phil anderson tour de france

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Phil Anderson interview: 40 years since he became the first Australian to lead the Tour de France

On 30 June 1981, when stage five of the Tour de France finished at Pla d’Adet, a 23-year-old Australian rider created a bit of history. Phil Anderson finished third – behind Lucien van Impe and Bernard Hinault – and inherited the yellow jersey… for one day.

Forty years later, Anderson reflects on a stage that changed his life.

– Click the link below to watch RIDE Media’s interview with Phil Anderson. –

Phil Anderson says that he had never raced his bike on mountains before stage five of the 1981 Tour de France. “I’d ridden the Dandenongs. I’d ridden the Adelaide hills, but I’d never really gone into the mountains, let alone the high mountains.”

The plan at the start of the 117km stage from St-Gaudens, in the foothills of the Pyrenees, to Pla d’Adet above Saint-Lary-Soulon was for Anderson to fulfill domestique duties for his Peugeot team-mate Jean-René Bernaudeau.

The young Australian upstart was focussed on the challenge of the climbs. He marked his rivals and eventually found that he had the strength to remain in the front group all the way to the final ascent.

“It was hard for me,” he says in an interview recorded 40 years later, on the eve of the 2021 Tour de France. “I’d never seen anything like it.”

He has spoken about the 1981 Tour de France regularly for 40 years and Anderson recalls some of the race with surprising detail. He would, however, go on to enjoy a stellar career with 71 professional victories to his credit and 13 Tours de France. He finished each one and, from 1981 to 1994, he only missed the 1988 edition.

His recall isn’t entirely accurate but he can be forgiven when some of the details become a little blurred. Forty years is a long time. And he admits that he still speaks about that Tour of 1981 – and other aspects of his glory days – with surprising regularity.

“People always want to bang on about it,” he says early in our long interview, “so there is a bit of discussion about it.

“People want to know about the yellow jersey and the first Australian leading the biggest race in the world, so I end up talking about it not every day but at least two or three times a week.”

Although he explains that there was a team time trial before that critical fifth stage – where he battled the likes of eventual champion in 1981, Bernard Hinault, and the Tour winner from 1976, Lucien van Impe – that’s not actually correct. Still, he had risen up the GC rankings after his 17th place in the prologue in Nice.

By stage five, he was ranked 13th and the mountains beckoned. Little did he know that his naivety about the mountains and (accidental) disregard for team orders would change his life forever over the course of a 117km stage, the first in the mountains of that 68th Tour de France.

Anderson would go on to enjoy a long career as a pro cyclist but it was his formative years in the black and white Peugeot outfit that many cycling aficionados remember. (Photo: Graham Watson)

Hinault won the prologue in Nice. Anderson was 17th, 25 seconds behind the Frenchman. Bernaudeau was 52nd, a further seven seconds behind his Aussie team-mate. Only in the final week did the designated leader of the Peugeot team overtake Anderson in the GC rankings, eventually finishing sixth, with Anderson 10th.

As the peloton made its way from Nice toward its rendezvous in the Pyrenees, sprinters collected stage wins and Anderson settled into the rhythm of his first Tour de France. He was excited by the idea but admits that he didn’t harbour the same fascination with the race as his French team-mates.

Back then, there were 10 riders per team (even though Phil says in the interview that there were eight). Anderson made the selection after having enjoyed a strong showing in the early season, including a GC win in the Tour de l’Aude in May 1981.

Alongside him in the famous black and white chequered jersey were Bernaudeau as leader and seven other Frenchmen: Jacques Bossis, Bernard Bourreau, Gilbert Duclos-Lassalle, Michel Laurent, Roger Legeay, Hubert Linard and Patrick Perret. There was also another ambassador of the so-called ‘Foreign Legion’, Graham Jones, a British rider who has long been the voice of cycling on BBC Radio.

It was Anderson who stole the show with a stunning ride into the unknown – the peaks of the Pyrenees and the hype of Le Tour…

So much has changed since then, and most sport fans understand the nature of the Tour de France in 2021 but in 1981 English-speaking riders were still very much a novelty. And Australians? According to Anderson, that was so foreign to the race that he “may as well have been from Mars”.

He recalls the moment when he inherited leadership of Peugeot by proxy, and although there would be a celebrated stint in the yellow jersey his DS at the time wasn’t too happy about how Anderson raced the fifth stage.

“The team cars had different musical tunes that they played on their claxon, on their horn,” he says. “That was the way you knew your [sports] director was coming up before they had radios.

“I knew Maurice De Muer, my director was coming up, so I dropped over to the side and he comes up beside me and says, ‘Philippe, where’s Jean-René?’

“The field was getting pretty thin,” he says of the peloton on the penultimate climb. “I looked around and I could easily see that Jean-René, our humble leader, wasn’t there.

