Simon Gerrans (born 16 May 1980) is an Australian former professional

road bicycle racer Road bicycle racing is the cycle sport discipline of road cycling, held primarily on paved roads. Road racing is the most popular professional form of bicycle racing, in terms of numbers of competitors, events and spectators. The two most com ...

, who rode professionally between 2005 and 2018, for the , , , , and squads. Post-retirement he initially worked as an athlete intern at

Goldman Sachs The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. ( ) is an American multinational investment bank and financial services company. Founded in 1869, Goldman Sachs is headquartered in Lower Manhattan in New York City, with regional headquarters in many internationa ...

in London, then joine
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. Gerrans was a two-time winner of the Australian National Road Race Championships, having won the title in 2012, and 2014. Aside from his National Championship successes, his biggest triumphs were winning the

Tour Down Under The Tour Down Under (currently branded as the Santos Tour Down Under for sponsorship reasons) is a cycling race in and around Adelaide, South Australia. It is traditionally the opening event of the UCI World Tour and UCI Women’s WorldTour ...

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 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

and

2014 Grand Prix Cycliste de Québec The 2014 Grand Prix Cycliste de Québec was the fifth edition of the Grand Prix Cycliste de Québec, a single-day professional Road bicycle racing, bicycle road race. It was held on 12 September 2014, over a distance of , starting and finishing in ...

, the 2014 Liège–Bastogne–Liège, and stage wins in all three Grand Tours. In the

2013 Tour de France The 2013 Tour de France was the 100th edition of the Tour de France, one of cycling's Grand Tour (cycling), Grand Tours. It started on the island of Corsica on 29 June and finished on the Champs-Élysées in Paris on 21 July. The Tour consisted ...

, Gerrans claimed the yellow jersey on Stage 4 after being part of the winning team in the Stage 4 team time trial in Nice.

Early life

Gerrans was born in

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

, Victoria and grew up in Mansfield, Victoria.

Career

Gerrans took up cycling after injuring his knee and speaking with his neighbour, former

Yellow Jersey The general classification of the Tour de France is the most important classification of the race and determines the winner of the race. Since 1919, the leader of the general classification has worn the yellow jersey ( ). History For the first t ...

holder Phil Anderson whom he credits with introducing him to the sport. Gerrans was an

Australian Institute of Sport The Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) is a high performance sports training institution in Australia. The institute's headquarters were opened in 1981 and are situated in the northern suburb of Bruce, Canberra. The AIS is a division of the ...

scholarship holder. 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 The Tour de France () is an annual men's multiple-stage cycle sport, bicycle race held primarily in France. It is the oldest and most prestigious of the three Grand Tour (cycling), Grand Tours, which include the Giro d'Italia and the Vuelta a ...

in the same year. Gerrans underwent surgery at a hospital in

Nice Nice ( ; ) is a city in and the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative city limits, with a population of nearly one million 2006 Commonwealth Games The 2006 Commonwealth Games, officially the XVIII Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Melbourne 2006, were an International sport, international multi-sport event for members of the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth held in Melbourne ...

in Melbourne. In 2008, Gerrans rode for the Crédit Agricole team. He won stage 15 of the

, 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. Following the closure of the Crédit Agricole team Gerrans signed with the

UCI Professional Continental The UCI Continental Circuits are a series of road bicycle racing competitions which were introduced in 2005 by the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) to expand cycling around the world. The five circuits (representing the continents of Africa, the ...

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. Simon-Gerrans

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. Shortly after that victory, it was announced that Gerrans would join for the team's inaugural season in 2012.

2012 season

In January 2012, Gerrans became national road race champion for the first time, out-sprinting 's

Matthew Lloyd Matthew James Lloyd (born 16 April 1978) is a former professional Australian rules footballer, who played for the Essendon Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). A highly decorated full-forward, Lloyd's AFL's honours include ...

and 's

Richie Porte Richard Julian Porte (born 30 January 1985) is an Australian former professional Road bicycle racing, road bicycle racer who competed as a professional from 2008 to 2022. His successes include wins at 8 UCI World Tour, World Tour stage races: Pa ...

for victory. Later in the month he won the

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 Milan–Sanremo (in italian language, Italian ''Milano-Sanremo''), also called "''The Spring classic''" or "''La Classicissima''", is an annual road bicycle racing, road cycling race between Milan and Sanremo, in Northwest Italy. With a distance ...

in a three-man sprint finish, beating 's

Fabian Cancellara Fabian Cancellara (born 18 March 1981), nicknamed "Spartacus", is a Swiss people, Swiss cycling executive, businessman and former professional road bicycle racing, road racing cyclist who last rode for UCI ProTeam . He is known for being a qual ...

and 's

Vincenzo Nibali Vincenzo Nibali (; born 14 November 1984) is an Italian former professional road bicycle racer, who competed as a professional from 2005 to 2022. He is one of seven cyclists who have won all three of cycling's Grand Tour (cycling), Grand Tours i ...

to the line in

Sanremo Sanremo, also spelled San Remo in English and formerly in Italian, is a (municipality) on the Mediterranean coast of Liguria, in northwestern Italy. Founded in Roman times, it has a population of 55,000, and is known as a tourist destination ...

