Gerrans Wins Stage 5 Downunder

Simon Gerrans is back, with the Australian cycling star winning stage three of the Tour Down Under and taking the overall lead. The Orica-GreenEDGE leader timed his sprint perfectly at the end of the 139km stage from Glenelg to Campbelltown and beat defending champion Rohan Dennis by a couple of centimetres.

Gerrans leads previous leader Jay McCarthy by three seconds after the Australian finished fourth on the stage. Dennis is also well-placed in third overall at five seconds.

Gerrans’ season last year was ruined by a horror run of crashes and this is his first individual win since 2014. “This is great - it’s been a long time between drinks,” Gerrans said.

The three-time Tour Down Under champion missed last year’s edition because of a broken collarbone. Far from a temporary setback, that injury turned out to be the start of a miserable run of luck.

It had also extended into this year’s race, with Gerrans crashing near the end of stage two when he was positioning to go for the win. But on Thursday, Gerrans survived the frantic run to the base of the crucial Corkscrew climb, less than 10km from the finish.

The riders averaged 93km/h through the valley before a sharp left-hand turn onto the climb and a crash claimed five of them, although none appeared to be hurt seriously.

Gerrans was part of a 10-rider selection that formed over the top of the climb and the fast descent to the finish.

Asked about the new finish, Gerrans replied “yeah, I’m not a fan. It felt like we really had to take our lives into our hands in that final. There was a big crash on the Gorge [before Corkscrew], a couple of very hairy moments on the descent of the Corkscrew. I’m thrilled to be able to have won the stage, but there was some risk involved.”

Gerrans later softened his comments, saying it was a combination of the course and the riders taking high-speed risks. And race director Mike Turtur strongly defended the course, saying it was far from the riskiest that the riders would face during a season.

It has already been a great Tour for Orica-GreenEDGE with two wins from three stages. But Gerrans has made it clear he wants a fourth title.

Earlier on Thursday, Belgian Laurens De Vreese (Astana) attacked by himself and led until the last 21km. Cycling legend Jens Voigt observed that the peloton had let De Vreese dangle out the front of the race in the 35-degree heat “like a slowly-cooked chicken”.

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G'Day for Gerrans in San Remo

Simon Gerrans became the second Australian in a row to win Milan-San Remo, the first of cycling's five Monuments.

The GreenEDGE rider was following in the footsteps of his current team-mate Matthew Goss who triumphed 12 months earlier when riding for HTC-Highroad.

The pivotal moment in the 298 kilometres race, the longest one-day event on the professional cycling calendar, came on the final climb of the Poggio with less than 10km remaining.

It was at that point that Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas-Cannondale) and Gerrans broke clear of the pack and they were soon joined by Fabian Cancellara (RadioShack-Nissan).

With that trio among the best descenders in the world, they soon opened up a lead of 12 seconds and as Cancellara drove it on the front they were always just holding off the chasing pack.

Gerrans was in the perfect position knowing that Goss was in the main group behind and having sat on Cancellara's wheel he pounced in the final 200 metres to claim a narrow victory over the Swiss star, with Nibali having to settle for third.

It was Gerrans' first triumph in one of cycling's Monuments and continued his magnificent start to the season following his overall success in the Tour Down Under, placing him back on top of the WorldTour rankings.

Contrasting fortunes

There was disappointment though for Gerrans' former squad Team Sky who had hoped to win with pre-race favourite Mark Cavendish but the world champion was distanced from the front group on the Le Mànie climb with just under 100km remaining.

A herculean effort from the likes of Mathew Hayman, Salvatore Puccio, Ian Stannard, Jeremy Hunt and Bernhard Eisel looked for a moment as if it would help him bridge the gap back to the main group.

But the second chase group was unable to get any closer than 40 seconds and with around 50km to go they accepted that it wasn't going to be their day.

That left around 70 riders left to battle for the victory in 'la classica di Primavera' and it was Liquigas-Cannondale who appeared to be in pole position with Nibali and Peter Sagan both right in the mix.

They had been prominent on the front for much of the day and hoovered up the

remnants of a nine-man breakaway which had moved clear just 21km into the race and had opened up a maximum lead of 14 minutes.

Moving to the penultimate climb of the Cipressa with 28km to go, various riders tried their luck but the complexion changed once again cresting the top with a crash which involved Philippe Gilbert (Omega Pharma-Quickstep) and ruled him out of contention.