“So, I told [De Muer], ‘Oh bugger, yeah… I overlooked that. I was involved in trying to look after myself here.’ It wasn’t a very good ploy. I wasn’t looking after Jean-René. ‘He must be at the back, I did see him on the last climb. I’ll drop back, I’m pretty buggered anyway. I can ease up a bit.’

“And he said, ‘No, no. He’s two groups back. He’s like five or 10 minutes behind. You stay there. You’re doing well, but you come and see me tonight! There was a plan, but you didn’t follow it.’”

On the final climb, it was van Impe who lit up the attacking action, with Hinault – as he so liked to do – chiming in with his own surges. But Anderson wasn’t going to let them have it all their way, and he continued marking moves. He remained with the front group and couldn’t believe his eyes when he looked around to see who he had for company.

“I started recognising some of the riders around me. Riders who were past winners, heroes of mine. I had posters of these guys on my wall… we had Lucien van Impe there, we had [Bernard] Thévénet… Hinault, [Claude] Criquielion and guys like that.

“Van Impe takes off and everybody looked at me. I was the newbie. I was going to be the guy that chases down this guy who rides like he’s got wings on his back… there was this flurry of attacks and I’m hanging on by the skin of my teeth.”

Van Impe would get the stage win and move to seventh on GC. Hinault was second at Pla d’Adet, rising to second place overall. And Anderson was third, finishing alongside the eventual champion 27-seconds behind the Belgian.

But, for the first time in history, an Australian was at the top of the GC rankings: from 13th to first overall in the Tour de France. Cycling became a more global sport that day.

Stage six was a 26km time trial. Hinault won it. Gerrie Kneteman of Holland was second, and Anderson was third. It was his first TT in the Tour de France and he raced it in the maillot jaune !

He lost 30 seconds to Hinault and thus surrendered the yellow jersey for stage seven… but he remained second on GC through to stage 16.

Hinault won the Tour that year. Bernaudeau was the best from Peugeot and Anderson finished 10th. It was a race for the ages, and the legacy remains. An Australian could indeed ride with the best in the world. It was a Tour that paved the way for others from what were once antipodean cycling nations to believe they too could challenge riders from the Continent.

– By Rob Arnold

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First Ever Non-European Maillot Jaune – Phil Anderson

Tour Rider Interview: There was quite a few successful Australian professionals in the peloton in the 70’s; Michael Wilson, Gary Clively and Don Allan to name three – but the man who really set the ball rolling was Melbourne’s Phil Anderson. The first ever non-European maillot jaune talks to Ed Hood about the Tour de France, the Classics and his career.

Anderson was actually born in London but moved with his parents to Australia as a child. Cycling wasn’t ‘in the blood,’ and if the young Anderson hadn’t stumbled upon a race marshal at a local criterium we might never have seen that piano key smile on those Tour podiums.

‘I came upon this crit close to my home in Melbourne, I was stimulated, it looked exciting. I’d never heard of bike racing before and I asked the corner steward what was going on. That was the mid-70’s and there were clubs all over Melbourne, the steward steered me to the local bike shop and they put me on to the Hawthorn Cycling Club who I signed up with. I guess it was a different pathway into the sport from the usual one via family or friends?’

Anderson was soon winning junior races; when he moved into the senior ranks the success continued and he made the 1978 Australian Commonwealth Games team as a 19 year-old. ‘I won the Commie Games road race in Edmonton, Canada in ’78 and that result got me an invite to ride for the Parisian club ACBB in ’79 – I won a lot of races in France and viewed it as good preparation for the Moscow Olympics in 1980. But because I was winning I had approaches from the French pro teams Mercier and Peugeot – ACBB was the feeder team for Peugeot. The Scotsman, Robert Millar was with me at ACBB and we both decided to go with Peugeot, even though it meant we were giving away our Olympic intentions.’

When asked for his most abiding memories of his ACBB days he plucks two from the memory bank, ‘We were in a restaurant in the Paris suburb of Boulogne-Billancourt where the club was based, for our pre-race meal – steak and a huge bowl of rice at 06:00 am – and I went to the toilet; when I came back from doing what I had to do, the team had gone. They’d driven off to the race without me but someone must have thought; “shit! where’s that Anderson kid?” and they came back for me – Millar and I used to win a lot of races for them so they wanted me there!’

His other one involves a certain B. Hinault, who Anderson would get to know better as he entered the pro ranks, the following year. ‘In won the amateur GP des Nations which was around Cannes in those days, I did a 1:04 or 1:05 for the 45 kilometres. The amateurs did one lap but the pros did two; Hinault did a 1:05 for the first lap but then he did a 1:02 for the second circuit – when I saw that I immediately gained a lot of respect for Monsieur Hinault!.’

