Gerrans determined to make Sky’s Tour selection

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Tour de France stage winner Simon Gerrans is determined to make the cut for Team Sky’s Tour de France roster, as the team prepares to make its debut in the French Grand Tour. Motivating the Victorian is his surprise snub from Cervelo TestTeam’s roster in 2009, as the team unsuccessfully focused on defending the title of Carlos Sastre.

Gerrans has just returned to his European base after a training block in Colorado, USA, where he’s been training at altitude. He will contest the Tour of Luxembourg and the Tour de Suisse during June, as final preparation for the Tour where he’ll work for team leader Bradley Wiggins.

“These races will give me the race fitness and speed that I need going into the Tour de France,” Gerrans wrote on Simongerrans.com. “Team Sky is yet to name their Tour de France line up, so all the members in the squad are working hard to be prepared for the race. After missing last year, I'm keener than ever to race with the goal of helping Wiggo in the overall classification.”

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The weather in Colorado at this time of year makes it Gerrans’ preferred altitude training location. He has opted to train there instead of another favoured altitude location at St Moritz, Switzerland, due to the heat in Colorado.

“I really enjoy coming to Colorado as the training here is so diverse,” he said. “In one direction there are endless roads to climb and in the other direction it’s flat, as far as the eye can see. The roads are also quiet.

“Each year for the past 10 years I have made an effort to do a block of training at altitude and after each training block I have learnt something that I can change or improve for the next time,” he said. “I find by doing this block of training at altitude in May, it really sets me up for the second half of the season.”

Gerrans won the Giro d’Italia’s Stage 14 last year which made his omission from Cervelo’s Tour team all the more surprising. A year earlier Gerrans claimed his first Grand Tour stage victory at the Tour, after he held off Egoi Martínez de Esteban on the stage to Prato Nevoso, Italy.