After a 2014 season in which he finished as the third best ranked rider in the WorldTour and silver medal in the world championships road race, the 2015 season was all but a write off for Simon Gerrans due to numerous crashes and broken bones.
Distanced on the decisive Corkscrew climb on stage 3 of the Tour Down Under, Gerrans fought back on the fast, technical descent into Campbelltown to outfox and outsprint his overall rivals for the race and claim his first win in 16-months.
“This is great, it’s been such a long time between drinks and a such difficult season last year so to start out with the Tour Down Under and start winning in 2016 I am really, really happy. To come away with a stage win and the leader’s jersey, we couldn’t have hoped for a lot more than that from today,” Gerrans said after winning his fourth career stage at the race.
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“I came from quite a way back, I knew it was going to be a fast finish but everyone was pretty hammered after getting over the Corkscrew. I am really thrilled to win it, even by the narrowest of margins.”
With Michael Woods (Cannondale) and Sergio Henao (Team Sky) dancing away from a select group on the final steep pitches of the climb, it appeared Gerrans’ hopes for a fourth GC win at the race were disappearing into the distance. However, Gerrans and his fellow chasers made contact with the two leaders to enter the final straight together.
With race leader Jay McCarthy (Tinkoff) and Rohan Dennis (BMC) hitting out early, Gerrans timed his sprint to snare the win on the line and with it a valuable 10 second bonus. While Dennis also picked up bonus seconds, a late bike throw from Woods meant McCarthy would be handing over his jersey to the 35-year-old.
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