Anthony Tan
In terms of bang for your buck, they’re one of the best performers on the WorldTour – and as long as two people remain involved things won’t change, writes Anthony Tan.
Unlike the world’s top two superteams, UAE Team Emirates–XRG and Team Visma–Lease a Bike, where, between them, 15 riders have contracts extending to 2027 or beyond, out of Team Jayco AlUla’s men’s roster for 2025, just one has a contract till 2027 – and it’s not Ben O’Connor.
West Australian O’Connor, who transferred from Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team after four seasons and a breakthrough 2024 that saw him finish fourth overall at the Giro d’Italia and second at the Vuelta a España, has been given two years to walk the talk.
Is it a question of budget that they didn’t give him a contract till 2028 as Visma-Lease a Bike has done for Jonas Vingegaard or, in the case of UAE Team Emirates and Tadej Pogačar, all the way to 2030 – or not throwing all their eggs in one basket?
I think it’s a bit of both.
When it comes to overall team budgets, UAE Team Emirates and Visma-Lease a Bike are comfortably in the top five WorldTour teams, if not the top three, and Pogačar’s recently renewed annual €8 million (AUD$13M) salary alone would easily be more than what the entire Jayco AlUla roster get paid.
Not camping but not glamping
Don’t get me wrong, Jayco AlUla is not camping while others are staying at the Ritz, because if Lance Armstrong’s old sport director Johan Bruyneel is right (and he usually is about these sorts of things) then O’Connor is getting around €3 million (AUD$5M) this year and next.
For an outfit mostly bankrolled by one man, that of course being Melbourne businessman Gerry Ryan, that’s enough risk in itself, wouldn’t you say?
Let’s not forget that to date, out of Big Ben’s best three Grand Tour outings, two (2021 Tour de France, 2024 Vuelta) came about because he snuck himself in a breakaway in the first half of the race and gained more than five minutes’ advantage on the main contenders. Last year’s Giro was a more traditional approach to a potential podium, but his eventual fourth place equated to being 12’07 behind eventual winner Pogačar.
This is not to say O’Connor’s performances have not been legit; more that if he’s gunning for the podium, he’s less likely to find himself in a break without being more heavily marked and chased down. Though, as he’s shown in stage races and one-dayers, the toothy West Australian does have a knack of making the right moves, as demonstrated at last year’s road world championships in Zürich, Switzerland, where he finished second to The Pog.
Journey important as the destination
As a business person, Ryan has demonstrated success in building his Jayco caravan empire to what it is today the most successful caravan company in Australia and New Zealand.
Australia is incredibly fortunate the septuagenarian also happens to love cycling, and, to a large extent, has underwritten its development for close to three decades. However, for Ryan it was never about ‘throwing in a bunch of cash and let’s see what happens’.
From the team’s debut as GreenEDGE in 2012, his approach has been markedly different from INEOS Grenadiers owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who took over the title sponsorship from Team Sky in May 2019.
What was the world’s most dominant team from 2012-19 now looks like a sinking ship.
After team principal Sir Dave Brailsford took a less active role in December 2021 when he was appointed Director of Sport at Ineos, overseeing a range of teams sponsored by the group including French football club Nice and Manchester United, they appear to have lost their way – including key riders Tao Geoghegan Hart (Lidl–Trek), Pavel Sivakov (UAE Team Emirates), Richard Carapaz (EF Education–EasyPost), Adam Yates (UAE Team Emirates) and their highest-profile departure of 2024, Tom Pidcock (Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team).
If you read my last column, you’ll know INEOS was the team that offered Egan Bernal a five-year deal in 2018, then in 2022 another four year extension weeks before the Colombian almost killed himself in a training accident, so long contracts work both ways.
As brutal as it sounds, professional road cycling is too dangerous to offer contracts any more than three years; the risk-reward ratio is off the charts. When Vingegaard crashed at last year’s Itzulia Basque Country, the Dane’s life and career could easily have gone the way of Bernal – or worse, like Gino Mäder who lost his life in a crash at the 2023 Tour de Suisse.
Will not, and never be, a one-man band
Ryan and head sports director Matthew White – who’s also been there from the start – have been around long enough to see that. So, as much as they’re hoping O’Connor can deliver at the Tour, and as much as he’s been paid, it’s not all about him. The two-year contracts most of the riders are on is somewhat of a ‘treat ‘em mean, keep ‘em keen’ mentality.
It’s worked all the way until now, so why change it?
Not locking in big-name riders on three-year plus, multimillion dollar contracts also frees up funds to acquire riders who may better fit the Jayco AlUla mould than their incumbent as well as jettison consistent under performers.
With respect to the former two that come to mind happen to be INEOS Grenadiers alumni: Irishman Eddie Dunbar, who joined in 2023, and our current national TT champ Luke Plapp, who began his Jayco AlUla journey at the start of last year.
It was only after joining the team and five seasons on the WorldTour that Dunbar received an opportunity to race as a protected rider in a three-week race. He didn’t disappoint: at the 2023 Giro he finished seventh overall, only his second Grand Tour. His door-busting breakthroughs, however, came at last year’s Vuelta where he took a pair of mountaintop stage victories. One can sense the 28-year-old is just getting his two-wheeled party started.
Then there’s triple national TT and road race champ Plapp, who has the potential to be Australia’s next big thing in Grand Tours – if he wants it. INEOS Grenadiers was never a good fit for the Melburnian, but at 24 years young time is on his side – and as the only Jayco AlUla rider with a deal till 2027 his team are giving him the space to grow and time to discover what he wants and what he can do.
Out of the 18 WorldTour teams in 2025, Jayco AlUla is one of seven fielding the maximum complement of 30 riders*. That depth; their belief in not tying down riders to contracts longer than three years and giving everyone a fair go should they earn it; notwithstanding their proven ability to nurture talent of all ages, has made them one of the most agile outfits since their inception thirteen years ago.
And, very importantly, they seem to do it while having fun. Life is too short and professional cycling is too hard not to enjoy yourselves.
They don’t get everything right, but they learn, they adapt, and they grow. And they may just produce our next Grand Tour winner.
Caleb’s next chapter
Between Team Jayco AlUla announcing their 30th and final spot on November 7 last year and a December 29 press release, something strange happened behind the scenes.
Even though Ewan was contracted to ride for 2025 rumours were swirling that he was looking elsewhere, because as far as the TdF was concerned there was room for only one sprinter: Dylan Groenewegen.
When Mark Cavendish said his last race would be the Singapore Crit in November, Ewan’s next home looked to be XDS Astana.
Yet, despite 14 outgoings from season 2024 and as many incomings for 2025, his name did not fall into the latter group.
When a deal with XDS Astana could not be brokered it clearly ruffled a few feathers back at Jayco AlUla. His name was absent from their line-up for the 2025 Tour Down Under – where Ewan is a nine-time stage winner – nor did he attend the December training camp.
While Jayco AlUla offered no comment during this time, their website was a reliable indicator: his name had been removed from their riders’ line-up.
On January 23, it was revealed Ewan had signed for INEOS Grenadiers. “In 2025, my goal is to return to winning big races. I firmly believe I (still) have it in me,” he said.
Neither can we. Watch this space (Ewan has since won Stage 1 of the Coppi E Bartali in Italia).
