Canadian Cyclist

 

January 18/12 12:02 pm - Tour Down Under: Stage 2


Posted by Editoress on 01/18/12
 

Will Clarke win it? You bet he will.

Tasmanian Will Clarke (UniSA-Australia) posted a superman solo effort today to secure victory in the Colemans Group Stage 2 of the Santos Tour Down Under.

He finished 1:02 ahead of the bunch led home by 2011 stage winner Australian, Michael Matthews (Rabobank) with newly crowned Australian road race champion, Simon Gerrans (GreenEDGE) in third place.

The stage began in Lobethal and wove it's way through the Adelaide Hills to Stirling. A stage record crowd of 110 thousand enthusiastic fans set themselves up to enjoy the action especially along the 21 kilometre finishing circuit out and back to Stirling which the riders covered three times.

"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."

26 year old Clarke broke away in the first few kilometres of the stage with Swiss rider Martin Kohler (BMC) and by the 30 kilometre mark they had a lead of more than eight minutes on the peloton.

Kohler, 26, was also in yesterday's attack and today he had his sights set on the Santos Ochre Leader's Jersey. He started the day only four seconds off the pace and outpaced Clarke in both of the day's Jayco Intermediate sprints, Mt Torrens (23.7km) and Balhannah (62.4km), to collect the maximum six bonus seconds. That proved enough in the end to put him in the race lead with a narrow two second margin from overnight leader, Germany's, Andre Greipel (Lotto-Belisol). Matthews second place moves him up to third overall at four seconds.

"It is very cool," said Kohler. "We had this little funny plan this morning, just go for it, and 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 (attack)?" said Kohler. "It means a lot, because it is my first leader's jersey and it is one of my favourite days here in Australia, but it is early in the season, so for sure it's good to be already in good shape, but I know it's going to be hard for the next stage which is a longer stage, with an uphill finish, which is different and more tough than other years. Its 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."

The Swiss rider dropped back to the bunch after claiming his sprint bonuses leaving Clarke in front alone for the final 90 kilometres of the stage.

"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'," said Clarke. "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 started the day 1min50sec off the race lead but the tactic of joining an early attack not only netted him the stage win but he also claimed the SKODA King of the Mountain jersey as the first rider over today's category two climb at Fox Creek (46.7km). On top of that he is leading the Jayco Sprint classification because of the 15 points he collected for the stage win and the six he claimed in the intermediate sprints behind Kohler.

Tomorrow the race departs from the cosmopolitan shopping hub of Unley for a 134.5km route that takes in the breath taking countryside of both the McLaren Vale and the picturesque coastal scenes of the Fleurieu Peninsula. The finish is in the seaside town of Victor Harbor.

Colemans Group Stage 2 Summary

• Stage Winner - Will Clarke (UniSA-Australia) (Aus)
• Santos Tour Down Under Leader - Martin Kohler ( BMC) (Aus)
• Jayco Sprint Leader - Will Clarke (UniSA-Australia) (Aus)
• SKODA King of the Mountain Leader - Will Clarke (UniSA-Australia) (Aus)
• Cycle Instead Best Young Rider - Michael Matthews (Rabobank) (Aus)
• Brilliant Blend Team Leader - UniSA- Australia
• Hindmarsh Most Aggressive Rider for stage 2 - Will Clarke (UniSA-Australia) ((Aus)

Press release

 

