A mountain bike crash has ruined Simon Gerrans’ chances of defending his Tour Down Under title

A FORTNIGHT after tweeting his excitement at being let loose on his mountain bike, a crash while doing just that has cost Simon Gerrans his Australian summer.

Tour Down Under - Stage 5 - McLaren Vale to Willunga Hill. Simon Gerrans regains the Ochre jersey from Cadel Evans and will wear it on the final stage on Australia Day. PIC SARAH REED.

A FORTNIGHT after tweeting his excitement at being let loose on his mountain bike, a crash while doing just that has cost Simon Gerrans his Australian summer.

Orica-GreenEDGE’s superstar rider will be unable to defend his national championship and Tour Down Under titles after having surgery on a broken collarbone yesterday.

He was injured on Sunday while mountain biking near Mansfield, north of Melbourne, which his team described as a common cross-training activity in the off-season.

“About half way through my mountain bike ride I became a little unstuck, came down and landed pretty heavily on my left side,” Gerrans said.

“I knew straight away as I hit the ground that I had broken my left collarbone.

“From there I had a little bit of a walk to get down to a point where I was picked up by a four-wheel drive and went directly to Mansfield hospital to get cleaned up and have the x-ray to confirm.”

While the reigning Australian cyclist of the year will miss the Aussie summer, he has now set his sights on the European spring where he has already won Milan-San Remo and this year’s Liege-Bastogne-Liege.

“Unfortunately it doesn’t matter how well the recovery goes from here, I don’t think I am going to be in any condition to be racing at a high level in January,” Gerrans said. “With that in mind I think it’s better to take my time, make sure the recovery goes well and get all the rehab done so I don’t have any ongoing issues.

“It’s a big blow not to be able to line up in the national championships and Tour Down Under and defend my titles. They are races that I really enjoy and I know how important they are to the team.

“Looking on the bright side, what it does do is force a bit of a break now and means that I can work towards some goals later in the season and be a lot fresher.”

Gerrans is the only three-time winner of the Tour Down Under and is the reigning Australian cyclist of the year.

Originally published as A mountain bike crash has ruined Simon Gerrans’ chances of defending his Tour Down Under title