![\"9801_01-07-2013_3476.jpg\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.bikehub.co.za\/production\/uploads\/2023\/02\/ccs-2-0-06487000-1372750250.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a><\/p>\nPhoto credit: Graham Watson<\/em><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThis is a huge win,\u201d said Gerrans. \u201cIt\u2019s a huge moment for the team. We have been so close on so many occasions. Hopefully it\u2019s the first of many more to come.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThis is obviously our biggest win,\u201d added Sport Director Matt White. \u201cWe\u2019ve won more than 50 races since the team\u2019s inception last year. We had already won at the Giro, the Vuelta, the Classics and all sorts of races between, but this is the one box we hadn\u2019t ticked off yet.\u201d<\/p>\n The Australian outfit made their mark on the undulating stage from start to finish. Simon Clarke spent the day in a five rider breakaway that formed shortly after the flag waved, indicating the official start of stage three. Joined up the road by S\u00e9bastien Minard (Ag2r-La Mondiale), Alexis Vuillermoz (Sojasun), Cyril Gautier (Europcar) and Lieuwe Westra (Vacansoleil-DCM), Clarke chased mountain points as he worked with his breakaway companions to establish an advantage over the cagey peloton.<\/p>\n \u201cMy job today was basically exactly what I did,\u201d explained Clarke. \u201cI was brought to the Tour de France team to go into breakaways, and I made sure that happened. It took pressure off the team behind so they could relax a little bit before the finish.\u201d<\/p>\n Clarke earned top points on three of the four categorised climbs. In an effort to trade the blue polka dot jersey he earned as KOM leader at the Vuelta a Espa\u00f1a last year for the red polka dot jersey worn by the Tour de France KOM leader, Clarke distanced his breakmates on the final climb of the Col de Marsolino. Swept up by riders attacking out of the bunch ahead of the summit, he missed out on the polka dot jersey but was awarded most combative for his efforts.<\/p>\n \u201cI went for the KOM points because I could,\u201d said Clarke. \u201cThe opportunity was there so I took it. It would have been a bonus to get the jersey, but it wasn\u2019t a primary objective. I attacked in the final because I wanted to get over the last climb with the bunch. I knew the gap to the break wasn\u2019t big enough to stay away, and I didn\u2019t want to get caught much before the summit. If I had, I might not have been with the group in the closing kilometres to lend a hand.\u201d<\/p>\n Pierre Rolland (Europcar) soloed over the Col de Marsolino summit trailed by Mikel Nieve (Euskaltel-Euskadi). The duo were joined by Sylvain Chavanel (Omega Pharma-Quick-Step) and Lars Petter Nordhaug (Belkin) on the twisty descent. Clarke joined Cameron Meyer and Michael Albasini at the head of affairs, and the three combined forces to catch the four up the road 3km from the finish.<\/p>\n \u201cCam Meyer went straight to the front to shut down the four riders who had slipped off the front,\u201d said Gerrans. \u201cAlbasini and Clarke were there, too. Those three committed everything to bring that break back for me, and we kept Daryl for the final lead-out. The rest of the team had done their jobs early \u2013 looking after us over the early hills and getting bidons. It was a total team effort. I\u2019m really proud how everyone contributed.\u201d<\/p>\n First to the front, Meyer was the first to complete his chase work. Albasini pulled off shortly after making the catch. Clarke took Impey and Gerrans to the 2km mark.<\/p>\n \u201cDaryl and I have been working well together in the finals in the last few days,\u201d said Gerrans. \u201cYesterday I led him out. We thought the finish suited me better today, and we made the decision to have him lead me out because of that. He\u2019s the best in the business. He did an absolutely perfect job.\u201d<\/p>\n Cannondale opened the sprint with Impey and Gerrans just behind. Impey spotted a narrow opening on the right side of the finishing straight and slipped through it with Gerrans in tow. Gerrans swung off Impey\u2019s wheel 200m from the finish and charged towards the line. Sagan did the same on the left side of the road. A photo finish determined Gerrans the winner by millimetres.<\/p>\n \u201cI had no idea if I had won,\u201d said Gerrans. \u201cI knew it was really close, and I wasn\u2019t going to celebrate too early. Sagan and I were on the opposite ends of the road and we both threw our bikes. My win was confirmed a few minutes later. We\u2019re all pretty ecstatic.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Simon Gerrans made history as the first Australian to win a stage at each of the three Grand Tours. He delivered the first WorldTour victory for the first Australian WorldTour team when he won the Tour Down Under overall last year. Gerrans continued his history-setting ways in Calvi with a win on the third stage […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":53264,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[4517,232],"featured_location":[],"class_list":["post-21736","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-events","tag-orica-greenedge","tag-tour-de-france"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21736","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21736"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21736\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/53264"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21736"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21736"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21736"},{"taxonomy":"featured_location","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/featured_location?post=21736"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}