Results

Stage 2: Lobethal to Stirling, 148km
1 William Clarke (Aus) UNI SA - Australia 3:58:35
2 Michael Matthews (Aus) Rabobank at 1:02
3 Simon Gerrans (Aus) GreenEDGE
4 Alejandro Valverde (Esp) Movistar
5 Edvald Boasson Hagen (Nor) Sky Procycling
6 Oscar Freire (Esp) Katusha
7 Greg van Avermaet (Bel) BMC
8 Luke Roberts (Aus) Team Saxo Bank
9 Gerald Ciolek (Ger) Omega Pharma-QuickStep
10 Heinrich Haussler (Aus) Garmin-Barracuda
11 Cameron Meyer (Aus) GreenEDGE
12 Sergey Lagutin (Uzb) Vacansoleil -DCM
13 Jan Bakelants (Bel) RadioShack-Nissan
14 Linus Gerdemann (Ger) RadioShack-Nissan
15 Tiago Machado (Por) RadioShack-Nissan
16 Bernard Sulzberger (Aus) UNI SA - Australia
17 Michael Rogers (Aus) Sky Procycling
18 Xavier Florencio Cabrè (Esp) Katusha
19 Kristijan Koren (Slo) Liquigas - Cannondale
20 Gorka Izagirre Inausti (Esp) Euskaltel-Euskadi
21 Blel Kadri (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
22 Eduard Vorganov (Rus) Katusha
23 Giampaolo Caruso (Ita) Katusha
24 Julien Vermote (Bel) Omega Pharma-QuickStep
25 Jussi Veikkanen (Fin) FDJ - BigMat
26 Jonathan Cantwell (Aus) Team Saxo Bank
27 Ryder Hesjedal (Can) Garmin-Barracuda
28 Alessandro Ballan (Ita) BMC
29 Luis Leon Sanchez (Esp) Rabobank
30 Rohan Dennis (Aus) UNI SA - Australia
31 Romain Lemarchand (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
32 Serge Pauwels (Bel) Omega Pharma-QuickStep
33 Jose Joaquin Rojas (Esp) Movistar
34 Romain Feillu (Fra) Vacansoleil -DCM
35 Sandy Casar (Fra) FDJ - BigMat
36 André Greipel (Ger) Lotto-Belisol
37 Nathan Haas (Aus) Garmin-Barracuda
38 Javier Moreno (Esp) Movistar
39 Martin Kohler (Sui) BMC
40 Danilo Hondo (Ger) Lampre - ISD
41 Martin Elmiger (Sui) AG2R La Mondiale
42 Luca Paolini (Ita) Katusha
43 Fabio Sabatini (Ita) Liquigas - Cannondale
44 Jérémy Roy (Fra) FDJ - BigMat
45 William Bonnet (Fra) FDJ - BigMat
46 Matthew Lloyd (Aus) Lampre - ISD
47 Ruben Perez Moreno (Esp) Euskaltel-Euskadi
48 Jay Mccarthy (Aus) UNI SA - Australia
49 Grega Bole (Slo) Lampre - ISD
50 Mathew Hayman (Aus) Sky Procycling
51 Adam Hansen (Aus) Lotto-Belisol
52 Jack Bauer (NZl) Garmin-Barracuda
53 Christopher Sutton (Aus) Sky Procycling
54 Thomas De Gendt (Bel) Vacansoleil -DCM
55 José Ivan Gutierrez (Esp) Movistar
56 Robbie Hunter (RSA) Garmin-Barracuda
57 Romain Sicard (Fra) Euskaltel-Euskadi
58 Sérgio Paulinho (Por) Team Saxo Bank
59 Steele Von Hoff (Aus) UNI SA - Australia
60 Wilco Kelderman (Ned) Rabobank
61 Mirko Selvaggi (Ita) Vacansoleil -DCM
62 Federico Canuti (Ita) Liquigas - Cannondale
63 Angel Madrazo (Esp) Movistar
64 Vincente Reynes Mimo (Esp) Lotto-Belisol
65 Daniele Bennati (Ita) RadioShack-Nissan
66 Jens Voigt (Ger) RadioShack-Nissan all s.t.
