After a 17 man strong breakaway had been reduced to what might be labelled the dream trio of Australian road racing, Simon Gerrans (Orica-GreenEDGE) outsprinted Cadel Evans (BMC) and Richie Porte (Team Sky) to claim his second green and gold jersey and finish off the team tactics of GreenEDGE who have now won all three championships that they have contested.

"It's just a huge honour to be crowned Australian champion for the next 12-months and I guess it shows the depth we have in Australian cycling when we have Richie Porte and Cadel Evans standing at my side on the podium. I can’t thank my Orica-GreenEDGE teammates enough today, the plan was always to have it together for me in the last lap if the race was any under threat and the guys committed that and brought it back together for me,” Gerrans said following victory according to Cyclingnews.com.

Prior to the race, Cadel Evans had publicly played down his expectations for the race, but despite being the sole BMC Racing Team rider on the day, the Aussie veteran displayed his racing skills in animating the final lap to claim his first podium in a national road race.  "This one was up for grabs like a world championship. I've been second at the Tour de France, second at the worlds [mountainbike] now second at a national road championship," Evans said after the race.

"It's a jersey or nothing for me, as far as I am concerned. When I say nothing, it's gone better than I expected. But here on my own every move I made there was one or two GreenEDGE or Drapac rider behind me, closing the gap behind me every move I went," Evans explained to Cyclingnews.com.

On the road it was Gerrans, Evans, Meyer (Orica-GreenEDGE) and Porte with a flurry of attacks but with 3km to race it all came back together. 2km from the finishing line Porte tried his luck knowing that his chance for a win lay in a successful breakaway attempt. Meyer was soon dropped but Gerrans, with his now trademark sprinting kick, was in supreme position to strike upon his rivals with 500m to race.

Evans was in third wheel but couldn’t come around Gerrans to take the win and it was GreenEDGE who celebrated a tactical win.

Austrailian national road race championship top ten:

1 Simon Gerrans, 4:43:43  

2 Cadel Evans      

3 Richie Porte      

4 Cameron Meyer, 0:05:00  

5 Jack Bobridge, 0:00:23  

6 Darren Lapthorne    

7 Mark O'Brien, 0:00:29  

8 Steele von Hoff, 0:00:48  

9 Zakkari Dempster    

10 David Tanner