. 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 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.

2013 season

Tour de France 20130704 Aix-en-Provence 071

In 2013, with the help of his team , he enjoyed much success on the bike. He began the season with a decent

, 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. Gerrans enjoyed a third-place finish in the Amstel Gold Race. His participation in the

Volta a Catalunya The Volta a Catalunya (; Tour of Catalonia, ) is a road bicycle race held annually in Catalonia, Spain. It is one of three World Tour stage races in Spain, together with the Vuelta a España and the Tour of the Basque Country. The race has had ...

yielded more success, winning the sixth stage in a sprint finish; he did so by a bike length ahead of Gianni Meersman of Belgium. Gerrans began the Tour of the Basque Country well taking out the first stage honours. After a lead-out from teammate

Pieter Weening Pieter Weening (born 5 April 1981) is a Dutch former professional road bicycle racer, who rode professionally between 2004 and 2020 – for teams (2004–2011), (2012–2015), (2016–2019), and (2020). During his career, Weening took a total ...

, Gerrans sprinted to his third stage victory of the year ahead of a fast-finishing Peter Velits of . He also finished tenth at

Liège–Bastogne–Liège Liège–Bastogne–Liège , also known as ''La Doyenne'' ("The Old Lady"), is a one-day classic cycling race in Belgium.Cycling Weekly, UK, 13 March 1993 First run in 1892, it is the oldest of the five ''Cycling monument, Monuments'' of the Eur ...

. At the

, Gerrans and his team enjoyed a very successful start to the tour. After avoiding much of the carnage of the first two stages of the tour, Gerrans ended up taking the stage honours for the third stage after a sprint to the line finish where he narrowly edged out Slovakian

Peter Sagan Peter Sagan (; born 26 January 1990) is a Slovak former professional cyclist who competed in road bicycle racing and mountain bicycle racing. Sagan had a successful junior cyclo-cross and mountain bike racing career, winning the junior cross-c ...

. The stage win was the first for at the Tour. also won the

team time trial A team time trial (TTT) is a road bicycle race in which teams of cyclists race against the clock (see individual time trial for a more detailed description of ITT events). The winning team in a TTT is determined by the comparing the times of ...

the following day, beating ; as a result, Gerrans donned the race leader's yellow jersey, only the sixth Australian cyclist to do so. He earned plaudits during stage 6 by holding back at the stage finish, allowing his teammate Daryl Impey to take the yellow jersey from him and become its first South African wearer.

2014 season

After winning the Australian National road race, Gerrans went on to win the

for the third time in his career, besting his fellow countryman Cadel Evans by a single second. He also prevailed on the first stage in the process and gained the leader's jersey thanks to time bonuses at intermediate sprints and stage finishes. On 27 April 2014 Gerrans won the cycling monument

in the sprint, becoming the first Australian to win the race. On Stage 1 of the 2014 Tour de France, Mark Cavendish collided with Gerrans in the final 500 metres, with both crashing heavily to the ground. The crash happened as the front of the peloton overtook lone escapee Fabian Cancellara. Having failed to get the inside line on the left-hand curve, with his Omega-Pharma team out of the picture, Cavendish was pushing with his head and shoulders in a desperate attempt to move Australia's Simon Gerrans to the left. Cavendish wanted to get a clear run to the line, but Gerrans did not yield because the Frenchman Bryan Coquard was to his left. Cavendish lost control of his front wheel and fell heavily on his right shoulder, with Gerrans, a stage winner and yellow jersey wearer last year, hitting the deck simultaneously. Gerrans went back to his winning ways in Quebec City, coming back from a mechanical with 20 km left to win the Grand Prix Cycliste de Québec after surging past

Tom Dumoulin Tom Dumoulin (; born 11 November 1990) is a retired Dutch professional road bicycle racer who last rode for UCI WorldTeam . He has won the Giro d'Italia and nine stages across the three Grand Tours, five medals in three different World Champion ...

on the slightly uphill finish. He is the first cyclist to take two victories in the Canadian World Tour event. Two days later, Gerrans realised another first: he became the first rider to win the Grand Prix Cycliste de Québec and Montreal back-to-back in the same year as he won the sprint in the Grand Prix Cycliste de Montréal. Those two wins announced very good form just ahead of the World Championships in

Ponferrada Ponferrada () is a city of Spain, located in the autonomous community of Castile and León. Ponferrada, the second most populated municipality of the Province of León, is also the capital city of El Bierzo, the only Comarcas of Spain, ''comarca'' ...

