Docker doing it with GreenEDGE in 2012

Mitch Docker, who confirmed his credentials as a contender for success in cycling’s biggest one-day races with an impressive sixth at this year’s Gent-Wevelgem, is the latest addition to join GreenEDGE Cycling.

The Melbournian has spent the past three seasons with the Dutch team Skil-Shimano, where he picked up two victories last year with a stage win at the Route du Sud and one at the DELTA Tour Zeeland.

It has been steady progress for the 25-year-old who says he’s looking forward to riding alongside Australia’s most experienced riders and some he has spent much of his career racing with and against.

“I’m looking forward to riding with guys like Matt Goss and Simon Clarke, who I rode with and grew up with in the juniors, as well as the guys I’ve always looked up to like Robbie McEwen and Stuart O’Grady,” Docker said.

“It will also be good to work with the staff, who understand the Australian mentality and to be able to speak Aussie slang at the dinner table.”

Having notched up a number of strong results in the one-day classics these races will be Docker’s main focus along with making his debut in a grand tour.

“I’m looking forward to doing the classics and the build-up to those races with events like Paris-Nice or Tirreno-Adriatico, which is racing I haven’t had in the past. It will be interesting to see how that extra race preparation helps my performance,” he said.

“But it won’t be easy to make our team for the classics. This year I was fifteenth at Paris-Roubaix but that doesn’t mean I’m a certainty to ride it next year.

“Having this sort of selection pressure is good. One of the things that make just about any sporting team successful is that it’s hard just to make the team. We’ll have that at GreenEDGE. It will be hard to make the cut.

“The important thing is that being selected on the team isn’t necessarily based on if I’m winning or not but the role I’m playing in the team and how that contributes to GreenEDGE winning.”

The former junior world champion, on the track in the team pursuit, said the three seasons he spent with Skil-Shimano taught him a lot about what it takes to be a professional cyclist.

“My time at Skil has been great. They gave me so many opportunities and as a young rider they never rushed my development, which will help my career long-term,” Docker said.