Interview: Simon Gerrans

The 2014 Tour de France is on it’s way, which means a lot of late nights and early mornings in front of the TV screen. Being a huge fan of the TDF, I was determined to interview any of my favourite cyclists of the race – and here I am, introducing you to a Yellow Jersey rider (a stage winner) and a history-making rider from the Tour de France, Australian cyclist Simon Gerrans. The 34-year-old Melbourne athlete rides for Orica-GreenEDGE and was popularly praised from last year’s Tour. I was lucky enough to interview Simon about his career, and I wish him the best of luck in this year’s Tour de France.

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Ellie: What is your favourite stage of the Tour de France?

Simon: The final stage riding into Paris and on to the Champs Elysees.

ES: You’ve made Tour de France history being the first Australian to win four consecutive stages. How do you feel about receiving this level of success?

SG: It is a huge honour to be the first Australian to win a stage in all three grand tours – Tour de France, Giro d’Italia and Vuelta Espana.

ES: Who do you most idolise?

SG: Growing up I was really into motor sport so I idolised Mick Doohan, and my mate Aaron Lee, the founder of Caramel Creative.

ES: What can us cycling fans expect to see from you in the upcoming months?

SG: My next goal is the Tour de France, where Orica-GreenEDGE and myself will target some stages to win.

TOUR UPDATE (Last updated July 13):

Marcel Kittel won stage 1 of the Tour, but that hasn’t stopped Vincenzo Nibali winning every stage since then. With Australian Richie Porte coming third in stage 8, Peter Sagan has managed to maintain the green jersey throughout the whole race (excluding stage one), however losing the white jersey last night to Michael Kwiatkowski. A noticable drop was seen with Sagan yesterday as he fell from third position to 38th in general classification. Jakob Fuglslang is performing well, alongside Kwiatkowski. Tonight’s stage is from Geradmer to Mulhouse.