At the base of the Poggio it was Rabobank setting the pace on the front but the final twist was to come soon after as Gerrans went clear with Nibali and Cancellara in what proved the race-winning move.

GreenEdge Gerrans Wins Downunder

GreenEdge, the newly-formed Australian professional cycling team, have won their first WorldTour race, the Tour Down Under, after Simon Gerrans held on to the overall lead he took on the penultimate stage while André Greipel, a former two-time winner, took the line honours on the final 90-kilometre stage in Adelaide.

As the first ever Australian team at cycling's top table GreenEdge were hoping to make an immediate impact on their 'home' race.

However, the team run by Shayne Bannan and directed by Matt White made fans wait four days before being given a reason to celebrate, with Gerrans climbing into the leader's ochre jersey on the penultimate stage five.

In Sunday's final stage, a 90km street circuit won by Greipel of Germany, GreenEdge worked hard to defend Gerrans' lead to score a first ever victory in the WorldTour.

For GreenEdge's main stakeholder, businessman Gerry Ryan, it was an unexpected but welcome start to their maiden season.

"It's fantastic, it's been a great journey and this puts the icing on the cake," said Ryan.

With a core of Australian riders, GreenEdge hopes to challenge some of the world's top teams in most of the 28-race WorldTour events.

Among their ranks are veteran Tour de France stage winners Stuart O'Grady and Robbie McEwen.

However they also look to have a bright future with the likes of Jack Bobridge, Cameron Meyer and Luke Durbridge - who are all part of Australia's four-man track cycling pursuit team that will bid for gold at the Olympics.

Durbridge, the under-23 world champion who recently won the national time-trial title, was especially happy as he approaches his first season in the WorldTour.

"I can't be happier. I am a passionate Australian and to see the first WorldTour team for Australia win, you can't get much better than that," he said.

McEwen, who is set to retire before the summer, admitted his final race in Australia had special significance.

"I joined the team and was really excited about being part of the GreenEdge project, racing in an Aussie team, our national team," said McEwen, a 12-time stage winner on the Tour de France."

"It's a fantastic way to go out as far as Australian racing is concerned."

During his spell as sports director with Garmin-Cervelo last year White steered Meyer to a narrow victory over Matt Goss on the final stage.

Now at GreenEdge, and in charge of both riders, White was delighted to steer another Australian to the win.

"To win the Tour Down Under with our newly crowned national champion, we couldn't have written a better script. [I'm] elated, just elated," said White.

Gerrans finished with the same time as Spaniard Alejandro Valverde, the Movistar rider who is likely to be one of his biggest challengers in the hilly one-day classics of the spring.

Six years after his maiden win here, when the event was still a second tier race, the Victorian took even more pleasure from securing their first win.

"It's an even sweeter victory than my first one here in 2006. It couldn't be a better start for us," said Gerrans.

"Often that first victory for a new team is the hardest one to get and we've got it in our first outing, so it really is a dream start and I think this will create a great momentum for the year to come."

Tour Down Under details

Stage six; Adelaide City Council Street Circuit: 90km: 1. André Greipel (Lotto-Belisol - Ger) one hour 56 minutes 48 seconds, 2. Mark Renshaw (Rabobank - Aus) at same time, 3. Alessandro Petacchi(Lampre-ISD - Ita) s..t., 4. Yauheni Hutarovich (FDJ-BigMat - Blr) s.t., 5 José Joaquín Rojas (Movistar - Spa) s.t., 6. Edvald Boasson Hagen(Team Sky - Nor) s.t., 7. Romain Feillu (Vacansoleil-DCM - Fra) s.t., 8. Jonathan Cantwell (Saxo Bank - Aus) s.t., 9. Fabio Sabatini (Liquigas-Cannondale - Ita) s.t., 10. Manuel Belletti (Ag2r-La Mondiale - Ita) s.t.

Selected others: 20. Andrew Fenn (Omega Pharma-Quick Step - GB) s.t. 49. Adam Blythe (BMC Racing - GB) s.t., 66. Geraint Thomas(Team Sky - GB) 17secs, 81. Alex Dowsett (Team Sky - GB) 30secs,98. Matt Brammeier (Omega Pharma-Quick Step - Irl) 41secs.

