Tour Down Under 2016: Simon Gerrans says fourth TDU title helps ease pain of 2015

SIMON Gerrans says his fourth Tour Down Under title helps ease the pain of a horror 2015 and provides the perfect launching pad for a season which he hopes will lead to the Rio Olympics in August.

TOUR DOWN UNDER - STAGE 6 - Adelaide street Circuit. Sprint jersey winner Simon Gerrans. Photo Sarah Reed.

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SIMON Gerrans says his fourth Tour Down Under title helps ease the pain of a horror 2015 and provides the perfect launching pad for a season which he hopes will lead to the Rio Olympics in August.

The Orica-GreenEDGE star sealed a record fourth TDU crown when he finished Sunday’s 90km final stage criterium safely in the bunch behind 21-year-old teammate Caleb Ewan who stormed to his third win of the week.

Gerrans’ nine second win over BMC rival Richie Porte is the biggest of all four of his titles following triumphs in 2006 (seven seconds), 2012 (on countback) and 2014 (one second), but he said it was by no means any easier.

“Every one of my four victories have been equally as important and to be totally honest with you, this feels just as good as the first one did,” he said.

TDU Stage 6 in pictures

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After a tough 2015 season in which he missed the Australian summer with injury and crashed out of the Tour de France, Gerrans said the win went some way towards making up for it.

“It’s definitely a step in the right direction, looking back 2014 was such a fantastic year and in 2015 nothing seemed to go right,” he said.

“We’re back on the right track in 2016 already and I really couldn’t have asked for a much better way to kick off the season.”

The 35-year-old will ride the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race in Geelong on Sunday before returning to Europe where one of his objectives this season is to make Australia’s four-man team for the Rio Olympics.

“The Olympic Games are definitely on the radar, firstly I have to make selection and once we’re there I think we’ll have a formidable Australian team,” he said.

“It’s a tough course in Rio and hopefully I get the chance to go and have a look at some point throughout the year.

Gerrans during Stage 6 with Ewan right behind him. Photo: Sarah Reed.

“But first I have to get selected which is going to be no mean feat, we have so many talented riders selection is going to be tough to make.”

Porte finished runner-up in the TDU for the second year in a row and it was his third close call following a fourth-place finish in 2014.

But the Tasmanian said he had exceeded his expectations in his WorldTour debut with BMC.

“To be honest it doesn’t hurt like it did last year at all, I didn’t expect to be second and win a stage,” Porte said.

“The real racing starts in March with Paris-Nice and (Tour of) Catalunya for me so it’s nice to have not done that much training but still come away with a good result.”

Gerrans was full of praise for rising star Ewan who proved to be comfortably the fastest guy in the race in sprint finishes.

Gerrans on the podium. Photo: Sarah Reed.

“We’re really lucky to have him at Orica-GreenEDGE, he’s not only a great kid with a good head on his shoulders, he’s really race savvy,” Gerrans said.

“We saw in the final today we were trying to lead him out with the train and he realised we were too far back so went to the front on his own and set up his sprint.

“He earned the right to go for a few stage wins here and he repaid the team with those victories.”

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Originally published as Tour Down Under 2016: Simon Gerrans says fourth TDU title helps ease pain of 2015