67 Daniele Ratto (Ita) Liquigas - Cannondale 1:20
68 Davide Vigano (Ita) Lampre - ISD 1:24
69 Francesco Masciarelli (Ita) Astana 1:28
70 Davide Cimolai (Ita) Lampre - ISD s.t.
71 Gatis Smukulis (Lat) Katusha 1:35
72 Maxim Belkov (Rus) Katusha s.t.
73 Wouter Mol (Ned) Vacansoleil -DCM 1:39
74 Mathias Frank (Sui) BMC 1:52
75 Gert Steegmans (Bel) Omega Pharma-QuickStep 1:58
76 Marcel Sieberg (Ger) Lotto-Belisol 2:06
77 Matthew Brammeier (Irl) Omega Pharma-QuickStep 2:09
78 Matteo Trentin (Ita) Omega Pharma-QuickStep 2:33
79 Stefano Agostini (Ita) Liquigas - Cannondale 3:55
80 Alan Marangoni (Ita) Liquigas - Cannondale
81 Marcello Pavarin (Ita) Vacansoleil -DCM
82 Jacopo Guarnieri (Ita) Astana
83 Jonas Jörgensen (Den) Team Saxo Bank all s.t.
84 Massimo Graziato (Ita) Lampre - ISD 4:29
85 Dmitriy Gruzdev (Kaz) Astana s.t.
86 Adrián Saez (Esp) Euskaltel-Euskadi 4:43
87 Andrew Fenn (GBr) Omega Pharma-QuickStep 5:23
88 Mark Renshaw (Aus) Rabobank 6:28
89 Tom Leezer (Ned) Rabobank s.t.
90 Geraint Thomas (GBr) Sky Procycling 6:42
91 Matt Goss (Aus) GreenEDGE s.t.
92 David Lopez (Esp) Movistar 8:09
93 Olivier Kaisen (Bel) Lotto-Belisol 9:11
94 Luke Durbridge (Aus) GreenEDGE 13:27
95 Stuart O'Grady (Aus) GreenEDGE
96 Jesse Sergent (NZl) RadioShack-Nissan
97 Hayden Roulston (NZl) RadioShack-Nissan
98 Robbie McEwen (Aus) GreenEDGE
99 Leigh Howard (Aus) GreenEDGE
100 Lachlan Norris (Aus) UNI SA - Australia
101 Graeme Brown (Aus) Rabobank
102 Jaroslaw Marycz (Pol) Team Saxo Bank
103 Anders Lund (Den) Team Saxo Bank
104 Takashi Miyazawa (Jpn) Team Saxo Bank
105 Adam Blythe (GBr) BMC
106 Marcus Burghardt (Ger) BMC
107 Mauro Da Dalto (Ita) Liquigas - Cannondale
108 Alessandro Petacchi (Ita) Lampre - ISD
109 Yauheni Hutarovich (Blr) FDJ - BigMat
110 Manuel Belletti (Ita) AG2R La Mondiale
111 Tom Palmer (Aus) UNI SA - Australia
112 Imanol Erviti (Esp) Movistar
113 Manuel Quinziato (Ita) BMC
114 Kristof Goddaert (Bel) AG2R La Mondiale
115 Ricardo Garcia Ambroa (Esp) Euskaltel-Euskadi
116 Dmitri Muravyev (Kaz) Astana
117 Arnaud Courteille (Fra) FDJ - BigMat
118 Danny Pate (USA) Sky Procycling
119 Martijn Maaskant (Ned) Garmin-Barracuda
120 Mattéo Montaguti (Ita) AG2R La Mondiale
121 Borut Bozic (Slo) Astana all s.t.
122 Jos van Emden (Ned) Rabobank 16:17
123 Kenny van Hummel (Ned) Vacansoleil -DCM
124 Alex Dowsett (GBr) Sky Procycling
125 Valentin Iglinskiy (Kaz) Astana
126 Pablo Urtasun Perez (Esp) Euskaltel-Euskadi
127 Victor Cabedo (Esp) Euskaltel-Euskadi
128 Greg Henderson (NZl) Lotto-Belisol
129 Andreas Klier (Ger) Garmin-Barracuda
130 Assan Bazayev (Kaz) Astana
131 Boris Shpilevsky (Rus) AG2R La Mondiale 23:50
DNS Jurgen Roelandts (Bel) Lotto-Belisol
DNS Frédéric Guesdon (Fra) FDJ - BigMat
 
