Pulling out a superb solo effort, the Tasmanian rider Will Clarke scorched to a brilliant win on stage two of the Santos Tour Down Under in Stirling earlier today.
The UniSA-Australia rider, who will race for Champion System this season, showed RadioShack Nissan what it will miss out on this year after it decided not to retain his services from the previous Leopard Trek setup.
He attacked minutes after the start and built a big lead with BMC Racing Team’s Martin Kohler before pushing on ahead alone inside the final 90 kilometres.
As the finish got closer, the bunch ramped up the speed in an effort to bring him back, but Clarke hit the line one minute and two seconds clear of last year’s Stirling stage winner Michael Matthews (Rabobank).
He led the peloton home, edging out Australian road race champion Simon Gerrans (GreenEdge), Alejandro Valverde (Movistar), Edvald Boasson Hagen (Sky Procycling) and Oscar Freire (Katusha).
“This is unbelievable really,” said Clarke. “This is the biggest win of my career. It's my first win in the WorldTour. I knew my form was good.”
His victory came after he decided to persist, keeping his head down after Kohler dropped back following the intermediate sprints.
“He probably thought it was not worth keeping going but the peloton gave me more time and I thought ‘you guys have to chase me hard to catch me,’" he said.
“I was dying in the last ten kilometres. [Team Manager] Dave [Sanders] was telling me to go for GC but… It's amazing that a breakaway rider can stay away for so long. It's sort of my speciality to keep going.”
Clarke’s success was due to his resolve on the tough three laps of the finishing circuit. He lost handfuls of time on the final lap due to fatigue, but his determination saw him hold on until the line.
Champion System general manager Ed Beamon later stated that this sort of performance is characteristic of Clarke. “He's showing incredible form and that's a big reason why we were happy to give Will a break from the Champion System training camp to represent his country at the Santos Tour Down Under,” he said.
“We hired him – to a large degree – because of his breakaway capability. He certainly proved that ability today. To manage such a time gap virtually on his own is more than impressive.”
Early gamble pays off:
He and Kohler clipped away a couple of kilometres after the field raced out of Lobethal. The peloton let them go and they had established an eight minute lead after 30 kilometres.
Kohler was motivated by the thoughts of taking the ochre leader’s jersey. He picked up bonus seconds in yesterday’s break and started the day just four seconds behind Andre Greipel (Lotto Belisol) in the overall standings. Winning the intermediate sprints at Mount Torrens (23.7km) and Balhannah (62.4km) gave him six seconds and this would see him top the podium at the end of the stage.
“It is very cool,” he said. “We had this little funny plan this morning, just go for it. I am close on the GC (overall) and I tried again and the first attack was the successful one.
“It was a little bit surprising and if no-one was following - why not? It means a lot, because it is my first leader's jersey and it is one of my favourite days here in Australia.”
Greipel rolled in 36th and dropped to second overall; Matthews is four seconds back in third, while Gerrans is a further four seconds in arrears.
Four more days of racing remain, including a tough finish to the top of Old Willunga Hill. Kohler is savouring the moment, and doesn’t appear to believe he could take the final classification.
“It’s good to be already in good shape, but I know it's going to be hard for the next stage which is longer, with an uphill finish. It is different and more tough than other years. It’s going to be really hard for me to defend the jersey because I think the last two days I have lost a little bit of energy.”
Clarke also has jerseys to wear tomorrow; hitting the summit of today’s category two climb at Fox Creek (46.7km) means that he’s got the Skoda King of the Mountains jersey, while he’s also heading the Jayco sprints classification.
The race continues tomorrow with a 134.5 kilometre race from Unley to Victor Harbour.