There is one cycling jersey Simon Gerrans has never worn, but probably should have considering his ability to target and win big races: that of world road champion.
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That could change on Sunday when he races the 254.8km men's elite world championship at Ponferrada in north-west Spain as a member of the nine-man Australian team.
Gerrans, 34, believes he is as well placed as ever in his stellar career for a tilt at the white strip with an "arc en ciel" [rainbow] emblazoned on it.
However, he is not the only Australian rider who could win one of the most cherished jerseys in the sport.
With Gerrans as a protected rider in the Australian team is Michael Matthews, 24, the 2010 under-23 world champion in Geelong; and Cadel Evans, 37, who won the 2009 elite title and announced on Thursday that he would retire on February 1.
"We have three options for the various ways the race could unfold," Gerrans said.
"Having Cadel there – who is a real warrior – he can be [a contender] when there are just a few guys left standing and that is a huge benefit. If the race is a real war of attrition, I expect him to be there.
"If the race isn't so difficult and there is a big group coming into the finish, we have the luxury of Michael Matthews being there. He is one of the quickest guys around. I probably fall somewhere in between that."
For Gerrans, who has worn the national champion's strip all year, winning the rainbow jersey would perfectly bookend his season, despite the blip of his race-shortening stage one crash in the Tour.
His season began with him winning the national title in January.
Gerrans then won a stage and overall honours in the Tour Down Under in South Australia, and placed seventh overall in the the Herald Sun Tour.
Back in Europe, he finished third at the Amstel Gold Race in the Netherlands and won the Liege-Bastogne-Liege one-day classic in Belgium.
Then after recovering from his Tour injuries, Gerrans placed third in the Vattenfall Cyclassics in Germany on August 24 and won the Grand Prix Cycliste de Quebec and Grand Prix Cycliste de Montreal on September 12 and 14 respectively.
After a week of recovery at his European base in Monaco, he set off to Ponferrada for the world titles in high spirits.
Since arriving and riding the 18.2km circuit that the men's peloton will cover 14 times, Gerrans has warned that the course is harder than expected.
"I've been crunching numbers on the worlds over the years and looking at the amount of metres we're going to climb on Sunday, it's going to make the race quite selective," he said.
"Although, that's just the 'parcours' [course] and it's the riders who make the race.
"Liege [Liege-Bastogne-Liege] is a very difficult race too, but the main point of difference is that worlds is on a circuit and there's very little recovery, so it becomes a real race of attrition."
Meanwhile, Matthews' ambition to win is just as strong at the business end of a season in which he has won a stage in the Giro d'Italia and the recent Vuelta a Espana and worn the overall leader's jersey in both grand tours.
Asked if the rainbow jersey was in his sights, Matthews told Ride Media during the Vuelta: "It was always the plan, from the start of the year, to be really good for the worlds and be in my best shape for that race."
As for Evans – although a retiree in waiting, you would not bet against him. When he won in 2009, many thought he was finished.
The Australian men's elite team (alphabetically): Simon Clarke (Orica-GreenEDGE), Rohan Dennis (BMC), Cadel Evans (BMC), Simon Gerrans (Orica-GreenEDGE), Adam Hansen (Lotto-Belisol), Heinrich Haussler (IAM Cycling), Mat Hayman (Orica-GreenEDGE), Michael Matthews (Orica-GreenEDGE), Rory Sutherland (Tinkoff-Saxo)
