I am currently living in Adelaide, Australia and regularly attend races where the top pro's race. I mean Garmin Transitions riders, Cape Epic stage winners etc (stuart OGrady started out here until becoming pro). Funny thing is, they race 80-100km road races on a handicap race system. They do lots of criteriums, 45 minutes etc. And they have a LOT less races to choose from locally due to high distances etc.(the next big city is 600km way, and the following one 1100km...) There are no Argus events, no PMB-Durbans etc. here, but still the amount of Euro Pro's coming out of this place is amazing. All races are club based and every weekend you have 50-100 riders battling it out. Its hard racing, and the format does not allow the Elites to take it easy because the lower handicap riders will win... The reason why these riders become pro's are most likely that they are supported by the AIS (Australian Institute of Sport). Because the clubs are so involved, they inform the State sports administrators of talented youngsters, who then gets coaching etc to see if they can go the distance. Once these guys reach 20, the Aussie national teams have to leave out very good riders when they do selections, for example some of the best U23's in Europe had to watch from home. I think that CSA is moving towards a system that may work. I think some of the current administrators are really doing a much better job than ever before. I think the problem is surely the lack of real involvement between clubs and provinces and the national organisation. There are so many really influential people who ride and race frequently, and who are sitting on the sidelines not getting involved. These guys should use their contacts to get the ball rolling in finding support for the bodies (provinces and national). This way the people really providing benefit to cycling will stick around, and better support could be a heartbeat away. Australia won a bronze medal in Elites today, and Gold in U23, Silver in U23 TT because they have a system that works = look after the riders AND the system, and have one goal. It was with a bit of sadness that I watched the Elite road race live today (the last few km's at least as I was out MTB'ing), and there were no SA riders in the final 60km at least. It takes a lot of effort, time and support for these guys to finish a 260km race with the Euro pro's. It starts with a system that have the respect from the community it serves.
