Gerrans writes off his Worlds chances

Australian cyclist Simon Gerrans said he can't win the 2010 world road race title following Team Sky's withdrawal from the Tour of Spain.

Gerrans' Team Sky made the decision over the weekend after Friday's death of its masseur, Txema Gonzalez.

Gonzalez, 43, died in a Seville hospital last Friday from a bacterial blood infection.

Gerrans said it was a "massive setback" to his goal of winning the men's elite road race on 3 October.

The 30-year-old's campaign had already suffered when he was forced out of the Tour de France in July with a broken left arm.

"My initial goal was to go there and try and win a world championship," Gerrans said from Spain.

"To be honest, I really have to reassess my aspirations at the worlds. I actually know how critical the Tour of Spain is to that preparation."

Road racers completing the Spanish tour would be at "another level altogether" in their preparation, he added.

Gerrans said despite the death of a masseur he rated as "really like family", he initially wanted to continue in the Tour of Spain.

But Team Sky's principal Dave Brailsford took the decision to withdraw.

"Initially I thought 'wow, that is pretty extreme' - life has got to go on and we had all busted our arses to be there, as much as we all felt the loss of Txema," Gerrans said.

"But when you sit down and look at the decision a little more closely, you can see the reasons why."

Gerrans, who finished 10th in the world road race last year, said he would return to Australia for a "back to basics" training schedule of clocking kilometres around Victoria's Mornington Peninsula.

"Unfortunately, I haven't got any other racing in Europe on my program, so I have decided to come back to Australia in the next few days," he said.

"By the end of the week I'll be chasing a motorbike around."