GC
1 Martin Kohler (Sui) BMC 8:33:05
2 André Greipel (Ger) Lotto-Belisol at 0:02
3 Michael Matthews (Aus) Rabobank 0:04
4 Simon Gerrans (Aus) GreenEDGE 0:08
5 Rohan Dennis (Aus) UNI SA - Australia 0:09
6 Eduard Vorganov (Rus) Katusha 0:10
7 Xavier Florencio Cabrè (Esp) Katusha 0:12
8 Jonathan Cantwell (Aus) Team Saxo Bank
9 Jan Bakelants (Bel) RadioShack-Nissan
10 Luke Roberts (Aus) Team Saxo Bank
11 Gorka Izagirre Inausti (Esp) Euskaltel-Euskadi
12 Blel Kadri (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
13 Romain Lemarchand (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
14 Fabio Sabatini (Ita) Liquigas - Cannondale
15 Sergey Lagutin (Uzb) Vacansoleil -DCM
16 Giampaolo Caruso (Ita) Katusha
17 William Bonnet (Fra) FDJ - BigMat
18 Christopher Sutton (Aus) Sky Procycling
19 Alessandro Ballan (Ita) BMC
20 Alejandro Valverde (Esp) Movistar
21 Michael Rogers (Aus) Sky Procycling
22 Oscar Freire (Esp) Katusha
23 Romain Feillu (Fra) Vacansoleil -DCM
24 Danilo Hondo (Ger) Lampre - ISD
25 Mathew Hayman (Aus) Sky Procycling
26 Ruben Perez Moreno (Esp) Euskaltel-Euskadi
27 Daniele Bennati (Ita) RadioShack-Nissan
28 Kristijan Koren (Slo) Liquigas - Cannondale
29 Adam Hansen (Aus) Lotto-Belisol
30 Edvald Boasson Hagen (Nor) Sky Procycling
31 Romain Sicard (Fra) Euskaltel-Euskadi
32 Serge Pauwels (Bel) Omega Pharma-QuickStep
33 Linus Gerdemann (Ger) RadioShack-Nissan
34 Tiago Machado (Por) RadioShack-Nissan
35 Greg van Avermaet (Bel) BMC
36 Luis Leon Sanchez (Esp) Rabobank
37 José Ivan Gutierrez (Esp) Movistar
38 Ryder Hesjedal (Can) Garmin-Barracuda
39 Sandy Casar (Fra) FDJ - BigMat
40 Vincente Reynes Mimo (Esp) Lotto-Belisol
41 Bernard Sulzberger (Aus) UNI SA - Australia
42 Jussi Veikkanen (Fin) FDJ - BigMat
43 Federico Canuti (Ita) Liquigas - Cannondale
44 Matthew Lloyd (Aus) Lampre - ISD
45 Julien Vermote (Bel) Omega Pharma-QuickStep
46 Martin Elmiger (Sui) AG2R La Mondiale
47 Sérgio Paulinho (Por) Team Saxo Bank
48 Cameron Meyer (Aus) GreenEDGE
49 Jens Voigt (Ger) RadioShack-Nissan
50 Jack Bauer (NZl) Garmin-Barracuda
51 Gerald Ciolek (Ger) Omega Pharma-QuickStep
52 Mirko Selvaggi (Ita) Vacansoleil -DCM
53 Angel Madrazo (Esp) Movistar
54 Jose Joaquin Rojas (Esp) Movistar
55 Grega Bole (Slo) Lampre - ISD
56 Javier Moreno (Esp) Movistar
57 Heinrich Haussler (Aus) Garmin-Barracuda
58 Wilco Kelderman (Ned) Rabobank
59 Jay Mccarthy (Aus) UNI SA - Australia
60 Jérémy Roy (Fra) FDJ - BigMat
61 Luca Paolini (Ita) Katusha
62 Robbie Hunter (RSA) Garmin-Barracuda
63 Thomas De Gendt (Bel) Vacansoleil -DCM
64 Steele Von Hoff (Aus) UNI SA - Australia all s.t.
65 Daniele Ratto (Ita) Liquigas - Cannondale 0:30
66 William Clarke (Aus) UNI SA - Australia 0:36
