Simon Gerrans

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Simon Gerrans bigraphy, stories - Road bicycle racer

Simon Gerrans : biography

16 May 1980 –

Simon Gerrans (born 16 May 1980) is an Australian professional road bicycle racer, who currently rides for the Australian UCI ProTour team, . Gerrans is the 2012 Australian National Road Race Champion, having won the title on 8 January 2012. His biggest triumphs are winning his home race the Tour Down Under twice, and getting the better of one-day races such as the 2009 GP Ouest-France, the 2012 Milan – San Remo, the 2012 Grand Prix Cycliste de Québec and a stage in all three Grand Tours.

Palmarès

2002
1st
1st Stage 3 Tour of Tasmania
2004
1st Stage 9 Herald Sun Tour
2005
1st 20px Overall Herald Sun Tour

1st Stage 3
1st GP Artigianato Carnaghese
1st Tour du Finistère
2006
1st 20px Overall Tour Down Under

1st Stage 1
1st 20px Overall Herald Sun Tour
2007
1st Grand Prix de Plumelec-Morbihan
2nd Overall Bay Classic Series

1st Stage 5
1st Sprint classification
2008
1st Stage 15 Tour de France
1st Stage 2 Critérium International
1st Stage 1 Route du Sud
2009
1st GP Ouest-France
1st Stage 14 Giro d’Italia
1st Stage 10 Vuelta a España
1st Stage 1 Bay Classic Series
3rd GP di Lugano
6th Liège–Bastogne–Liège
7th Amstel Gold Race
8th Flèche Wallonne
10th Road World Championships
2011
1st 20px Overall Danmark Rundt
2nd GP Ouest-France
3rd National Road Race Championships
3rd Amstel Gold Race
5th Coppa Sabatini
10th Overall Volta ao Algarve
2012
1st
1st 20px Overall Tour Down Under
1st Milan – San Remo
1st Grand Prix Cycliste de Québec
2nd Clásica de San Sebastián
4th Grand Prix Cycliste de Montréal
2013
Tour de France

1st Stages 3 & 4 (TTT)
Held
1st Stage 6 Volta a Catalunya
1st Stage 1 Tour of the Basque Country
3rd Amstel Gold Race
10th Liège–Bastogne–Liège

Monuments results

This table shows Gerrans’ results in the five cycling monuments.

Year Milan – San Remo Tour of Flanders Paris–Roubaix Liège–Bastogne–Liège Giro di Lombardia
2005 92nd DNF
2006
2007 DNF
2008 147th 54th
2009 6th DNF
2010 11th
2011 12th
2012 1st 19th DNF
2013 68th 10th

Biography

Gerrans was born in Melbourne, Victoria and grew up in Mansfield, Victoria.

He took up cycling after injuring his knee and speaking with his neighbour, former Yellow Jersey holder Phil Anderson whom he credits with introducing him to the sport. Gerrans was an Australian Institute of Sport scholarship holder.

In 2002, he finished fifth in the senior Australian National Road Race Championships, and took the under 23 title. He went on to ride as a trainee with the Carvalhelhos-Boavista team, based in Portugal from 1 September 2003, and then as a trainee for the team from 1 September 2004. He turned professional in 2005, staying with AG2R Prévoyance, and participated in his first Tour de France in the same year.

Gerrans underwent surgery at a hospital in Nice following a heavy fall in the GP d’Ouverture la Marseillaise in February, 2006. A pin was inserted into his shattered left collarbone and a screw put into his broken right shoulder, and had stitches in his head.

He resumed training three weeks later and went on to represent Australia at the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne. 

In 2008, Gerrans rode for the Crédit Agricole team. He won stage 15 of the Tour de France, the high point of his career so far, after being in the four man breakaway for most of the day. Barely surviving attacks from the other strong climbers in the breakaway, in which the fourth rider was dropped from the group, he eventually sprinted away in the last few dozen metres, without a response from the two remaining contenders.