Life at ACBB had prepared Anderson well for being a ‘stranger in a strange land’. ‘It got me used to the isolation of being away from home but even though it was a French team and I didn’t speak French very well there was Millar, the English rider, Graham Jones and the South African rider, Alan Van Heerden who all spoke English and there were other non-French guys on the team like the Dutchman, Hennie Kuiper and the Belgian, Jose de Cauwer. Peugeot were more forward thinking than Mercier, where there would have been a bigger language barrier – ACBB was the Peugeot feeder team and we’d been riding Peugeot bikes so it just seemed right to join them.’

Anderson’s first win came in Belgium, in a kermis. ‘The race was a pro kermis in Wetteren; 15 laps of a 10 K circuit and I got away with a local guy towards the end, he started speaking to me; “listen Phil, I really have to win this, my father is the mayor and he’s at the finish, my wife is pregnant and I have the whole team working for me back in the bunch. If you let me win this one then the whole team will help you win on another day.” I eventually agreed and he was going to win but in the last K with the peloton right behind us, he punctured and I just had to push on solo to win. Because the win was up in Belgium the team didn’t think much of it and I even had to share my first win on French soil with my French team mate, Gilbert Duclos-Lasalle we – were equal first.’

Season 1980’s results were a solid start to Anderson’s pro career but in 1981 he stepped up a gear with stage wins in the Tour of Corsica and Paris-Nice – and then came his first GC win. ‘The season started slowly but I won the overall in the Tour de L’Aude which put me well in the frame for Tour de France selection. The thing is that the Tour de L’Aude became a women’s race – but with Hinault, Moser and Anderson as previous winners!’

Anderson’s win meant he went to head of the queue for Tour selection; the French riders were all desperate to ride the Tour for the prestige – and prize money. ‘It was a big battle within the team to make the Tour team, you had 18 or 19 guys all jostling for position but they couldn’t leave me out after I won the Tour de L’Aude.’

The Tour started in Nice 1981, it was the year of Freddy Maertens’ comeback; he won seven stages – but it was also the Tour which changed Anderson’s life forever. Bernard Hinault won the prologue, beating Gerrie Knetemann by seven seconds with Anderson 17th @ 25 seconds. Maertens out dragged Sean Kelly on the Promenade des Anglais to take Stage One and TI-Raleigh blasted all comers in the Stage two TTT to put Knetemann in yellow. Johan Van de Velde continued the Raleigh domination by winning Stage Three and it was Maertens again on Stage Four; Anderson takes up the story; ‘Stage Five was another team time trial over 77K and Peugeot put up a good ride, we finished second behind TI Raleigh. Knetemann had the jersey for Raleigh but the next day, Stage Six headed into the mountains, 177 K to Saint-Lary-Soulan, we went over three cols and there was a mountain top finish – on each climb the field would halved and by the time we were on the last climb it was down to about a dozen. There I was with all these guys who I had as posters on my bedroom wall just a few years before – we were all struggling to hang on to Hinault but Van Impe gave us the slip. Eventually there was just me and Hinault left chasing Van Impe; Hinault out sprinted me for second but I took the jersey.’

The maillot jaune’s magical powers came as a surprise to Anderson. ‘I hadn’t really realised the significance of the yellow jersey until that day – but I got a taste of it and I loved it. I’d won stage races as an amateur but this was a whole different ball game – it changed my life, it gained me so much respect.’

The next day was a time trial and the continental journalists expected Anderson to crumble but despite losing the jersey to Hinault, Anderson finished a fine third to the Frenchman and Knetemann. ‘In the time trial next day in Pau I surprised a few but the jersey gives you strength and even as a junior I’d been a good TT rider – I won the Victorian Junior Championships and I’d won the amateur GP des Nations.’

Anderson wore the yellow jersey again in the 1982 race but is reluctant to say that he could have counted on more support from the team if he’d been a Frenchman leading Peugeot. ‘It’s hard to say, I’ve no regrets, it’s different now that the sport has been through the Greg Lemond and Lance Armstrong eras with ‘Anglo’ leaders. It’s different now, I mean, look at GreenEDGE an Australian with Esteban Chaves, a Colombian as GC team leader. It’s hard to compare, this is a different era with social media and all – I could hardly believe I was leading the Tour, never mind the team!’

But the Tour within the 1983 Tour lay the seeds of Anderson’s departure from Peugeot to the mighty Panasonic team for season 1984. ‘I’d hoped for better support from the team in 1983; I had a bad day and my team mate, Pascal Simon attacked and took the yellow jersey. But the next day he broke his collarbone but Peugeot continued to put all their eggs in the Simon basket – I was collecting bottles for him and I think that was the excuse I needed to look for another team.’