, in which he came in second place after his select group failed to reach lone escapee Michał Kwiatkowski.

2015 season

Gerrans had an unlucky start to the season, as he broke his collarbone in January while he was training for the

. His first race back was the

Strade Bianche The Strade Bianche (; ) is a road bicycle race in Tuscany, Central Italy, starting and finishing in Siena. First held in 2007, it is raced annually on the first or second Saturday of March. The name stems from the historic white gravel roads in ...

, but he fractured his elbow in another crash during the Italian event. He was looking for a result as he came back to racing, but his bad luck continued as he crashed twice in

and abandoned. However, he did not sustain any serious injuries in the latter crashes. He participated to the

Giro d'Italia The Giro d'Italia (; ), also known simply as the Giro, is an annual stage race, multiple-stage bicycle racing, bicycle race primarily held in Italy, while also starting in, or passing through, other countries. The first race was organized in 19 ...

and crashed again on the rainy twelfth stage, forcing him to abandon. In the

, Gerrans was involved in a massive, high-speed crash on stage 3 and he had to quit the race due to a broken wrist.

2016 season

Gerrans started the year well by winning two stages of an Australian World Tour race, the

. Thanks to the bonus seconds on offer for placing highly in the individual stages, he won the general classification for the fourth time in his career. This sent Gerrans to the top of the new

UCI World Ranking The UCI men's road racing world rankings are a points system used to rank men's road cycling riders. Points are awarded based on results in UCI sanctioned races, with points varying widely based on the importance and prestige of the race. The ...

, which was starting fresh from January 2016, a position he held for 7 weeks. He broke his collarbone on Stage 12 of the

2017 season

Gerrans endured a winless 2017, and was not selected for any of the Grand Tours. In September 2017 it was announced that he would join the for 2018, with a role as a road captain and key domestique for

and Greg Van Avermaet. Gerrans subsequently revealed that he had been considering retirement before being personally approached by Porte after the Tour de France to join BMC.

2018 season

Gerrans was selected for the

2018 Tour de France The 2018 Tour de France was the 105th edition of the Tour de France, one of cycling's three Grand Tour (cycling), Grand Tours. The -long race consisted of 21 race stage, stages, starting on 7 July in Noirmoutier-en-l'Île, in western France, and ...

, his 12th participation in the race. In August 2018, he announced in an open letter published by the that he would retire from competition at the end of the season, stating that his "passion for the sport is not what it used to be", but indicating that he wanted to remain involved in cycling in some capacity after spending more time with his family.

Major results

;2002 : 1st Road race, National Under-23 Road Championships : 1st Overall Tour of Tasmania ::1st Stage 3 : 7th Overall Grand Prix Guillaume Tell ::1st Stage 2 ;2003 : 1st Melbourne to Warrnambool Classic : 1st Stage 3 Tour of Tasmania : 4th Overall

Herald Sun Tour The Herald Sun Tour is an Australian professional bicycle race held in Melbourne and provincial Victoria, sanctioned by the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI). The first tour was held in October 1952 as a six-day event. It is now held annuall ...

;2004 (1 pro win) : 2nd Overall Ringerike GP : 2nd Overall Paris–Corrèze : 3rd Overall Ruban Granitier Breton : 4th Archer Grand Prix : 7th Overall Boucles de la Mayenne : 8th Overall

::1st Stage 9 ;2005 (4) : 1st Overall

::1st Stage 3 : 1st Gran Premio Industria e Commercio Artigianato Carnaghese : 1st Tour du Finistère : 4th Overall Circuit des Ardennes : 6th Gran Premio Industria e Commercio di Prato : 7th Overall

: 8th Brabantse Pijl ;2006 (3) : 1st Overall

::1st Stage 1 : 1st Overall

: 6th GP Triberg-Schwarzwald ;2007 (1) : 1st

Grand Prix de Plumelec-Morbihan Grand Prix du Morbihan is a single-day men's road bicycle race held annually in May around Plumelec, in the region of Brittany, France. Since 2020, the race is organised as a UCI race classifications, 1.Pro event on the UCI ProSeries, also being p ...

: 2nd Overall Bay Classic Series ::1st Sprints classification ::1st Stage 5 : 2nd Tour du Haut Var : 5th

Grand Prix de Fourmies The Grand Prix de Fourmies is a bicycle race held in the Fourmies commune of France. From 2005 to 2019 it was organised as a 1.HC event on the UCI Europe Tour. In 2021, it joined the UCI ProSeries The UCI ProSeries is the second tier men's ...

