Simon Gerrans admired Philippe Gilbert’s performance at the UCI Road World Championships 2012
Team Australia planned to have Simon Gerrans at the UCI Road World Championships but had to face the disappointment after Gerrans failed to perform on the day.
The cyclist could not get his guts together during the Elite Men Road Race and had to settle for the 21st position at the most important race of the season.
However, he was not the top Australian as Allan Davis managed to finish within the top ten after his tremendous performance during the 261 kilometre race.
Gerrans appreciated Allan’s superb performance during the race and cited that Philippe Gilbert was just too good to beat especially with attack in the final 2 kilometres of the race.
"He [Gilbert] was definitely a worthy winner today," Gerrans admitted.
"I stuck to my plan and waited and put all eggs in the basket of going on the last lap but Philippe was just too strong when he attacked at two k to go”.
“I was in the next wave of guys but couldn't match his acceleration there so he's a worthy winner and I'm really happy for him”.
"You can't be too frustrated when you haven't got the legs".
"If I was good enough to go with Philippe I deserve to be on the podium so at the end of the day," he concluded.
Philippe Gilbert had a slow start to the 2012 season, securing his first victory of the season by winning the ninth stage of the Vuelta a Espana 2012.
He also claimed the 19th stage of the Vuelta, finished third at the La Fleche Wallonne and sixth at the Amstel Gold Race 2012.
The cyclist had a terrific past season and claimed the first overall spot at the UCI World Tour Elite Men ranking in the past season.
It appears as if the Belgian’s performance at the Vuelta was enough to warm up his legs for the most esteemed race of the season.
He managed to get through the defences of Edvald Boasson Hagen and Alejandro Valverde and achieved the top position at the Elite Men Road Race at the UCI Road World Championships 2012.
Hagen and Valverde had to settle for the second and the third positions with a deficit of 4 seconds and five seconds on the race leader.
However, Team Australia was happy with Allan’s sixth place finish at the race which is his third top-10 finish in the elite ranks World Championships including the 2004 and the 2010 editions of the race.
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