After taking stage three of the 2013 Tour de France in Corsica, in the 25km Team Time Trial for stage four Team Orica GreenEdge had the fastest time propelling Simon Gerrans into the Yellow Jersey and ranking Gerrans as just one of a handful of Australian riders ever to wear yellow at the Tour de France. The other Australian yellow jersey wearers have been Phil Anderson, Bradley McGee, O’Grady, Robbie McEwen and Cadel Evans.
“It was a team effort yesterday, but I was the one to stand on the podium and receive the reward,” said Gerrans. “It was that much more special to stand on the stage today with the entire team. All nine of us were on the podium together to celebrate our win. The yellow jersey is an added bonus.”
“We certainly weren’t the favourites, but we had a very strong team,” Gerrans added. “There were no weak links today. Everyone was given a specific role to play within the TTT. The stronger riders pulled harder and longer. The less strong guys kept the speed up on their teams. Everyone committed 100% and it paid off with the win.”
Sport Director for Orica GreenEdge, Matt White comments “We want to keep the yellow jersey as long as possible, we have a one second advantage. Simon only has to stay in contact with the bunch during the next two stages.”
“Tomorrow we go back to targeting a result for Gossy [Matt Goss],” White added. “We’ll look after Simon at the same time. Other teams will want to keep the race together for a bunch sprint, so we’ll have help there. Ideally, we can take the yellow jersey all the way to the Pyrenees but we’re taking it one day at a time.”