: 9th

Boucles de l'Aulne Boucles de l'Aulne is a single-day road bicycle race held annually in May or June around Châteaulin, in the region of Brittany, France. Since 2006, the race is organized as a 1.1 event on the UCI Europe Tour. It was previously known as Grand ...

;2008 (3) : 1st Stage 15

: 1st Stage 2 Critérium International : 4th Overall Route du Sud ::1st Stage 1 : 5th Road race, National Road Championships ;2009 (3) : 1st GP Ouest–France : 1st Stage 14

: 1st Stage 10

Vuelta a España The Vuelta a España (; ) is an annual stage race, multi-stage bicycle racing, bicycle race primarily held in Spain, while also occasionally making passes through nearby countries. Inspired by the success of the Tour de France and the Giro d'Ital ...

: 1st Stage 1 Bay Classic Series : 3rd

Gran Premio di Lugano The Gran Premio di Lugano () is a road bicycle race held annually in Lugano, Switzerland. Prior to 1981 it was held as an individual time trial but in recent years it has been organised as a UCI race classifications, 1.1 event on the UCI Europe T ...

: 6th

: 7th Amstel Gold Race : 8th Overall

Volta ao Algarve Volta may refer to: Persons * Alessandro Volta (1745–1827), Italian physicist and inventor of the electric battery, count and eponym of the volt * Giovanni Volta (1928–2012), Italian Roman Catholic bishop * Giovanni Serafino Volta (1764–1 ...

: 8th

La Flèche Wallonne La Flèche Wallonne (, French for "The Walloon Arrow") is a men's professional cycle road race held in April each year in Wallonia, Belgium. It is part of the UCI World Tour. The first of two Belgian Ardennes classics, La Flèche Wallonne is ...

: 10th Road race,

UCI Road World Championships The UCI Road World Championships are the annual world championships for bicycle road racing organized by the (UCI). The UCI Road World Championships consist of events for road race and individual time trial, and , a UCI Road World Championships ...

;2011 (1) : 1st Overall Danmark Rundt : 2nd GP Ouest–France : 3rd Road race, National Road Championships : 3rd Amstel Gold Race : 5th Coppa Sabatini : 10th Overall

: 10th Clásica de San Sebastián ;2012 (4) : 1st Road race, National Road Championships : 1st Overall

: 1st

: 1st Grand Prix Cycliste de Québec : 2nd Clásica de San Sebastián : 4th Grand Prix Cycliste de Montréal : 6th

UCI World Tour The UCI WorldTour is the premier men's elite road cycling tour, sitting above the UCI ProSeries and various regional UCI Continental Circuits. It refers to both the tour of 38 events and, until 2019, an annual ranking system based upon perfor ...

;2013 (4) :

::1st Stages 3 & 4 ( TTT) ::Held after Stages 4–5 : 1st Stage 5

: 1st Stage 6

: 1st Stage 1 Tour of the Basque Country : 3rd Amstel Gold Race : 10th

;2014 (6) : 1st Road race, National Road Championships : 1st Overall

::1st Sprints classification ::1st Stage 1 : 1st

: 1st Grand Prix Cycliste de Québec : 1st Grand Prix Cycliste de Montréal : 2nd Silver medal uci

Road race,

: 3rd

: 3rd Amstel Gold Race : 3rd Vattenfall Cyclassics : 7th Overall

;2015 :

::1st Stage 1 ( TTT) ::Held after Stage 1 : 6th Road race,

;2016 (3) : 1st Overall

::1st Sprints classification ::1st Stages 3 & 4 : 5th Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race : Combativity award Stage 14

;2017 : 2nd Road race, National Road Championships : 2nd Overall Tour of Norway : 2nd Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race ;2018 : 1st Stage 3 ( TTT)

: 1st Stage 1 ( TTT)

Tour de Suisse The Tour de Suisse () is an annual road cycling stage race. Raced over eight days, the event covers two weekends in June, and along with the Critérium du Dauphiné, it is considered a proving ground for the Tour de France, which is on the calend ...

: 5th Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race

Grand Tour general classification results timeline

Classics results timeline

Major championships timeline

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Gerrans, Simon 1980 births Living people Australian male cyclists Australian Tour de France stage winners Australian Vuelta a España stage winners Cyclists at the 2008 Summer Olympics Cyclists at the 2012 Summer Olympics Olympic cyclists for Australia Cyclists at the 2006 Commonwealth Games Commonwealth Games competitors for Australia Cyclists from Melbourne Australian Giro d'Italia stage winners Australian Institute of Sport cyclists Danmark Rundt winners 2013 Tour de France stage winners Sportsmen from Victoria (state) 21st-century Australian sportsmen Goldman Sachs people