Cycling: Clarke triumphs as Kohler takes lead Down Under

William Clarke from Australia is kissed on the podium after winning the second stage of the 2012 Tour Down Under in Stirling yesterday

Australian Will Clarke was given a hero’s reception by thousands of raucous fans after bringing a 140 km breakaway all the way to the finish of the Tour Down Under’s second stage yesterday.
Swiss rider Martin Kohler of the BMC team took possession of the race leader’s ochre jersey from German Andre Greipel as the chasing peloton were outdone by the determined UniSA rider.
“This is unbelievable really,” said Clarke.
“This is the biggest win of my career – it’s my first win on the WorldTour.”
Yet at the start of the day, Clarke had somewhat more modest ambitions.
He and Kohler had been part of a four-man break, which attacked just after the start of the 148 km ride over undulating terrain from Lobethal to Stirling.
And after the Swiss had pocketed most of the day’s points, and bonus seconds at the intermediate sprints, which would prove crucial later in the race, he returned to the bunch with over two laps of a 26 km finishing circuit left.
Clarke started the penultimate lap with a massive lead of 11 minutes on the chasing peloton, which by now had put some big engines from Team Sky, GreenEdge, Rabobank and Movistar up front in a bid to close the gap.
Despite seeing his lead brought down to 7min 30sec at the start of his final lap, Clarke held on to solo over the line in 3hr 58min 35sec.
Olympic team pursuit champion Geraint Thomas admitted the favourites had underestimated Clarke, and had spent too much time marking each other.
But heading into today’s third stage, an undulating 134.5 km ride from Unley to Victor Harbour, the race is still wide open with most of the main favourites within 12secs.