Simon Gerrans wins Australian road race title

Simon Gerrans (Orica-GreenEdge) won the 2014 Australian road race national championship ahead of Cadel Evans (BMC) and Richie Porte (Sky).

Gerrans out-sprinted the 2011 Tour de France winner to take the title after 18 laps and over 183 kilometres of racing around Buninyong.

"I wanted the guys to set a fast pace to keep it together going into the bottom section of the climb, so that I could attack towards the top," said Gerrans of his Orica-GreenEdge team-mates.

"There was already quite a small, select group left by the time we got to the last ramp of the climb, and there was some foxing going on. Cam [Meyer] had slipped off the front a little bit, and then I attacked in the final few hundred metres of the climb to really try to get rid of the other contenders. We got over one by one: myself,then Cadel, then Cam, then Richie. Over the top, the four of us came together again, and that's how it stayed until the finish."

Gerrans will have a chance to show off his national champion's jersey at the opening WorldTour race of the 2014 season, the Tour Down Under, starting on Tuesday, January 21.