Panasonic was ruled with a fist of iron by former six day star and Paris-Roubaix winner, Peter Post – how did Anderson get along with the despot? ‘We got on well, he was a strong character; the kind of DS who, when he slammed his fist on the table and said something, everyone listened – that wasn’t always the case with Peugeot. It was a very winning team; being one of the senior riders I was allowed to stay a bit longer in the warmth of the Australian summer to train. When I arrived we were only a few weeks into the season but already they had 12/15 wins on the board. They could win any race – track, Tour stages, Classics, guys like Vanderaerden, Planckaert and Oosterbosch but it wasn’t just the winners, there were riders like Nulens and Lubberding who gave you great support.’

Arguably, his best ever year was with Panasonic, 1985 when he won the Tour Méditerranéen, Volta a Catalunya, Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré and the Tour de Suisse, as well as finishing second in the Tour of Flanders and Gent–Wevelgem. But after four years with the mighty Dutch squad it was time for a change, to another team from the Low Countries, TVM. ‘I guess it got to the point where I wanted more say, I wanted certain riders around me and input on the staff and equipment. TVM wanted me because they’d decided to step up to the first division of teams; I brought along a few guys and my soigneur and doctor. The first year we didn’t get a ride in the Tour but we rode the Giro in 1989 where I won a stage; I won a Giro stage in 1990 too; we rode Zullo bicycles, from Lake Garda near Verona so there was an Italian connection with the team. I liked the Giro there was a good atmosphere on the race.’

Anderson spent three years with TVM but as an ‘Anglo’ wondered what it would be like to ride for what was then the only ‘New World’ team in the peloton – 7-eleven, soon to become Motorola. ‘I had always been curious about the 7-eleven team but I heard that they were pulling out at the end of 1990 and there as a new sponsor in the offing. Jim Ochowicz of 7-eleven approached me and asked if I’d like to ride for the new Motorola team and we made it happen for 1991 – I had 16 wins including a Tour de France stage. It was a good year for me and the team and Motorola were very happy with the team – we had so many podiums that year.’

And was the ‘vibe’ on the team more laid back than that of the Euro teams? ‘It was definitely more relaxed especially having the US riders, the atmosphere wasn’t like you’d find on a Euro team. That said we had strong riders, guys who made history, Andy Hampsten who won that famous Giro in the snow. English was spoken at the table and we were all good friends – and it was nice to ride races in the USA.’

But despite the relaxed vibe and friendship, Anderson wasn’t allowed to end his season – and his pro career – in the fashion he would have liked. . . ‘As soon as I announced my retirement at the end of the season the team wouldn’t let me race. When Cadel retired it was practically a national holiday and they had him up on the podium at every race to say his farewells. Ironically it’s the same management at BMC as we had at Motorola but it was a big disappointment because I wanted to ride the Tour of Lombardy and Paris-Tours, two races I’d done well in – I’d been on the podium in Lombardy and won in Tours. But as soon as I announced I was finishing up they said; “fine, now give us the bike back!” It was disappointing because I’d helped the team get to where it was and I wanted to ride ‘til the year end. Still, I got paid until the end of my contract and it was the start of a new phase of my life.’

But Anderson still had one big result still to come. ‘I was selected for the Australian team and rode the 100 kilometre team time trial at the 1994 Commonwealth Games in Canada we beat England to take the gold medals. So my career started with gold in the Commie Games road race and ended with gold in the Commie Games TTT – that was a nice consolation albeit compared to European pro racing the Commie Games are just like a big club race.’

In a long career with so many wins it’s hard for Anderson to pick out particular ‘highs’ but both involve Le Tour. ‘That first time I pulled on the yellow jersey had the most impact but winning a stage and taking the white jersey the following year was really special.’

The ‘downs’ are dealt with in more depth. ‘The single biggest ‘down’ was at the end of 1985, I was ranked number one in the world but I had an ailment with my back and had to watch Sean Kelly pip me to win the Tour of Lombardy which meant also he won the season-long Super Prestige Pernod competition. It took me six months to figure out my back problem; I had a big contract with Peter Post at Panasonic and when it came round to the start of the next season I was in a huge amount of pain and only had 500 kilometres in my legs; it should have 5,000 – that was my normal pre-season preparation.

I saw all sorts of medical people but just before I was due to leave to come to Europe I saw an arthritic specialist and he said I had a sacroilitis infection of the gut and that was what had caused the problem – it stays in your system. But as luck would have it, the world specialist in the condition lived in Ghent and he put me on anti-inflammatories. I had to tell the team that I wasn’t fit to ride – that was a tough thing to do, Peter Post was unforgiving.

Normally I started the season very strongly – I’d been on the podium in Gent-Wevelgem and the Tour of Flanders and won in Franfurt in the past. I was usually on fire early season but slowly I did get better and by the end of the season I’d won Paris-Tours. In the team car on the way back from Tours Post said that he was really happy with my ride and wanted me to sign for 1987. I said that I would only do that if he gave me back the money he docked from me when he halved my salary at the start of the year because I couldn’t perform. He agreed and the cheque arrived the next day – so that was sweet!’ A very rare example of a rider getting the better of Mr. Post.

