Simon Gerrans, the only Australian to have won a stage in all three Grand Tours and the current Australian National Road Champion, further carved out his unique place in Australian cycling history as he delivered the first WorldTour victory to Australian’s first WorldTour team. It is the second overall win for Gerrans at the Santos Tour Down Under.

“This is a fantastic victory for GreenEDGE because this is the best way we can say thank you to the Ryan family, Shayne Bannan and all the people that have helped put this team together,” said Gerrans. “I’m really happy, and I can’t thank my GreenEDGE team enough for all the support this week.”

Gerrans took the ochre leader’s jersey on the queen stage of the six-day stage race. Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) bested Gerrans in a two-up sprint atop Old Willunga Hill, and although the two riders were tied on time after the fifth day of racing, Gerrans earned the right to don ochre by virtue of count back.

“I was pleasantly surprised to learn that I was in the lead after Stage 5,” noted Gerrans. “I thought Alejandro had the lead after his stage win, and we’d have a tough job to get it off of him, but we had it so it all worked out in the end.”

Source: GreenEDGE website click to read full report