Nicola Rutzou
Gerry Ryan has been and continues to be the greatest sponsor of Australian professional road and track cycling in the modern era.
He first became involved in cycling in the early 1990s when he was approached by cyclist Kathy Watt. Watt was preparing for the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, where she was contesting the road race, and asked Ryan to sponsor her for $10,000 to undertake altitude training in the Rocky Mountains. She went on to win the Gold Medal in the road race, which she partly attributed to her time at altitude.
That early foray gave Ryan his start in supporting the niche sport, and he soon took his next step, setting up the Jayco Cycling Team. The team rode in Australia and then headed to the US and Canada. From there, he also supported the AIS (Australian Institute of Sport) and VIS (Victorian Institute of Sport) for many years, plus the Herald Sun Tour.
In addition to his business success with Jayco, Ryan has a string of others, including wineries, a caravan park, a recreation centre, and his global entertainment company, Global Creatures.
His business successes have also allowed him to fund Australian cycling events and teams for the past 30 years.
Ryan’s journey with GreenEDGE began in 2010, when he watched the teams roll around the course at the Tour de France in Paris and lamented the lack of an Australian team. Being a man of action, he contacted Shayne Bannan, who was a Director at Cycling Australia at the time, and asked how much it would cost to start an Australian team. It took them about 18 months to get it off the ground.
Cycling is not Ryan’s only sporting endeavour. He has won two Melbourne Cups, with his part ownership of two successful race horses – Americain and Rekindling.
Ryan has sponsored the Jayco Dandenong Rangers in the Women’s National Basketball League for years and the national women’s team, the Opals. He also owns a stake in NRL club Melbourne Storm and is a club director.
As well as the European cycling scene, Ryan supports domestic racing and sponsored the inaugural Pro Velo Super League that replaced the Australian National Race Series and wrapped up a couple of weeks ago.
Gerry Ryan OAM was inducted into the Sport Australia Hall of Fame in 2024 as a General Member for his contribution to Sports Administration.
