Historic third win for cyclist Simon Gerrans in Tour Down Under Australian road cycling champion Simon Gerrans is now a three-time winner of the Tour Down Under. For Simon Gerrans, his win in the Tour Down Under on Sunday all but completes the fairytale story of his early season success. Listening to Gerrans after he became the first rider to win the World Tour event three times, you could be led to believe he had ticked all the boxes for his Australian summer. "To win as Australian champion with an Australian team on Australia Day in Australia's only World Tour event, it is just a fantastic feeling," he said after defending his overall lead to win the tour by one second from fellow Australian Cadel Evans. Five seconds back was Italian Diego Ulissi, followed by the Australian pair of Richie Porte at 10 seconds and Nathan Haas at 27 seconds. The 33-year-old Victorian was still absorbing his latest professional victory, adding to his wins in 2002 and 2012, when he confirmed his next target - the Herald Sun Tour from February 5-9, which he won in 2005 and 2006. [It is] next one on the agenda. We will be there and we will be trying to win it," said Gerrans, who last year wore the Tour de France yellow jersey for two days before his season ended with a crash in the Vuelta a Espana and a hairline hip fracture. It's another important race for Australia so we will be going for another victory. However, Gerrans said that when he started the 2014 season claiming the unofficial triple crown was not his priority. "I was focused on winning the national title," Gerrans said. Then it was to focus on winning here and next is to focus on the Herald Sun Tour ... I wasn't getting too wrapped up in trying to win all three, just one at time. For Gerrans and his team, Sunday's final stage in Adelaide, an 85.5-kilometre inner-city circuit race, unravelled in perfect fashion, when a three-man break raced away to contest all the intermediate sprints, preventing Evans and Ulissi from getting the time bonuses. Then when it came to the battle for the stage win, the sprinters' teams cruelled any chance of an upset by controlling the race. Germany's Andre Greipel, who won stage four to Victor Harbor, beat Australian Mark Renshaw and Briton Andrew Fenn to the line. Gerrans, who placed 11th, said the last stage was not as easy it may have looked: "It was a pretty nervous day. The race was there to be won by any number of riders. We stayed at the front and out of trouble. The guys did a fantastic job, not just a pretty good job. They took me right up the front there, right out of trouble ... to make sure I avoided any splits in the peloton and finished right up front. Gerrans said the value of this win was increased by the calibre of riders. We have seen one of the best fields ever at the Tour Down Under. I really feel like I had to fight for it so much harder this time.