Final general classification: 1. Simon Gerrans (GreenEdge - Aus) 20hrs 46mins 12secs, 2. Alejandro Valverde (Movistar - Spa) s.t., 3. Tiago Machado (RadioShack-Nissan - Por) 8secs, 4. Michael Rogers(Team Sky - Aus) 14secs, 5. Rohan Dennis (UNI SA-Australia - Aus) s.t., 6. Jan Bakelants (RadioShack-Nissan - Bel) 16secs, 7. Edvald Boasson Hagen (Team Sky - Nor) 18secs, 8. Javier Moreno (Movistar - Spa) 23secs, 9. Michael Matthews (Rabobank - Aus) 29secs, 10. Eduard Vorganov (Katusha - Rus) 32secs.

Selected others: 46. Geraint Thomas (Team Sky - GB) 20hrs 54mins 42secs, 75. Andrew Fenn (Omega Pharma-Quick Step - GB) 24mins 32secs, 95. Matt Brammeier (Omega Pharma-Quick Step - Irl) 28mins 39secs, 121. Adam Blythe (BMC Racing - GB) 43mins 33secs, 124. Alex Dowsett (Team Sky - GB) 46mins 53secs.

Final sprints classification: 1. Edvald Boasson Hagen (Team Sky - Nor) 56 points, 2. André Greipel (Lotto-Belisol - Ger) 50pts, 3. Yauheni Hutarovich (FDJ-BigMat - Blr) 39pts, 4. Mark Renshaw (Rabobank - Aus) 33pts, 5. Michael Matthews (Rabobank - Aus) 32pts, 6. Daniele Bennati (RadioShack-Nissan - Ita) 32pts, 7. Alejandro Valverde(Movistar - Spa) 27pts, 8. Simon Gerrans (GreenEdge - Aus) 27pts, 9. Alessandro Petacchi (Lampre-ISD - Ita) 27pts, 10. Óscar Freire(Katusha - Spa) 25pts.

Selected other: 39: Andrew Fenn (Omega Pharma-Quick Step - GB) 5pts.

Final King of the Mountains classification: 1. Rohan Dennis (UNI SA-Australia - Aus) 29pts, 2. Thomas De Gendt (Vacansoleil-DCM - Bel) 24pts, 3. Simon Gerrans (GreenEdge - Aus) 24pts, 4. Tiago Machado (RadioShack-Nissan - Por) 18pts, 5. Alejandro Valverde(Movistar - Spa) 16pts, 6. Nathan Haas (Garmin-Barracuda - Aus) 16pts, 7. Javier Moreno (Movistar - Spa) 12pts, 8. Jay Mccarthy (UNI SA-Australia - Aus) 10pts, 9. Will Clarke (UNI SA-Australia - Aus) 10pts,10. Martin Kohler (BMC Racing - Swi) 8pts.

Se4lected other: 15. Matt Brammeier (Omega Pharma-Quick Step - Irl) 6pts.

Final young rider classification: 1. Rohan Dennis (UNI SA-Australia - Aus) 20hrs 46mins 26secs, 2. Edvald Boasson Hagen (Team Sky - Nor) 4secs, 3. Michael Matthews (Rabobank - Aus) 15secs, 4. Ángel Madrazo (Movistar - Spa) 1min 1sec, 5. Wilco Kelderman (Rabobank - Hol) 2mins 19secs, 6. Romain Lemarchand (Ag2r-La Mondiale - Fra) 3mins 19secs, 7. Julien Vermote (Omega Pharma-Quick Step - Bel) 3mins 27secs, 8. Gorka Izagirre Inausti (Euskaltel-Euskadi - Spa) 4mins 34secs, 9. Cameron Meyer (GreenEdge - Aus) 8mins 47secs,10. Jay Mccarthy (UNI SA-Australia - Aus) 11mins 11secs.

Selected others: 17: Andrew Fenn (Omega Pharma-Quick Step - GB) 24mins 18secs, 27. Adam Blythe (BMC Racing - GB) 43mins 19secs,29. Alex Dowsett (Team Sky - GB) 46mins 39secs.

Final team's classification: 1. RadioShack-Nissan 62hrs 19mins 53secs, 2. Team Sky 24secs, 3. Movistar 31secs, 4. Rabobank 4mins 40secs, 5. Omega Pharma-Quick Step 4mins 45secs, 6. Katusha5mins 33secs, 7. BMC Racing 5mins 52secs, 8. Garmin-Barracuda6mins 22secs, 9. UNI SA-Australia 11mins 59secs, 10. FDJ-BigMat16mins 15secs.