Simon Gerrans on his four Tour Down Under victories

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Simon Gerrans, in ochre, celebrates the first of his Tour Down Under victories in 2006

Defending Tour Down Under champion Simon Gerrans holds the record for most overall victories since the first edition of the race back in 1999. The Orica-Scott rider first won the title in 2006 with AG2R Prévoyance and has since added three wins with the GreenEdge squad in 2012, 2014 and 2016.

"It was the first time in the race's history that they had a finish on top of Old Willunga Hill. Basically, it changed the dynamics of the race completely from the years previous when it was very much a sprinters dominated race. When they did that, I thought 'this is now a race I can win again at a WorldTourr level'. On top of that, it was the debut season for GreenEdge. I thought what better way to get things started with an Aussie team to do well in these Aussie races. I put in a really big preparation in my pre-season, and I wanted to start out winning. I managed to do that with the national titles and Tour Down Under.

Gerrans' 2013 title defence didn't go to plan but he did manage to take the win on Willunga Hill after his second place the year prior. In 2014, the soon-to-retire Cadel Evans was the fan favourite for victory and would push Gerrans all the way after his sterling win on the Corkscrew looked to have been a knockout blow for Gerrans after he had won a second career stage into Angaston on day one of the race.

"It started out going really well winning the first stage again and to win in a sprint finish ahead of a guy like Andre Greipel, I was in really good shape. The next day didn't go so well as Cadel rode away from us on the Corkscrew and took that lead and we had to fight tooth and nail for bonus seconds and time bonuses on stage finishes all the way up Willunga Hill. I was really fortunate to have just enough time going into the final stage.

"I think I was in my best ever condition for the 2016 race. Off the back of such a difficult year in 2015 with crashes and broken bones and bad luck. for myself, I wanted to get back up on top and on top quickly. Again, I put in a lot of hard work for the 2016 race and it didn't start out so great for me crashing on the second stage when I thought, ‘Oh, what are we beginning here'. I bounced back quickly winning the next two days which put me right back into contention and had enough of an advantage to hold off Richie on Willunga Hill. Really, we achieved so much with the team in last year's Tour Down Under it is going to be really difficult to back those results up again, but I think everyone is motivated to do it.