Gerrans takes top step on dream podium

Simon Gerrans (Orica-GreenEdge) outsprinted Cadel Evans (BMC) and Richie Porte (Team Sky) to complete a dream podium in the 183.6km Australian National Road race in Buninyong. In the 18th and final lap having seen what started as a 17-strong-man breakaway finally succumb to the might of Orica-GreenEdge, the crème-de-la-crème of Australian cycling emerged from the peloton on the final ascent of the Mt Buninyong climb. Gerrans' final kick was enough to claim his second green and gold jersey and finish off the Orica-GreenEdge team tactics. The team has now won all three championships that it has contested.

"It's just a huge honour to be crowned Australian champion for the next 12-months and I guess it shows the depth we have in Australian cycling when we have Richie Porte and Cadel Evans standing at my side on the podium. I can’t thank my Orica-GreenEdge teammates enough today, the plan was always to have it together for me in the last lap if the race was any under threat and the guys committed that and brought it back together for me,” Gerrans said following victory.

Despite being the sole BMC rider on the day and placing little expectation upon himself for a good result, Evans showed his racing class in animating the final lap to claim his first podium in a national road race.

"This one was up for grabs like a world championship. I've been second a the Tour de France, second at the worlds [MTB] now second at a national road championships," Evans said after the race.

"It's a jersey or nothing for me, as far as I am concerned. When I say nothing, it's gone better than I expected. But here on my own every move I made there was one or two GreenEdge or Drapac behind me, closing the gap behind me every move I went," Evans said.

"In terms of the quality of racing and so on, it was a little hard in January because when I line up at the world championships – if I line up at the world championships- at the end of the race they are going to be asking me probably what’s the matter with me. It’s a long season for us ahead. That side of things makes it a little difficult but the crowd and so on – the enthusiasm – made it a fantastic race," Evans said on his first national road race since 2005.

The race was billed as potentially being the best Australian men’s national road race ever and it lived up to expectations. Over 20,000 cycling fans were stretched out across the course on a warm Summer’s day to watch the field of 135 riders tackle the 18-laps of a 10.1km circuit around Buninyong.

The men’s 183.6km national road race began with attempts to form the first break of the day. Several riders went off the front causing a minor split in the peloton as Chris Jory (NSW) claimed the first climber's competition points of the race.

A break then formed with 17 riders in it and by lap six the move had a gap of 3:42 over the bunch which was content to let them go. While the break contained some riders more than capable of taking victory, Orica-GreenEdge and Drapac had placed several riders in the tete-de-la-course and so were happy to let Avanti control the chase.

Simon Clarke was the most active in the escape group and he tried several times to distance his companions on the climb. The 17-man group was whittled down slowly with Adam Hansen (Lotto-Belisol) and Steel von Hoff (Garmin-Sharp) letting their rivals know that they didn’t need teammates to make it a race.

The group’s lead over the peloton hovered around the three minute mark until lap 14 with Avanti showing off their new team colours but without putting in too much effort as they lead the main bunch around. Lap 15 saw Jack Bobridge (Belkin) try to gain some meters on the peloton up the climb but was brought back while up ahead riders started to feel the effects of a long hot day in the saddle and were swallowed up by the chasers.

Simon Clarke and Will Clarke (Drapac) tried to drop any stragglers from the break on the descent back to the finish line on Lap 16 as the peloton began to reel them in. The front group came back together but its lead was only just over a minute.

Darren Lapthorne then made the move for Drapac the following lap but it was Mark O’Brien (Avanti) who gained the most ground before being swallowed up. Cameron Meyer (Orica-GreenEdge) put the hammer down and was joined by David Tanner (Belkin) while Gerrans and Evans begun to make their moves on the final climb and with Porte they formed a four-man break.

Gerrans, Evans, Meyer and Porte fought for victory with a flurry of attacks but with three kilometres to race it all came back together. With just under two kilometres left to race, Porte tired his luck knowing that his chance for a win would be via an attack. Meyer having worked for Gerrans, finally sat up.

Gerrans was in prime position for the win with 500 metres to go, ready to launch his trademark sprint finish.

Evans was in third wheel but couldn’t come around Gerrans to take the win and so it was Orica-GreenEdge that celebrated a tactical win over their main rivals Drapac and retained the green and gold jersey for another year.

