Crocodile Trophy

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O’Grady Bolsters Coopers Shimano Dream Team

John Flynn / 15.10.2008

Adelaide’s Darren O’Grady, a 2006 individual stage winner and member of the Crocodile Trophy alumni, is urgently packing his bags for Tropical North Queensland after being named as a last-minute inclusion in the Coopers - Shimano Dream Team for the 2008 edition of Australia’s outback cycling classic.

The 39-year-old fencing contractor, who is still busily digging post-holes to finish off jobs before traveling north, will put the extra “skills-based� training to great use as he prepares to tackle the fierce conditions that only the Crocodile Trophy can dish out.

O’Grady made the most of an opportunity on the pan-cake flat corrugated dirt road section from Chillagoe to Mount Mulgrave in 2006, when he set off on a triumphant breakaway move.

But this time there will be plenty of other “Aussie battlers� chasing individual glory.

“There’s a lot more competition, there’ll be less opportunities this year,� O’Grady admitted after studying the race field. “The Merida Flight Centre team will be gunning for it, and Craig Gordon (2006 World 24 Hour Champion) has said in no uncertain terms why he’s coming.�

Although a little “underdone� by his own standards going into the race, O’Grady knows from experience not to push too hard too early in a contest of close to 1300 kilometres over ten days.

He also plans to draw inspiration from younger brother Stuey’s Paris-Roubaix victory as he tackles Australia’s answer to the cobble-stones, the corrugations of the legendary “Battle Camp Road� between Laura and Cooktown.

“The road to Cooktown is just mind-bogglingly hard at the end of a race like that,� O’Grady said. “I remember the last time we did that we were in the front group, basically just hunting for the finish line.�

In 2007, a Dream Team led by Italy’s former World Cup Champion Mauro Bettin walked away with the ultimate prize from the Crocodile Trophy. This time around, The Coopers-Shimano Dream Team will be led by two-time stage winner (2005) Kai Hundertmarck, a former pro road cyclist (T-Mobile) turned ironman triathlete who’s talents are more suited to the flatter, less technical stages.

“Realistically, the Coopers-Shimano Dream Team is an outside chance for the overall, but we’ll definitely be gunning for stage wins,� Team Manager Christie Valentine said.

“It’s great to have Darren on-board with the team as he knows the race, is comfortable being in the outback and doesn’t complain when the conditions conspire against us.�

It’s a sentiment supported by the man who'll be forced to do much of the work for the Dream Team, one who lives for the Crocodile Trophy experience.

“I particularly like the sense of well-being and strength it puts into me,� O’Grady said. “It lasts for years.�See All Event Posts