Anderson handled retirement well, looking forward rather than back. ‘When I retired I was one of the oldest in the peloton at 36, the Jens Voigt of my day; most guys back then retired a little earlier at 35 or 35 – Kelly pushed it a bit and went on ‘til he was nearly 40 years-old. I bought a farm, which was beautiful, and started to run training camps and helped out with coaching the Chinese national squad. Then in ’95 I covered the Tour for a newspaper; in ’96 I did commentary at the Olympics and in ’97 Nike approached me to get involved with their VIP’s at the Tour. They did it in style; five star with helicopters, Humvees and three weeks of staying in chateaux.

Most of the trips to the Tour back then were along ‘backpacker’ lines but I realised that there was a market for people who wanted a bit more style and comfort so I took it upon myself to look into it and in 1998 we launched a three week product chasing the Tour but with little time to ride the bike. Now, 20 years later, we’ve refined that and the trips are of around one week duration but we still staying in nice accommodation, it’s a five star experience. The format differs each year but often the guests want to ride those monumental climbs they’ve heard so much about. We’ve done the Giro and the Vuelta but the Tour is the big one – it has the prestige and the weather. My partner Anne always says that she does all the work organising things then I get to do all the play!’

The usual closing question sometimes throws up some unexpected answers; but not with Anderson – any regrets, Phil? ‘No, none at all, my life has been like a story book. Sure there have been broken relationships and battles in the peloton and nowadays they make huge amounts of money, more than I was ever paid but I’d have done it all for nothing and I was one of the highest paid riders of my era. I’ve still got my health, I still get out on my bike – I’ll be doing 100 K tomorrow – I have my business and I still have vigor and gusto which I think is a testament to the clean lifestyle I’ve always lead.’

But he’ll still have a beer with the boys now and again – Phil Anderson, made in Australia and in the history books forever as the first ever non-European maillot jaune.

It was November 2005 when Ed Hood first penned a piece for PEZ , on US legend Mike Neel. Since then he’s covered all of the Grand Tours and Monuments for PEZ and has an article count in excess of 1,700 in the archive. He was a Scottish champion cyclist himself – many years and kilograms ago – and still owns a Klein Attitude, Dura Ace carbon Giant and a Fixie. He and fellow Scot and PEZ contributor Martin Williamson run the Scottish site www.veloveritas.co.uk where more of his musings on our sport can be found.

It was November 2005 when Ed Hood first penned a piece for PEZ, on US legend Mike Neel. Since then he's covered all of the Grand Tours and Monuments for PEZ and has an article count in excess of 2,150 in the archive. He was a Scottish champion cyclist himself - many years and kilograms ago - and still owns a Klein Attitude, Dura Ace carbon Giant and a Fixie. He and fellow Scot and PEZ contributor Martin Williamson run the Scottish site www.veloveritas.co.uk where more of his musings on our sport can be found.

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An Aussie legend speaks

Phil Anderson is an icon of Australian cycling, whose palmares includes becoming the first non-European to wear the Yellow Jersey at the Tour de France, in 1981. Two years later, he claimed victory at the Amstel Gold Race. With the 2022 UCI Road World Championships taking place in Wollongong, Australia, from this Sunday (18-25 September), we caught up with the local legend to talk the Worlds parcours, faxing his UCI Worlds entry and chasing Hinault…

Phil, thanks for your time. Where are you at the moment?

My partner and I are nearly a couple of months into a road trip around Australia. The idea was always to coincide our road trip with visiting the UCI Worlds. We’re in New South Wales now but still about 700km from Wollongong, so we’ll be there around midweek, next week, in time for the road races. We’re then still around 1,000km from where we live so we’ll be on the road for another week or two.

Do you know the Wollongong course well?

A little. But what I do know is that it’s hilly, it won’t be easy and it’s not a sprinter’s course. Mount Keira will present a challenge. It’s not up there with Alpine cols but it’s a decent gradient and will challenge all the riders. But it’s often the distance of the UCI World Championships that troubles the riders. When you’re reaching the end of the season, anything over 200km is a real grind, especially if you have a Grand Tour in your legs. I know from personal experience that it’s a big undertaking and doesn’t matter who you are.

Who do you think will win the men’s and women’s road races?

It would have been a great course for Julian Alaphilippe but I don’t know if he’ll bounce back from his injury at the Vuelta [the Frenchman crashed out on stage 11 but it looks like he will race the UCI Worlds]. It’s also a good course for Wout van Aert. Mind you, any course is good for him! For Australia, somebody like Michael Matthews is strong, albeit at 4,000m there’s probably too much climbing. The Australians who did well at the Vuelta, Ben O’Connor [eighth] and Jai Hindley [10th], could challenge if they have the legs.

