Gerrans dumped for Tour de France

Successful Australian Simon Gerrans is mystified as to why he has been left out of
the Cervelo Test Team for next month's Tour de France, a decision slammed as
"outrageous" by one of his former coaches.
Gerrans, who was a stage winner on last year's tour and also in the Giro d'Italia in
May this year, was only listed as a reserve in the team.
The Swiss Cervelo squad includes Australian 2004 Olympic team pursuit gold medallist
Brett Lancaster and Australian-born German representative Heinrich Haussler.
The powerful nine man Cervelo squad contains Spain's defending Tour de France
champion Carlos Sastre and Norway's sprint star and 2005 Tour de France Green Jersey
winner, Thor Hushovd.
Posting on his Twitter page, 29-year-old Gerrans said he was pretty disappointed at
missing out on the team.
Victorian Institute of Sport cycling head coach Dave Sanders, who mentored Gerrans
at the VIS was flabbergasted by his omission and suggested there was "something dark
going on here".
Gerrans drowned his sorrows with a bottle of Australian red wine, but admitted to
waking up with a wicked headache the following morning.
He is still trying to understand why he wasn't included in the Cervelo team.
"As to why I wasn't selected, not to (sic) sure," Gerrans said on his Twitter page.
"I guess I'm not the pure climber or lead out man that CTT want to use to support
Carlos (Sastre) and Thor (Hushovd)."
Fellow Australian cyclist Mark Renshaw who shared the consolatory bottle of red with
Gerrans, was equally bemused by his mate's exclusion from the CTT team.
"What is wrong with the world these days! My best mate Simon Gerrans just found out
he is staying at home this July = no tour! WTF..." Renshaw said on his Twitter page.
Sanders said his initial reaction to Gerrans omission was: "outrageous. We are just
dumbfounded, I just can't believe it.
"This guy is the very best in the business at what he does.
Sanders said Gerrans was versatile enough to either win a stage or act as a super
domestique, assisting other riders.
"This year in my opinion, he has the best form of his life."
Victorian Gerrans, a 2008 Olympic road race representative, switched to CTT this
year after riding for Credit Agricole in last year's Tour de France.
Sanders believed Gerrans should have made the CTT squad ahead of a couple of other
riders and felt his former charge could have landed a job on another team.
"I know that there are other people that would love to have him on their team
including (Australian's 2007 and 2008 Tour de France runner up) Cadel Evans just
from personal conversations," Sanders said.
Gerrans has already moved his attention to the rest of his season.
"As much as I am disappointed not to be racing the Tour, I will now focus on Vuelta
(Tour of Spain) and the World Championships, so I have plenty to look forward to,"
he said.