By Jean-Francois Quenet in Annecy
At the prologue of the Dauphiné, AG2R's team manager Vincent Lavenu was adamant that Simon Gerrans will be lining up for the Tour de France this year as well. "He was the last man with Francisco Mancebo on the climbs at our training camp last week", he said. The only question concerns a plate that is still in his shoulder since he got operated on after crashing heavily in the bunch sprint of GP La Marseillaise in early February. As it got infected again, the Victorian was forced to pull out of Tirreno-Adriatico and withdraw from the Commonwealth Games. He stayed for a month and half in Australia, still working hard and came back with good shape and great fighting spirit. He came 6th in the Schwarzwald GP in Germany on Saturday. His next race is the Tour de Suisse. He'll get his plate taken out either after Tour de Suisse or after the Tour de France."