In the women’s race, Australia always send a good contingent. You can never discount Amanda Spratt [who finished second in 2018 and third in 2019] plus it’ll be good to see how Josie Talbot gets on, as I know she lives nearby.

What are your experiences of racing the UCI Road World Championships?

I raced a fair few but, in all honesty, Australia didn’t place a huge emphasis on them when I was racing. I had to find my own way there and there was no selection process; I’d send a fax or make a phone call to the Australian Federation saying I wanted to race. I’d have to go to my team’s clothing sponsor and ask them to make up an Australian jersey for me. It’s completely different nowadays. Making the Australian team is like qualifying for the Olympics and is a real big deal. Since I’ve retired, there’ve been lots of great riders come through and, of course, Cadel [Evans] won back in 2009.

You made headlines as the first non-European to wear the yellow jersey in 1981. Tell us about that day over 40 years ago…

Ahh, it was stage five. That year the race went in a clockwise direction, starting down in Nice on the Cote d’Azur. The stage where I took yellow began in Saint-Gaudens and finished atop Pla d’Adet, a ski resort in the Pyrenées. That was my first Tour de France and I went as a domestique but I had a great day, finishing third behind stage winner Lucien Van Impe. I remember [Bernard] Hinault and I spent a good chunk of the day chasing him – well, I followed Hinault who chased him! Van Imp held strong but our team [Peugeot-Esso-Michelin] had finished second in the team time trial the day before, behind Ti Raleigh-Creda, which meant I wore the yellow jersey. They say the yellow jersey gives you great powers and the next day I finished third in the individual time trial. Unfortunately, Hinault won the stage, which put him in yellow. I spent the next couple of weeks trying to win it back but would finish tenth.

The next year, 1982, I won the second stage into Nancy and wore yellow again. This time I held on to it for 10 days before losing it just before the Pyrenées.

I never won the Tour but I’m proud of my record there, racing 13 times, which included five top-10 finishes in my first five efforts.

Was your Tour experience the highlight of your career?

It was up there but I was known as a good Classics rider, too. I won Amstel Gold, Paris-Tours and Milano-Torino, as well as stage races like the (Critérium du) Dauphiné, (Tour de) Romandie and Tour de Suisse. In fact, I won the Dauphiné and Tour de Suisse in the same season [1985], which was my best-ever season as I won 16 professional races. Unfortunately, I never won the two races that I really wanted to win – Tour of Flanders and Liège-Bastogne-Liège – finishing second in both.

Finally, once the UCI World Championships are over and your road trip reaches the finish line, what are your plans?

Well, I’m pretty much retired now so there’s nothing concrete. My partner and I used to run a small business, helping cyclists tour Europe to watch events. But we were looking to retire and then COVID-19 came along so that was a decision made. Now, I still enjoy travelling overseas and riding my bike. We just want to enjoy our life.

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Tour de France

Simon gerrans thanks phil anderson for getting him into the sport of cycling, australian simon gerrans caused a minor sensation on sunday by winning the tough 15th stage of the tour de france on the race's third mountain finish in the italian alps. the 28-year-old from melbourne, however, was quick to give a nod to australian great phil anderson, without whom he might never have got on a bike. gerrans, who rides for credit agricole, bagged a prestigious first win in the race after attacking breakaway companions egoi martinez of euskaltel and garmin's danny pate in the final 150 meters of the rain-lashed 183km stage..

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By Justin Davis, Agence France Presse

Photo: Graham Watson

Australian Simon Gerrans caused a minor sensation on Sunday by winning the tough 15th stage of the Tour de France on the race’s third mountain finish in the Italian Alps.

The 28-year-old from Melbourne, however, was quick to give a nod to Australian great Phil Anderson, without whom he might never have got on a bike.

Gerrans, who rides for Credit Agricole, bagged a prestigious first win in the race after attacking breakaway companions Egoi Martinez of Euskaltel and Garmin’s Danny Pate in the final 150 meters of the rain-lashed 183km stage.

The three had been part of a four-man break which at one point had a 17-minute lead on the bunch.

Gerrans looked to be slipping out of contention when a late attack by Martinez put the Aussie rider in trouble on the final, 11.1km climb.

But Gerrans dug deep, pulled himself back up to Martinez and Pate — and when he saw his chance to attack in the finale Gerrans did it in style, finishing 3 seconds ahead of Martinez.

“I thought we’d have to hit the last climb with a big advantage on the group to have any chance,” said Gerrans, who finished four minutes ahead of a group containing all the yellow jersey favorites.

“On the last climb I wasn’t really sure how my legs were. Martinez’s attack dropped me straight away, but I hung in there and once I got back on I wasn’t going to let them go again.”

Describing what is his biggest career win, the Melbourne native added: “I think it still hasn’t sunk in yet. I’m sure I’ll be pinching myself for the next few days. It really is an amazing feeling.”