Following the closure of the Crédit Agricole team Gerrans signed with the UCI Professional Continental for the 2009 season.http://www.cervelo.com/riders.aspx#15 Despite his success of the previous year, he was not included in the squad for the 2009 Tour de France.

On stage 14 of the 2009 Giro d’Italia Gerrans attacked his breakaway companions on the short steep climb of San Luca, near Bologna, to win the stage – the first Grand Tour stage victory for Cervélo TestTeam. After winning 10th stage of the 2009 Vuelta a España Gerrans became the first Australian to win a stage of each of the three Grand Tours.

He signed with for season 2010 and made the Team Sky selection for the 2010 Tour de France. Gerrans was involved in a large crash on Stage 8 of the race resulting in a broken arm and his withdrawal from the race.

In 2011, Gerrans came 3rd in the Amstel Gold Race. In August, he won the Danmark Rundt. Shortly after that victory, it was announced that Gerrans would join for the team’s inaugural season in 2012.

In January 2012, Gerrans became national road race champion for the first time, out-sprinting ‘s Matthew Lloyd and ‘s Richie Porte for victory. Later in the month he won the Tour Down Under for the second time. He secured the victory on stage 5, where his second place finish allowed him to take the ochre jersey ahead of Valverde, who won the stage. Both riders were on the same time, but due to better cumulative stage finishes, Gerrans took the lead and did not relinquish it. On 17 March 2012, Gerrans won Milan – San Remo in a three-man sprint finish, beating ‘s Fabian Cancellara and ‘s Vincenzo Nibali to the line in Sanremo. Later in the season, Gerrans took second place at the Clásica de San Sebastián, dominating the chase group sprint as the lone escapee Luis Leon Sanchez () crossed the line seven seconds before him. In September, Gerrans took his third victory in a 2012 UCI World Tour race by being victorious in the Grand Prix Cycliste de Québec. He countered an attack by ‘s Greg Van Avermaet with to race. The pair went up the final difficulties of the day and broke clear of the bunch. Gerrans then out sprinted the Belgian to the finish line while the chasers were closing in at four seconds.

In 2013, with the help of his team Orica-GreenEDGE enjoyed much success on the bike. He bagan the season finishing 10th overall in the iconic Liège–Bastogne–Liège race. Gerrans enjoyed a decent 2013 Tour Down Under helping his team to enjoy stage victories on the 5th stage of the race. After contesting in a small 3 man break away with Javier Moreno of Spain and Tom-Jelte Slagter of the Netherlands. Gerrans ended up contesting Slagter in a two-man sprint for the line which Gerrans narrowly won. He enjoyed further success finishing 9th in the Australian National Road Race Championships. However most of his real successes came from Europe. Gerrans enjoyed a third placing in the Amstel Gold Race of the Netherlands. His participation in the Volta a Catalunya yielded much success for him and his Orica-GreenEDGE team. He won the 6th stage of the race after a print to the line finish which he ended up winning by a bike length ahead of Gianni Meersman of Beligum. Gerrans began the 2013 Tour of the Basque Country well taking out the first stage honours. After a lead-out from team-mate Pieter Weening, Simon Gerrans sprinted to his third stage victory of the year ahead of a fast-finishing Peter Velits of Omega Pharma-Quick Step. His true triumphs came within the the Grand tours he had competed in. In theTour de France, Gerrans and his Orica-GreenEDGE team endured a very successful start to the tour. After avoiding much of the carnage of the first two stages of the tour, Simon Gerrans ended up taking the stage honours for the 3rd stage after a sprint to the line finish where he narrowly edged out Slovak, Peter Sagan. The stage win was the first for the newly-formed Orica-GreenEDGE team in the Tour de France. The next day, in the team time trial, Orica-GreenEDGE took out the stage, beating Omega Pharma-Quick Step by 3 quarters of a second. This was the second stage win for team Orica-GreenEDGE within 48 hours and in the process, Simon Gerrans ended up taking the riders yellow jersey. He became only the 6th Australian cyclist to ever wear the prestigious riders Yellow Jersey.