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By Simon Gerrans

You spend so much time dreaming about winning a Tour de France stage as a professional bike racer that when the moment comes you are not ready for it. I can vouch for that after the most amazing ride of my life - even as I write these words I am still coming down from my win today in the first Alpine stage of this year's Tour. Sadly, I have to say that I am still coming down literally as well. It is 8pm - two and a half hours after I crossed the line at the end of the 15th stage from Embrun to Prato Nevoso in Italy - and I am still in a team car slowly edging our way in a traffic jam down the very mountain that I had just raced up on my bike to produce the greatest moment of my cycling career. Unbelievable! My Credit Agricole teammates have long gone in the team bus, but as I have discovered, the day is a long way from over - especially as the stage winner. As soon as you cross the finish, you are rushed from one thing to the next.It is a whirlwind. You don't even get the chance to let the joy of winning sink in. To be honest, the idea of winning a Tour stage was one that I had only dreamed about. I never really felt that it would actually happen. So I never really thought about what's expected after you finish - the media and doping control. The doping control, now that takes the longest. There is a big wait there, especially as I was so late getting there because of media commitments. After winning, you are escorted through the media scrum to the podium area. It begins with the live cross to French television, followed by the stage winner's presentation which includes meeting various digniatries and VIPs. It is such a blur. Then you run the gauntlet of the mixed zone. Microphone after microphone is thrust before you ... and in all languages, by all people. Finally, you end up in the print media interview room where, you soon realise by looking down at the monitor in front of you, that the the stage winners press conference is beamed down to a much bigger audience at the main media centre, not just this sub-station where journalists can ask more questions. Still ... it has not yet sunk in. Although, I understand why I am so late arriving at the drug testing area where, I discover, I am the last of 14 riders to be tested. It is only after drug testing - and I have no problem having a pee for that - that I can finally start thinking about joining my Credit Agricole teamates at the hotel. Admittedly, I also know someone else will be there for me - my fiance Rahna. She watched the stage at the home of a friend of ours, and as soon I won the stage she was in the car and driving up from Monaco, where we live, to Italy. When I spoke to her after my win, she was hysterical. She wasn't planning on joining me for the rest day. But a Tour stage win can change lot in your life. It still amazes me, the impact of a rider's individual performance in the Tour. Within half an hour of me winning the stage I had 70 messages on my mobile phone and half as many missed calls. And they were still coming through as we were driving down from the finish at Prato Nevoso. That shows people are sitting up late in Australia watching. I will reply to them (on Monday's) rest day.