Gerrans’ victory, he admits, might never have happened if Anderson — the first Australian to wear the yellow jersey and a close neighbor of Gerrans’ family near Melbourne — had not prompted him to take up cycling to help rehabilitate an injured knee.

Within no time Gerrans was competing in races, and then fulfilled one of his dreams by heading to Europe to join the AG2R team for the 2005 season.

Despite securing most of his professional wins thus far with the French outfit, it is with his new team, Credit Agricole, that he has bagged the biggest.

Now living in Monaco with a large community of Aussies who are both friends and rivals, Gerrans admits he is glad of Anderson’s advice.

“I took up cycling after talking to Phil. And I quickly realized that cycling is a beautiful sport,” he added.

“There’s always another level to aspire to, and another race to apire to. Once I came to Europe winning a stage on the Tour de France has been my biggest aim.

“It’s just been an amazing journey.”

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Phil Anderson OAM is one of our cycling heroes. He won gold in the 1978 Commonwealth Games, turned pro, and joined the intensely competitive professional European road circuit with a career spanning 16 years and culminating with another Commonwealth gold in 1994, the year of his retirement.

Anderson is well known for being the first Australian (and first non-European) to wear the prestigious yellow jersey in the Tour de France. 

In 1997 Phil Anderson established his touring business and in 1998 he took his first group to the Tour de France. With a proud history as a professional cyclist, Phil Anderson’s trademark work ethic and passion for the sport are an essential part of his cycling tour experience. His philosophy is to design a cycling holiday experience of a lifetime that will bring you back for more year after year.

Europe is Phil’s backyard. There are few grand tours, Classics, or professional races he has not been involved in, raced, and quite likely won; a palmarés that brings to his experiences a talent that many operators seek to emulate. Phil Anderson Cycling now offers exclusive tours to the Tour de France and beyond. Phil and his team can design unique travel packages and customised experiences to all cycling fans from the smallest group to a coach sized group.

Classic Otway Gravel Ride

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Tour Operator:  Phil Anderson Cycling

    Australia

  4   days   (Bike: 3 days)

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  Tour Operator   Phil Anderson Cycling

Weekend escape

Phil Anderson Cycling is proud to present weekend escapes in the Otway’s. Phil would like to share the secret rides in his own backyard. The Great Ocean Road precinct offers some of the best riding, walking, running, surfing and scenery in the world. Now is the time to explore the Otway’s, it’s quiet, stunningly beautiful and local.

This series of weekends is open to roadies or for the more adventurous a gravel bike weekend.

This opportunity is for you and 3 to 4 of your ride group. We expect that the group will have like riding competencies and will thus dictate their own pace. The rides are hosted by both a guide and support vehicle. There is a flow over option for 2 single additions to the group. The weekend package can be extended to include up to 4 partners, riding or non riding with a flow over options for 2 single additions to the group.

There is a choice of gravel loops, all starting from the Great Ocean Road that will excite any rider from those who are moderately skilled to advanced.

There is so much more, beach walks, runs, surf or swim.

While great care has been taken to show full and correct tour details, unfortunately transcription errors do occur and, although we continually seek to eliminate these, we apologise for any mistakes. Plans or bookings should not be made exclusively based on information shown on this website but must be confirmed with the tour operator.

Phil Anderson's cycling dream team

Australian picks his nine-man team

In a new run of features, Cyclingnews sits down with some of the sport's well-known personalities as they pick their cycling dream teams. This week it's the turn of Australian legend Phil Anderson.

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• Dream teams must feature nine riders, one of which can be the rider selecting the team. In which case they pick eight riders to join them.
• The riders picked must have all ridden with the person picking the team. That means you can’t just pick the eight or nine best riders of a generation.

My team is clearly generational, one that in a perfect world I would have had chosen to pursue my own cycling ambitions when back in the day I lined up to have a crack at the Tour de France .

The creation of a team around a non-European for the Tour de France was unheard in the early eighties and I had significant battles as a result. Le Tour was not the only race for a cyclist and my team could position me or the team to win any number of races on paper.

In cycling there is always the catastrophe or the chance that can change a race in a moment and this team has been created based on the style of racing back in my day, when the racing was gnarly, instinctive and not controlled by numbers. I have also created this team drawing on my instincts and based on the spirit of the rider. Doping reputations have not been considered.

Team Leader: Phil Anderson

I was an ambitious cyclist who like many sought to win the the Tour de France. Generally considered an all-round GC rider my biggest strength was my ability to endure the pain. When the going got tough, I thrived. As riders fell by the roadside I was always one of the last men standing. In the third week of a tour I was only starting to get stronger.

