Australian national champion Simon Gerrans claimed the biggest one-day victory of his career by winning the 103rd edition of Milan-Sanremo, the first major classic of the season, on Saturday. After 298 km, and nearly seven hours in the saddle, the GreenEdge rider capped a determined display of riding to beat Switzerland’s Fabian Cancellera in a sprint for the line, with Italy’s Vincenzo Nibali finishing third. Gerrans succeeds teammate Matt Goss as champion of the race known affectionately as ‘La Primavera’ (the Spring), thus becoming the second successive Australian to triumph.
He admitted his main role had been to cover attacks by Goss’s main rivals. But after managing the feat of staying on the wheel of Cancellara in a thrilling finale, Gerrans took his chance with both hands by outsprinting the Olympic time trial champion. “I still haven’t realised what we actually did today,” said Gerrans, a stage winner in all three major three-week Tours.
