Baden Cooke to take the leadership role for Team GreenEdge at the Tour of Oman 2012
Matthew Goss of Team GreenEdge believes that he does not have enough legs to target the 159 kilometre stage 2 of the Tour of Oman. Baden Cooke has stepped up to lead the Australian team at the second stage of the race.
Goss finished the opening stage at the 10th position and realised that he does not have enough strengths to take on the leading role for the coming stages.
Andre Greipel of Lotto Belisol Team won the opening first stage of the race while Denis Galimzyanov and Tyler Farrar claimed the second and the third positions, respectively.
Cooke briefed on the issue, "We've got a pretty complete team here, so I'm not expecting to have a bucket load of chances, so today when Gossy wasn't up, I put my hand up and I was glad I could get some kind of a result".
Allan Davis and Sebastian Langeveld also rode beautifully during the first day but the team believes that Baden is an ideal choice for the role.
The main reason behind Matthew’s struggling form is because of the fact that he missed out on the Tour of Qatar.
Cooke, however, rode the event brilliantly and secured the 12th position after the final general classifications.
The 33-yaear-old stated, "We have so many options that I said I wouldn't put my hand up unless I was good. So in Qatar there wasn't any one day that I put my hand up, but today I knew I was good".
Cooke ended his two-year association (2010-2011) with the Danish side, Team Saxo Bank and joined Shayne Bannan’s squad for the 2012 season.
Team Green Edge is riding the 2012 season as its first season at the World Tour level and is keen to make the most out of it.
It had a perfect start to their 2012 campaign as Simon Gerrans helped the side with the overall victory at the UCI inaugural event, Santos Tour Down Under.
The team is now counting on Baden Cooke to climb the podium at the ongoing Tour of Oman.
Cooke finished second during the second stage of the race and is currently holding the third overall position after the stag 2 classifications.
It will be interesting to see if the cyclist can continue his superb form to claim the podium on the final day in Oman.
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