Cyclist Simon Gerrans ready to let teammate Simon Clarke take the lead Fresh: Gunnewijk, Gerrans, MacLean and Clarke. Photo: Penny Stephens Simon Gerrans knows the time is coming when he and Orica-GreenEDGE teammate Simon Clarke will undergo a role reversal. That will be when Gerrans, who won a stage of and wore the yellow jersey in the Tour de France last year, sacrifices himself to help his right-hand man win a big race. And Gerrans, 33, realises it could come as soon as Sunday in the last event of the Australian road championships in Victoria - the 183.6km men's elite road race at Buninyong, near Ballarat. The titles start on Wednesday in Burrumbeet, with time trials for elite and under-23 men and women. Speaking as he, Clarke and Orica-AIS riders Jessie MacLean and Loes Gunnewijk showcased their team's 2014 racing kit in St Kilda on Tuesday, Gerrans paid tribute to Clarke's loyalty. He also lauded Clarke for having developed into a rider who he believes is on the cusp of claiming his own major victories. Clarke was a key to Cadel Evans winning the 2009 world road title and has been selfless at Orica-GreenEDGE since the team started in 2012. Yet Clarke has shown when given the opportunity he can deliver, such as in the 2012 Vuelta a Espana when he was best climber and won a stage. Gerrans believes that last year Clarke stepped up another level. In the Tour, he helped Gerrans win stage three and the team win the stage-four team time trial that allowed Gerrans take the yellow leader's jersey. Then after another tough Vuelta, Clarke was seventh in the world road title at Florence. Don't play down Gerrans' intent for Sunday. He is still primed to try to repeat his 2012 Australian title win, especially as his otherwise stellar season last year ended with a fractured hip sustained in a crash. But if he is not up to it, he believes there would be no more deserving winner than Clarke. "He is just about to enter that period of his career where he is going to go from strength to strength and he has shown some massive potential when he has the opportunity to race for himself," Gerrans said. In the big races Simon is really my right-hand man. He is right there helping me get the biggest result possible. But I would imagine in the not-too-distant future it will be a role reversal where I will probably be fading off ... Simon will be really hitting his peak and I will be returning the favour, trying to get him across the line first. Would he be ready to help Clarke win as early as Sunday? "Without a doubt," Gerrans said.