Australian road race champion Simon Gerrans has given Australia back-to-back wins in the 298 kilometre Milan - San Remo in Italy, the longest one-day Classic on the calendar.

The GreenEDGE rider who earlier this year also won overall honours in the Santos Tour Down Under, the opening WorldTour event of season, outsprinted Switzerland's Fabian Cancellara (RadioShack-Nissan) and Italian Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas-Cannondale) to take top honors in the first 'monument' of the season.

The elite trio came together on the climb of the Poggio and held on to finish with a narrow lead on the chasing peloton. Gerrans is the second Australian to win 'La Primavera', following in the footsteps of 2011 winner and current GreenEDGE team mate Matt Goss.

"I still haven't realised what we actually did today," said Gerrans. "This is an amazing feeling to win this monument. The team rode perfectly, and we played our cards just the right way.

"It doesn't get any better than this. This is going to take a long, long time to sink in," said Gerrans. “I’m still stunned. It’s been the perfect start to the year for me and for the team."

The first 200 kilometres of the 298-kilometre race played out according to script with an early break escaping from the bunch and building up a maximum advantage of 13 minutes before the field began to give chase.

"It's always a bit of a gamble to allow the break such a big gap," said Sports Director Matt White. "I've done this a long time, so I was confident in my direction and judgment. There was a lot of wind on the coast, and I took the option to lay low, stay cool and conserve for the key moments of the race. The strategy worked out well for us."

By the half way mark of the race, the gap between the break and the field began to steadily fall. All the pre-race favorites looked comfortable in the bunch as the field hit La Manie, the second climb on the menu. That caused the first split in the field and a subsequent increase in pace saw more riders shed from the main bunch. The break was caught and the peloton sped on towards San Remo.

"We rode as a team all day," explained White. "The guys were always looking after each other and making sure to keep Goss in position at all the key moments. When we hit the Cipressa, we had four riders left in the front group."

Several riders launched small digs on the Cipressa but the field easily responded to each move. The descent of the Cipressa passed without incident and it was a 50-strong front group that hit the Poggio.

Near the summit of the final climb, Nibali attacked. Gerrans jumped on his wheel and Cancellara quickly bridged across. The trio quickly gained a ten-second advantage.

"Simon had free rein to cover the big moves, and he certainly did today," said White. "We had two leaders in the race. If it went hard on the Cipresso or Poggio, Simon was our man. If it came back together for a sprint, we'd look to Gossy."

"I knew when the move went on the Poggio with Fabian, that this was time to go," added Gerrans. "It turned out to be the crucial move of the race."

The trio managed to evade the chasing field on the descent to set up a three man tussle for the win.

"I did what I could for the breakaway but knowing how strong Fabian is, I kept some energy in reserve for the sprint," said Gerrans. "Then it was all a question of making my last acceleration at exactly the right moment.

“I’m thrilled to be able to finish it off and take the biggest win of my career," said Gerrans.

"Fabian is always keen to ride hard to get the win or a podium" explained White. "Simon played it cool (because) for Fabian it was pull hard to get a chance to win, or sit back in the bunch.

"Simon knew this was Fabian's attitude and he capitalised on it. He has a fast sprint, and he was able to get over the top of Fabian today," said White. "Simon's a class act. This is the biggest win of his career."

Post-race, Gerrans noted the historical significance of the race for GreenEDGE.

"It's amazing for GreenEDGE to win the first real Classic we've done as a team," added Gerrans. "To finish up the great work the guys did today is an honor. A big thanks to everyone on this team - the staff, the riders and the people who created this team. Thank you to Gerry Ryan and Shayne Bannan."

Gerrans win moves him back to the top of the UCI Individual WorldTour classification. The Victorian now has 210 points, 28 more than Nibali, who remains in second place, and 43 more than previous leader Alejandro Valverde (Team Movistar), who slides to third.

The other WorldTour leader change of the week comes in the Nations category, where Italy moves into the top spot and Australia into second. Spain, meanwhile, has dropped from first to third.

The top three nations are well over 100 points clear of fourth placed Holland but Italy (305 points) is only eight points ahead of Austalia (297) who in turn is only 17 points up on Spain (280).

In the teams classification RadioShack-Nissan is in the top spot with 312 points. Liquigas-Cannondale, has moved up to second from sixth and GreenEDGE has gained three places to be sitting fourth overall behind Team Sky.

Cycling Australia