Results

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#Rider Name (Country) TeamResult
1Simon Gerrans (VIC)4:43:43
2Cadel Evans (VIC)Row 1 - Cell 2
3Richie Porte (Tas)Row 2 - Cell 2
4Cameron Meyer (WA)0:05:00
5Jack Bobridge (SA)0:00:23
6Darren Lapthorne (VIC)Row 5 - Cell 2
7Mark O'Brien (VIC)0:00:29
8Steele von Hoff (VIC)0:00:48
9Zakkari Dempster (VIC)Row 8 - Cell 2
10David Tanner (VIC)Row 9 - Cell 2
11Travis Meyer (WA)Row 10 - Cell 2
12Nathan Earle (Tas)Row 11 - Cell 2
13Adam Hansen (QLD)Row 12 - Cell 2
14William Clarke (Tas)0:01:27
15Wesley Sulzberger (Tas)Row 14 - Cell 2
16Bernard Sulzberger (Tas)Row 15 - Cell 2
17Timothy Roe (SA)0:02:29
18Lachlan Norris (VIC)Row 17 - Cell 2
19Simon Clarke (VIC)0:03:07
20Neil Van Der Ploeg (VIC)0:03:14
21Eric Sheppard (VIC)Row 20 - Cell 2
22Marc Williams (ACT)Row 21 - Cell 2
23Nathan Elliott (VIC)Row 22 - Cell 2
24Samuel Davis (WA)Row 23 - Cell 2
25Michael Fitzgerald (WA)Row 24 - Cell 2
26Robbie Hucker (VIC)Row 25 - Cell 2
27Mathew Hayman (ACT)Row 26 - Cell 2
28Ben Dyball (NSW)0:04:24
29Chris Jory (NSW)0:05:50
30Joshua Prete (QLD)0:07:52
31Malcolm Rudolph (QLD)0:09:24
32Saxon Irvine (NSW)Row 31 - Cell 2
33Jack Anderson (QLD)Row 32 - Cell 2
34Jayden Copp (QLD)Row 33 - Cell 2
35Jai Crawford (TAS)Row 34 - Cell 2
36Matthew Clark (VIC)Row 35 - Cell 2
37Adrian Jackson (VIC)Row 36 - Cell 2
38Patrick Shaw (VIC)Row 37 - Cell 2
39Rhys Gillett (VIC)Row 38 - Cell 2
40Benjamin Johnson (QLD)Row 39 - Cell 2
41Allan Iacuone (VIC)Row 40 - Cell 2
DNFLuke Durbridge (WA)Row 41 - Cell 2
DNFDamien Howson (SA)Row 42 - Cell 2
DNFMichael Hepburn (QLD)Row 43 - Cell 2
DNFMitchell Docker (VIC)Row 44 - Cell 2
DNFMatt Goss (Tas)Row 45 - Cell 2
DNFMichael Matthews (ACT)Row 46 - Cell 2
DNFRohan Dennis (SA)Row 47 - Cell 2
DNFJay Mccarthy (QLD)Row 48 - Cell 2
DNFJonathan Cantwell (QLD)Row 49 - Cell 2
DNFAdam Phelan (ACT)Row 50 - Cell 2
DNFThomas Donald (QLD)Row 51 - Cell 2
DNFStuart Shaw (ACT)Row 52 - Cell 2
DNFTim Guy (NSW)Row 53 - Cell 2
DNFJames Hepburn (QLD)Row 54 - Cell 2
DNFMichael Gallagher (VIC)Row 55 - Cell 2
DNFJacob Kauffmann (NSW)Row 56 - Cell 2
DNFMichael Cupitt (ACT)Row 57 - Cell 2
DNFBrodie Talbot (NSW)Row 58 - Cell 2
DNFTommy Nankervis (VIC)Row 59 - Cell 2
DNFSAmuel Witmitz (VIC)Row 60 - Cell 2
DNFBlair Windsor (NSW)Row 61 - Cell 2
DNFCameron Bayly (SA)Row 62 - Cell 2
DNFJarrod Hughes (NSW)Row 63 - Cell 2
DNFDaniel Bonello (NSW)Row 64 - Cell 2
DNFEdward White (NSW)Row 65 - Cell 2
DNFCaleb Jones (NSW)Row 66 - Cell 2
DNFDaniel O'Keefe (NSW)Row 67 - Cell 2
DNFJoel Strachan (VIC)Row 68 - Cell 2
DNFJoshua Taylor (NSW)Row 69 - Cell 2
DNFMatt Boys (VIC)Row 70 - Cell 2
DNFKyle Bridgwood (QLD)Row 71 - Cell 2
