy call.

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15 Sep 2011 8:11 AEST

Wheelsucker

From: Bentleigh

Renshaw finished over a minute behind Hushovd in Tour of Britain's Stage 4. Not really showing the form to make the selectors re-consider or to prove them wrong.

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15 Sep 2011 8:00 AEST

RenshawFan

From: NSW

The Renshaw snub could be enough to give White nightmares for many years to come. I can see this will make the fire in Renshaw's belly turn into an inferno and unleash the beast. Looking forward to a Rabobank - Greenedge sprint finish next year with the Renshaw Rocket unleashing a sonic boom that will be audible all around the world with a satisfying victory salute to Matt White at the end. Until then, sleep well Matt, you'll need it.

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15 Sep 2011 1:05 AEST

Mark

From: Bathurst

I can’t believe all the talk on distance.. For the last 4 years Mark Renshaw has used the Classics only for build-up for the World BIGGEST Cycling Event the Tour de France, in which he is a star. Why are people taking these tour lead-up results and suggesting Renshaw can’t ride the distance; he has just been following orders. After the tour this year he turned his back on the money in the post tour crits to have a break and build up for the worlds. His non selection would of really rocked him..

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