Magnifique Meyer Stars as GreenEDGE Domestique

Western Australian Institute of Sport cyclist Travis Meyer has enjoyed a productive campaign at the 2013 Volta a Catalunya competition in Spain.

Meyer – a member of the Australian professional road team ORICA-GreenEDGE – helped two of his teammates to honours, with Simon Gerrans winning the sixth stage over the slopes of the Alt de Lilla, and Christian Meier claiming the points and TDF 100 sprint jerseys at the culmination of the event.

Despite his domestique duties, Meyer also raced amongst the leaders on the seventh and final stage in Spain, taking a top ten finish in eighth place to cap a great week of racing.

The Mt Helena resident provided crucial support to his team throughout the tour, which is considered a key component for the teams preparing for the Giro d’Italia and the Tour de France.

The 2013 edition attracted a large group of professional road cycling’s leading lights, with; Bradley Wiggins, Cadel Evans and Alejandro Valverde all competing in their respective teams.

Gerrans, a veteran of Australian road cycling, paid tribute to Meyer amongst his teammates for their efforts in his sixth stage success.

“I’m really happy with the stage win,” Gerrans said. “It was a huge team effort today. Trav [Travis Meyer], Christian [Meier], Sam [Bewley] and Wes [Wesley Sulzberger] did a huge amount of work in the first couple of hours to cover the breakaway. They did a really fantastic job. After that, it was just a matter of Brett [Lancaster] and I taking care of our position ahead of the final,” he said.

Meier backed up Gerrans sentiments, claiming the jerseys were a reward for the entire team’s efforts.

“This was a highly successful week for the team,” Meier said. “At the beginning of the week, I said that if we could take a stage win, we could call the race a success. We obviously did that with Gerro yesterday. We put our mark on the race with the stage win. Brett [Lancaster] mixed it up in the sprints, and Travis [Meyer] had a great day today to finish eighth on the stage. The two jerseys are a big bonus.”

The Volta a Catalunya title for 2013 was won by Ireland’s Dan Martin (Germin-Sharp).