After 16 years of competing in all levels of the sport, the Drapac Cycling team will be concluding operations at the end of the 2019 season.
The Drapac Cycling team was founded in 2004 by team founder Michael Drapac as a development program, supporting the concept of holistic development for young athletes; offering a unique environment that recognised young cyclists need to develop outside the – often narrow – parameters of the sport they practiced at a key stage in their lives. The riders selected for what became the Drapac Porsche Development Program (when it took out its first UCI license in 2006) committed to studying alongside their racing program.
While this team, made up of predominantly young part-time riders, enjoyed a great deal of success both on and off the bike, Michael Drapac remained committed to promoting the concept of holistic athlete development to a much wider audience.
After eight successful years as a UCI Continental outfit, the team took the step to a fully-fledged professional team in 2014, taking out a Professional Continental license. Drapac Professional Cycling became the only Australian team operating at Pro-continental level, and one of only two fully professional Australian cycling teams in history.
In 2016, Drapac Capital Partners became a co-owner of Slipstream Sports and title sponsor of the World Tour team Cannondale-Drapac, continuing the team’s journey to the next and highest possible step in professional cycling, while supporting the Drapac holistic development team, which focused once again on young rider development in Australia.
While competing in the World Tour, Drapac enjoyed several successes, most notably Rigoberto Uran’s 2nd in the 2017 Tour de France. Michael Drapac was also instrumental in bringing athlete wellbeing to the World Tour, by being the first professional cycling team to run a wellbeing program. Drapac Cycling has also supported many of its riders into transitioning into life after sport through networking and internship programs.
Since registering for its first UCI license in 2006, Drapac Cycling has won 7 National and 3 Oceania titles, and over 65 UCI victories across four continents, along with numerous wins at a domestic level in Australia. The team has also had several of its riders progress to the World Tour, notably Mitch Docker, Brendan Canty, Wouter Wippert, Tom Scully and James Whelan in recent years.
The current team – the Drapac-Cannondale Holistic Development Team is undertaking its European block of racing before finishing off the year with the National Road Series and the Shimano Supercrit, which will be the team’s final race.
Drapac Cycling would like to extend its sincere gratitude to all of its partners for their support for the current season, and throughout the years.