DNFDuncan Houston (NSW)Row 72 - Cell 2
DNFJosh Berry (NSW)Row 73 - Cell 2
DNFEtienne Blumstein-Jones (ACT)Row 74 - Cell 2
DNFGraeme Brown (NSW)Row 75 - Cell 2
DNFNicholas Squillari (VIC)Row 76 - Cell 2
DNFJames Szollosi (QLD)Row 77 - Cell 2
DNFCraig Hutton (NSW)Row 78 - Cell 2
DNFBenjamin Johnson (VIC)Row 79 - Cell 2
DNFAaron Donnelly (NSW)Row 80 - Cell 2
DNFAnthony Giacoppo (WA)Row 81 - Cell 2
DNFTom Robinson (Tas)Row 82 - Cell 2
DNFScott Law (NSW)Row 83 - Cell 2
DNFBrenton Jones (VIC)Row 84 - Cell 2
DNFStuart Grimsey (VIC)Row 85 - Cell 2
DNFWilliam Walker (VIC)Row 86 - Cell 2
DNFPatrick Lane (VIC)Row 87 - Cell 2
DNFJason Spencer (VIC)Row 88 - Cell 2
DNFSteven Waite (VIC)Row 89 - Cell 2
DNFDaniel Nelson (VIC)Row 90 - Cell 2
DNFJames Rendall (VIC)Row 91 - Cell 2
DNFMichael McGee (SA)Row 92 - Cell 2
DNFAndrew Ward (VIC)Row 93 - Cell 2
DNFJon Houston (VIC)Row 94 - Cell 2
DNFJames Mowatt (VIC)Row 95 - Cell 2
DNFFrederick Bonail (SA)Row 96 - Cell 2
DNFNicholas Wood (SA)Row 97 - Cell 2
DNFJonathan Bolton (WA)Row 98 - Cell 2
DNFAllan Satchell (VIC)Row 99 - Cell 2
DNFBrendan Johnston (ACT)Row 100 - Cell 2
DNFBrendan Washington (VIC)Row 101 - Cell 2
DNFMark Tupalski (ACT)Row 102 - Cell 2
DNFJacob Sutherland (VIC)Row 103 - Cell 2
DNFDaniel McConnell (VIC)Row 104 - Cell 2
DNFLeo Simmonds (SA)Row 105 - Cell 2
DNFDale Grixti (SA)Row 106 - Cell 2
DNFPeter Milostic (NSW)Row 107 - Cell 2
DNFMichael Freiberg (WA)Row 108 - Cell 2
DNFTyson Chambers (VIC)Row 109 - Cell 2
DNFMark Fagg (VIC)Row 110 - Cell 2
DNFPeter Casey (VIC)Row 111 - Cell 2
DNFJohn Kent (VIC)Row 112 - Cell 2
DNFLiam Mccarthy (QLD)Row 113 - Cell 2
DNFBrent Woodlock (VIC)Row 114 - Cell 2
DNFCameron Clamp (VIC)Row 115 - Cell 2
DNFAllan Davis (QLD)Row 116 - Cell 2
DNFRowan Dever (VIC)Row 117 - Cell 2
DNFChris Stack (SA)Row 118 - Cell 2
DNFDavid Parker (ACT)Row 119 - Cell 2
DNFKane Macri (NSW)Row 120 - Cell 2
DNFEwyn Carter (VIC)Row 121 - Cell 2
DNFBradley Clark (VIC)Row 122 - Cell 2
DNFAndrew Williams (WA)Row 123 - Cell 2
DNFDaniel Braunsteins (VIC)Row 124 - Cell 2
DNFGerard Wild (NSW)Row 125 - Cell 2
DNFAngus Morton (NSW)Row 126 - Cell 2
DNFJoel Potter (NSW)Row 127 - Cell 2
DNFLauchlan Stewart (VIC)Row 128 - Cell 2
DNFTimothy Cameron (ACT)Row 129 - Cell 2
DNFMitchell Dedman (VIC)Row 130 - Cell 2
DNFTom Leaper (VIC)Row 131 - Cell 2
DNFMatthew Lloyd (VIC)Row 132 - Cell 2
DNFCalvin Watson (VIC)Row 133 - Cell 2
DNFKane Walker (VIC)Row 134 - Cell 2
DNSLachlan Morton (NSW)Row 135 - Cell 2
DNSThomas Palmer (ACT)Row 136 - Cell 2
DNSReece Van Beek (VIC)Row 137 - Cell 2
DNSReuben Donati (NSW)Row 138 - Cell 2

 

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