When we last chatted to Simon Gerrans he was well on the road to recovery after breaking his arm at the Tour de France and he's since been in racing action at the Tour du Limousin and the GP Ouest France-Plouay.

We caught up with him on Friday in Seville on the eve of the Vuelta a España and he's looking forward to the final Grand Tour of the season as well as the World Road Race Championships in his native Australia, his selection for which was confirmed earlier in the week:

August 27, 2010

I didn't go into the Tour du Limousin with high aspirations of getting a result - it was much more about finding some race fitness. And it was perfect for that; it was quite demanding, up and down every day and a pretty intense race.

From there it was straight onto Plouay which came two days later and I had the No 1 on my back which was a bit of a new experience, returning as the defending champion. And that was good - it's a race I really enjoy, being in a cycling-mad part of France in Brittany.

At that point it proved to be more of a training exercise for me as opposed to having realistic ambitions to win it again. I tried to do a bit of work to help Russ Downing out but unfortunately we got caught behind a crash on the last lap which was a bit disappointing.

However those two races together turned into an excellent training block and ideal preparation for the Vuelta. I'm happy with where I am fitness-wise right now - everything is on track - but I do think I'll probably need a few days at the Vuelta to ride into really good shape.

I'm just a little bit shy of being exactly where I need to be in order to be competitive right at the start of the Vuelta but I've got high hopes that after a few days of racing I'll be really starting to get there.

There are a few stages which I reckon will suit me well and if I can find my legs in those opening days I'll be looking to really capitalise with some good form. The Vuelta is a fantastic race. It's so relaxed and the Spanish fans love their cycling so it's nice to be part of that.

As far as this week's schedule is concerned, I travelled down on Tuesday lunchtime and did a light ride that afternoon.

On Wednesday the focus was on the team time trial training - we did three hours on the time trial bikes and went through a few drills to get used to riding in formation together. We did a couple of intervals, the whole team together, and then on Thursday it was a similar programme, with some efforts really close to race intensity.

Today it's been an easier day - a chance to recover and make sure we are fresh for tomorrow. That should be interesting as it's a late, late start - we go out at about a quarter-to-eleven under the lights - but there'll be a great crowd in Seville on Saturday night and a good atmosphere.

Looking ahead I'm delighted to have been selected for Australia's World Championships squad and hopefully I'll come out of the Vuelta in good shape and relatively fresh. It's the ideal preparation for the World Championships, even more so now that the Vuelta finishes two weeks before - one week was always very tight.

(Simon has his own personal website at www.simongerrans.com and there are regular updates on there for viewers who would like to keep in touch with what he's been up to in between his blogs here on TeamSky.com.)