67 Francesco Masciarelli (Ita) Astana 0:38
68 Gatis Smukulis (Lat) Katusha 0:45
69 Maxim Belkov (Rus) Katusha s.t.
70 Wouter Mol (Ned) Vacansoleil -DCM 0:49
71 Mathias Frank (Sui) BMC 1:02
72 Gert Steegmans (Bel) Omega Pharma-QuickStep 1:08
73 Marcel Sieberg (Ger) Lotto-Belisol 1:16
74 Matthew Brammeier (Irl) Omega Pharma-QuickStep 1:19
75 Matteo Trentin (Ita) Omega Pharma-QuickStep 1:43
76 Davide Vigano (Ita) Lampre - ISD 1:54
77 Marcello Pavarin (Ita) Vacansoleil -DCM 3:04
78 Stefano Agostini (Ita) Liquigas - Cannondale 3:05
79 Alan Marangoni (Ita) Liquigas - Cannondale
80 Jonas Jörgensen (Den) Team Saxo Bank
81 Jacopo Guarnieri (Ita) Astana all s.t.
82 Nathan Haas (Aus) Garmin-Barracuda 3:06
83 Davide Cimolai (Ita) Lampre - ISD 3:08
84 Dmitriy Gruzdev (Kaz) Astana 3:39
85 Adrián Saez (Esp) Euskaltel-Euskadi 3:53
86 Mark Renshaw (Aus) Rabobank 5:38
87 Tom Leezer (Ned) Rabobank s.t.
88 Geraint Thomas (GBr) Sky Procycling 5:52
89 Matt Goss (Aus) GreenEDGE s.t.
90 Massimo Graziato (Ita) Lampre - ISD 6:23
91 Andrew Fenn (GBr) Omega Pharma-QuickStep 7:00
92 David Lopez (Esp) Movistar 7:19
93 Olivier Kaisen (Bel) Lotto-Belisol 8:21
94 Alessandro Petacchi (Ita) Lampre - ISD 12:31
95 Yauheni Hutarovich (Blr) FDJ - BigMat 12:33
96 Manuel Belletti (Ita) AG2R La Mondiale 12:37
97 Tom Palmer (Aus) UNI SA - Australia
98 Hayden Roulston (NZl) RadioShack-Nissan
99 Graeme Brown (Aus) Rabobank
100 Jesse Sergent (NZl) RadioShack-Nissan
101 Imanol Erviti (Esp) Movistar
102 Ricardo Garcia Ambroa (Esp) Euskaltel-Euskadi
103 Mauro Da Dalto (Ita) Liquigas - Cannondale
104 Marcus Burghardt (Ger) BMC
105 Kristof Goddaert (Bel) AG2R La Mondiale
106 Lachlan Norris (Aus) UNI SA - Australia
107 Arnaud Courteille (Fra) FDJ - BigMat
108 Anders Lund (Den) Team Saxo Bank
109 Robbie McEwen (Aus) GreenEDGE
110 Stuart O'Grady (Aus) GreenEDGE
111 Manuel Quinziato (Ita) BMC
112 Luke Durbridge (Aus) GreenEDGE
113 Leigh Howard (Aus) GreenEDGE
114 Jaroslaw Marycz (Pol) Team Saxo Bank
115 Borut Bozic (Slo) Astana
116 Danny Pate (USA) Sky Procycling
117 Dmitri Muravyev (Kaz) Astana
118 Adam Blythe (GBr) BMC
119 Takashi Miyazawa (Jpn) Team Saxo Bank
120 Mattéo Montaguti (Ita) AG2R La Mondiale all s.t.
121 Martijn Maaskant (Ned) Garmin-Barracuda 14:57
122 Andreas Klier (Ger) Garmin-Barracuda 15:27
123 Alex Dowsett (GBr) Sky Procycling
124 Pablo Urtasun Perez (Esp) Euskaltel-Euskadi
125 Valentin Iglinskiy (Kaz) Astana
126 Assan Bazayev (Kaz) Astana
127 Victor Cabedo (Esp) Euskaltel-Euskadi
128 Greg Henderson (NZl) Lotto-Belisol
129 Kenny van Hummel (Ned) Vacansoleil -DCM all s.t.
130 Jos van Emden (Ned) Rabobank 17:45
131 Boris Shpilevsky (Rus) AG2R La Mondiale 23:00

 

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