Australian Simon Gerrans completed his collection of stage victories in all three of cycling’s grand Tours with a win in the Tour of Spain’s 10th stage on Tuesday.
A gifted sprinter, the Cervelo rider easily outpaced three other breakaways in the streets of Murcia to clinch the day’s win ahead of Canada’s Ryder Hesjedal, Dane Jakob Fuglsang third and 2006 champion Alexander Vinokourov of Kazakhstan.
The four moved into the lead after a day-long move of 19 riders shattered on the Alto de La Cresta Del Gallo climb close to the finish.
Gerrans, a 29-year-old from Melbourne, said taking a stage win in all three major Tours was “a good thing to be able to do.”
“This win completes the set. It’s like taking a hat-trick in football,” said Gerrans, who won stage 14 at this year’s Tour of Italy and stage 15 at last year’s Tour de France.
“I came to the Tour of Spain with two objectives, to win a stage and to fine-tune my form for the [road] world championships [in Mendrisio, Switzerland from Sept. 23 to 27],” Gerrans said. “Now I’ve done one, all I have to do is complete the other.”
Spaniard Alejandro Valverde finished in the main pack three minutes, 42 seconds behind and remains in the overall lead.
Born in Murcia, Valverde received huge cheers as he went on to the podium to collect his leader’s jersey for the second successive day.
Overall, the Caisse D’Epargne rider has an advantage of seven seconds over Australia’s Cadel Evans with Dutchman Robert Gesink in third, 36 seconds back.
The Tour of Spain finishes on Sept. 20 in Madrid.
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