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I was a strong and demanding team leader who would never ask a team member to do what I couldn’t, and they all knew I would be there for them when they needed me

Attributes:

• Huge VO2m, engine and endurance capacity
• A good climber but perhaps my weakest link
• A good time trialist - able to hold my own
• A good sprinter, able to take a race to the line

Climber: Robert Miller

Having won the Polka-dot jersey at the Tour de France, Bob could follow anyone in the high mountains, in fact he finished 4th overall at LeTour in 1984. When the roads went skywards he raised it a notch and climbed, he could be relied on to be at the pointy end every time the race hurt in the hills. He could stay with the very best of the climbers, which ended up netting him not only great stage placings in the Tour, but also podiums at the Vuelta and Giro

Bob Millar was a savvy racer and we spent many years riding together from the time I first arrived in Europe as an amateur. We rode on the same club in Paris and shared success, leading to us both signing contracts to turn professional for the Peugeot team in 1980. At the start of my career he was one of the only other guys who spoke English, which didn’t help that much as he was pretty quiet!

Sprinter: Eric Vanderaerden

Eric was a pure sprinter, a huge success and team leader in his own right. He could take the hits, day after day, crashes injury but he didn’t whinge and would be back up each day for more. None of this modern race for one stage and pull out for Erik. Pure class, pure toughness and funny. Knowing his limitations, he timed his efforts carefully and would fully sacrifice when he wasn’t a contender.

He was an animator in the bunch, ever a prankster with a sense of humour that was an important ingredient in a team in tough times. There were leadership battles between Erik when he was supposed to ride for me but I don’t begrudge Erik those wins, it was part of the life during this era. 

Domestique: Sean Yates

A tough decision, Peiper or Yates, but I'll go for Yates. Sean is addicted to cycling. It is his passion (still is). You couldn’t wear this guy out. He would ride himself into the ground and stand up for a hammering day after day, week after week. Sean was a friend and a colleague, but, like Millar, he was quiet. However, he did come out with the occasional profound statement. Like Millar, we came through the same club in Paris (ACBB) but he was a student a year behind us and followed onto the Peugeot squad.

Coming from Britain, he was a monster in the race against the clock, doing well in prologues and time trials. Until the Armstrong era, he held the record for the average in a TdF time-trial well into the 50s. If there was a team time trial, Sean was the rider you wanted on your team since he could pull a huge turn of speed for kilometres. Alan Piper was the same, there we all were, not much English back then in the bunch and all the blokes I hung out with didn’t talk much. It could be pretty lonely.

Domestique: Patrick Jacobs

Jacobs was my shadow for the three years we rode together on TVM. Back in the day a domestique was a serious role and Jacobs was a master craftsman who studied me. For a time there in the late 80s, Patrick actually came to live with me to see me in my own environment. He knew what I ate, when, how much, when I fatigued and why.

When we raced he shadowed my every move. He was always beside on leading me and able to be relied upon to never contest. I never had to ask, I looked over my shoulder and Patrick was there, with drinks, to bring me back to the bunch and more. Not a famous big name but old school and one of the best. 

Domestique: Guy Nulens Guy was able to ride tempo at the head of the peloton all day. He never faltered and rode with me when I was on the Dutch Panasonic squad. He was quick to respond to the demands of the race and changing race plans. He always had a smile on his face and was the kind of unassuming but friendly guy that every team needs: there to do a job and be part of the team and got on well with the entire peloton.

Domestique: George Hincapie George had a huge engine and when it was needed had a turn of speed that could string out the peloton and break the heart of the bunch when strategy demanded. He could ride on the front controlling a race for hours, carry out instructions on cue and back up, day after day. He was one of the guys on the team, a friend and we got on really well.

Domestique/Climber: Jesper Skibby

Jesper was a close friend during my career. When the racing was easy we were always at the back laughing and pranking, enjoying the life. Jesper was strong in the hills or in a TTT. When required, he was quickly to the front, head down and on the job without hesitation. He was a reasonable climber and was great support leading to the summits. You could always rely on him riding until he was totally spent.

Road Captain: Henk Lubberding

Henk was strong, a smart racer who was already seasoned when I entered the peloton. From an era when racing was strategy on the road and riders weren’t autobots who performed on cue according to the numbers. Henk could think on his feet, had a serious disposition and was a strong captain who could control the team. He worked extremely well with my director of choice, Peter Post which in turn worked well for me in an era when their were few non-euros on the circuit. Like he has been blessed with eternal youth, I caught up with him last year and he still looks like he is in his mid-twenties.

Team Manager: Peter Post

For most of my career I was on a French or Dutch Teams. The WorldTour or English speaking teams was unheard of. Non-Europeans were simply workhorses, or a mildly interesting story during the off season. I suffered as a consequence but have enormous pride that my achievements changed this perspective.

When I left Peugeot I knew I needed a director that my teammates would look up to, respect and take instructions from. Peter Post was eminently respected by the entire peloton and not just the riders on Panasonic. He was a hard taskmaster. We had our moments and for many not ideal but he suited me.

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