Gerrans hoses down Matthews rift talk

Simon Gerrans says there is no animosity between him and Orica-GreenEDGE teammate Michael Matthews after a tactical disagreement.

Simon Gerrans has defended team tactics at the world road cycling championships and insists there is no rift between him and teammate Michael Matthews.

Silver medallist Matthews said on Tuesday the decision to sprint against Gerrans in the final stages at the championships, without the full support of the team, may have cost him the top prize.

Gerrans said he did not believe the tactics impacted Matthews' defeat by Slovakian star Peter Sagan in the worlds at Richmond, Virginia.

"It's always easy in hindsight but I don't think there's a lot we could have done differently," Gerrans told News Corp Australia.

"Sagan was a class above, he really was.

"It wouldn't matter what tactics we chose leadership wise - if anyone was good enough to chase Sagan down they were good enough to go with him and no one was good enough.

"The tactics we went in with and what we all agreed to at the start how we were going to approach the race, we followed that pretty well and there's not a lot more we could have done.

"It obviously wasn't the gold medal that we all hoped for but it was pretty satisfying at the end of the day."

Gerrans said he and Orica-GreenEDGE teammate Matthews had moved on from the disagreement over tactics, adding there was no animosity between the pair following the race.


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Source: AAP



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