Australian biking veteran Simon Clarke has earned an impressive, last-ditch Tour de France triumph to crown 20 years of slog on Europe’s roads after a brutal, crash-strewn cobbled stage.
However whereas the 35-year-old Israel-Premier Tech rider was left in floods of joyous tears after edging a lung-bursting dash to win the fifth stage in a photo-finish on Wednesday, it proved a calamitous day for Australia’s greatest hitters on the Tour.
Jack Haig, chief of Bahrain Victorious, deserted the race after a crash whereas AG2R Citroën’s Ben O’Connor, Australia’s prime hope to win the title, had a disastrous day after a mechanical failure, ending greater than three minutes down on race favorite, champion Tadej Pogačar.
And there was extra grand tour distress for Australian star sprinter Caleb Ewan, who took a nasty tumble when operating headlong right into a protecting hay bale which had come unfastened in conjunction with the street with 30km left.
Clarke’s career-defining triumph got here after a chaotic 157km journey from Lille to Arenberg, that includes greater than 19km of the “Hell of the North” cobbles round Roubaix, which had been anticipated to trigger havoc – and most actually did.
Belgian Wout van Aert was certainly one of many to tumble off his bike however one way or the other got here dwelling unscathed to retain the general lead.
Pogačar gained time over all his rivals together with an enormous chunk over his Slovenian buddy and rival, Primož Roglič, one of many pre-race favourites, who additionally got here down within the incident that floored Ewan.
Although Roglič dislocated his shoulder, then popped it again in himself and continued – he's already greater than two and 1 / 4 minutes behind fourth-placed Pogačar earlier than the Tour has even reached the mountains.
It was the best day of Clarke’s 13-year professional profession after the Melburnian, whose earlier profession highlights have been profitable two levels on the Vuelta a España and being a part of a group time trial win within the 2013 Tour, pulled out all of the stops to win by a hair’s breadth.
Sprinting out of the remnants of an early breakaway, the Australian timed his ultimate fling completely in an exciting four-man denouement, edging out Dutchman Taco van der Hoorn.
It was a tremendous end result for Clarke, who puzzled if he had reached the tip of his profession final winter when he was left with out a group.
“To have Israel ring me up and say, ‘We’ll provide you with that probability,’ simply offers you such a actuality examine to benefit from each alternative,” mentioned Clarke.
“All yr this season, I’ve come out in each race swinging.
“I nonetheless can’t consider I received it on the road there. Taco was effectively forward of me with lower than 50 metres to go. I used to be cramping in each legs and I simply lined up the largest throw I may presumably do and I simply prayed it was sufficient.
“I want to look at the replay, I nonetheless don’t fairly consider it!
“I moved to Europe after I was 16 – and I flip 36 on the second relaxation day [18 July]. That’s 20 years in Europe and the dream lastly got here true!”
Elsewhere, it was simply distress for the Australians, with O’Connor now 67th total, 4:34 behind Van Aert, who leads by 13 seconds from American Neilson Powless, 14 seconds from Boasson Hagen and 19 from Pogačar, who already appears to be like effectively set to realize his hat-trick.
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