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Jan 22nd, 12. Simon Gerrans sealed a fairytale debut for the GreenEDGE Australian professional cycling team by claiming overall victory in the 2012 Santos Tour Down Under.

Gerrans joins teammate Stuart O'Grady and today's stage winner German Andre Greipel (Lotto-Belisol) as the third rider in the event's 14 year history to win the trophy twice.

The final stage was raced over 20 laps of a street circuit just north of central Adelaide. The 90km finale set off with the temperature at 37 degrees celsius but the heat from road made racing conditions much hotter.

31 year old Gerrans went into the stage tied on time with Spaniard Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) but as race leader because of a lower total when the pair's places on previous stages were tallied.

There was also a handful of other riders hoping to improve their positions. But GreenEDGE were up to the challenge and vigilant throughout the stage making sure they covered every move.

"When I was told yesterday that I was getting the leader's jersey, I didn't feel any pressure at all, it was just a nice surprise. I knew it would give us a tough job for this last stage, but as it turns out, I can't be happier," said Gerran who two weeks ago won the elite men's road race crown at the nationals.

"This is just fantastic. I can't thank the GreenEdge team enough for this victory.

"We had a tough task today to control Alejandro Valverde who is a classics rider. The last lap was very fast," said a jubuliant Gerrans. "It's an even sweeter victory than my first one here in 2006. It gives me the opportunity to thank for the first time the Ryan family (GreenEDGE team owners Gerry and Andrew) and (GreenEDGE General Manager) Shayne Bannan for putting this team together. It couldn't be a better start for us.

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"I had Robbie McEwen looking after me (and) that was pretty special since it was his last race in Australia," said Gerrans of his team mate McEwen who holds the record for the most stage wins in the history of the Santos Tour Down Under, 12. Greipel today notched up his 11th stage win.

"What can I say?" said Greipel after flashing across the line a good bike length clear of Australian Mark Renshaw (Rabobank) and Italian sprint ace Alessandro Petacchi (Lampre). "The team Lotto-Belisol has just been amazing in leading me out to my third win of the week.

"It looks easy but it's not," he said. "I was nowhere in the front on GC (overall) this year but I'm happy with the sprint finishes. I always like to come to South Australia. It's just nice to start the new season here rather than train in Europe."

Greipel was once again piloted into position by his Kiwi teammate Greg Henderson. 

Further back in the peloton were Valverde and Gerrans who crossed the line 25th and 27th respectively split only by Gerran's stage finish pilot McEwen who made sure the Spaniard was well marked.

At the end of the 803km six day event both Gerrans and Valverde remained deadlocked on 20:46:12 but Gerrans' stage placings added up to a total of 102 and Valverde's 175 giving the Australian the win.

Third place overall went to Portugese rider Tiago Machado (RadioShack-Nissan) who was eight seconds back with Canberra's Michael Rogers (Sky Pro Cycling) fourth at 14 seconds. On the same time as Rogers in fifth place was 21 year old Rohan Dennis (UniSA-Australia) who recently claimed both the under 23 time trial and road race national titles.

NZ's Jack Bauer (Garmin Barracuda) finished the tour 11th after a great final stage. The 2010 NZ Road Champion went out early, was reeled in, but found his way back into the action to take 3rd in both interim sprints. Unfortunately the 2sec time bonus was not quite enough to pull him into the Top 10, he finished just 2sec off that target.

The Team's Classification was awarded to Jesse Sergent and Hayden Roulston's team RadioShack-Nissan-Trek who were 24sec ahead of Sky ProCycling after the times of the top three ranked riders from each team were tallied.

Final Results Summary

• Stage 6 Winner - Andre Greipel (Lotto-Belisol) (GER)
• Santos Tour Down Under Winner - Simon Gerrans (GreenEDGE) (AUS)
• Jayco Sprint Winner - Edvald Boasson Hagen (Team Sky ) (NOR)
• SKODA King of the Mountain Winner - Rohan Dennis (UniSA-Australia) (AUS)
• Cycle Instead Best Young Rider (Under 26) - Rohan Dennis (UniSA-Australia) (AUS)
• Brilliant Blend Team Leader - Radioshack-Nissan
• Hindmarsh Most Aggressive Rider for stage 6- Jan Bakelants (RadioShack-Nissan) (BEL)
• Tanya Denver Award - Rohan Dennis (UniSA-Australia) (AUS) (Highest placed South Australian overall)