Simon Gerrans doubts he'll be a marked man for Amstel Gold
Simon Gerrans of Team GreenEdge started off the 2012 season in style by claiming an overall victory at the UCI Inaugural event, Santos Down Under.
He is now eyeing the Amstel Gold Race as the next big goal of his 2012 season. The cyclist is amongst the favourites to claim an overall position at the race.
Gerrans now has the opportunity to become the second Australian with a top place finish at the Amstel Gold Race.
Phil Anderson received the honours for his country with his splendid performance during the 1983 edition of the contest.
Gerrans claimed the top podium spot at the Milan-San Remo after he overcame the mighty Fabian Cancellara and Vincenzo Nibali.
The 31-year-old currently holds 210 UCI points in his pocket and the second overall spot in the UCI World Tour ranking as of April 2012.
Tom Boonen is leading the classifications with a total number of 366 points while Samuel Sanchez (208), Vincenzo Nibali (182) and Peter Sagan (179) are holding the third, fourth and fifth positions.
While commenting on the 2012 version of the Amstel Gold Race, Simon noted that he definitely has an advantage of riding through a strong team but also ruled himself out of the favourite’s contention.
He told Cyclingnews, "We have a really competitive team at the Ardennes but we're by no means the favourites. There's a couple of teams there that are really powerhouse teams that have several leaders".
Gerrans will be accompanied by a strong Team GreenEdge line-up including, Wes Sulzberger, Matt Wilson, Daryl Impey, Simon Clarke, Michael Albasini and Jens Mouris on the Sunday race.
"The races are so selective. It's generally the guys who have the best legs at the end of the day that get the results," he explained.
"You can mark guys out, it's always handy to have the numbers and possibilities towards the end of the race, but they're pretty honest races".
Team GreenEdge made its debut at the top level of the sport in the current season and has achieved the 5th overall spot at the UCI World Tour Team’s rankings as of April 2012.
Gerrans will march along his troops during the 256.5 kilometre race, on Sunday, to ensure his team’s peak performance at the event.
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