Simon Gerrans

Simon Gerrans (born 16 May 1980) is an Australian former professional road bicycle racer, who rode professionally between 2005 and 2018, for the, , , , and squads.

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.

Aside from his National Championship successes, his biggest triumphs were winning the Tour Down Under a record four times, and getting the better of one-day races such as the 2009 GP Ouest-France, the 2012 Milan–San Remo, the 2012 and 2014 Grand Prix Cycliste de Québec, the 2014 Liège–Bastogne–Liège, and stage wins in all three Grand Tours.

Following the closure of the Crédit Agricole team Gerrans signed with the UCI Professional Continental for the 2009 season.

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.

Gerrans was a two-time winner of the Australian National Road Race Championships, having won the title in 2012, and 2014.

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 León Sánchez 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 3.5 km 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 the 2013 Tour de France, Gerrans claimed the yellow jersey on Stage 4 after being part of the winning team in the Stage 4 team time trial in Nice.

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

Gerrans 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 2013, with the help of his team, he enjoyed much success on the bike.

He began the season with a decent Tour Down Under, winning the penultimate stage; after getting in a breakaway with Javier Moreno of Spain and Tom-Jelte Slagter of the Netherlands, Gerrans out-sprinted Slagter for the stage win.

However most of his real successes came from Europe.

Post-retirement he initially worked as an athlete intern at Goldman Sachs in London, then joined The Service Course, in which he is an investor, as COO and now CEO, in early 2020.

He can also be heard commentating road cycling for ASO and SBS.