2012 Tour Down Under: Stage 2 Results

William Clarke, the last rider selected to ride in the 2012 Tour Down Under, survived an early breakaway to notch a solo win in Stirling after riding at the front for nearly the entire race.

Stage 2 of the 2012 Tour Down Under, a 148 km race from Lobethal to Stirling, rolled out at 11 a.m. local time on Wednesday.

South-southwesterly wind was expected during the day and gusts were expected to reach about 25km/h, gusting to 40km/h at times. Because the Lobethal to Stirling course is a looping one through hills and gullies, the gusty winds caused a crosswind for large portions of the race, making it difficult for competitors to hold their line. The starting temperature at Lobethal was a cool 21 degrees, warming to 25-26 degrees as riders were to sprint into Stirling.

The race had two sprint point sections and a KOM. Jayco Sprint #1 is at the 23.7 mark of the race, at Main Street in Mount Torrens. Jayco Sprint #2 is at Onkaparinga Valley Rd., at the 62.4 km mark. The Škoda King of the Mountain section for this race is at Fox Creek Road, Lenswood, near Croft Road, at the 46.7 km mark.

The race was barely out of Lobethal when two riders, Will Clarke (UniSA) and Martin Kohler (BMC), attacked. They were soon joined by Michael Matthews (Rabobank). The peloton originally was holding the reins fairly tight, allowing just a 5 minute advantage, but by the 100km mark, the gap was up to ten minutes.

Kohler took the first sprint with Clarke and Matthews taking the second and third place points.

Clarke moved up to the front to grab the top KOM points, moving himself into the mountains jersey. Kohler, Machado and De Gendt took the rest.

Kohler regrouped for the second intermediate sprint at Onkaparinga Valley Road before dropping back into the peloton. Clarke moved to the front and was the first to hit the final circuit with an 11’40″ lead. Rabobank. Radioshack Nissan Trek and Team Sky were sharing the work at the front of the peloton. Word from radio reports was that Stage 1 winner Andre Greipel was hurting and was nowhere to be seen near the front.

With 23km remaining, Clarke was holding onto his lead with 9 minutes over the gruppo. GreenEDGE was now doing the chasing.

Clarke’s lead was just over 8 minutes with 17 kilometers to go. It seemed certain that he would be able to hang on, but it was still to be seen if he could move into the leader’s jersey.

10km to go, and Clarke still had 5 minutes and 5 seconds over the peloton. The locals were going crazy over this one. Clarke was the last rider selected to be in the race this year. Movistar and Rabobank were leading the peloton.

5km to go and Clarke had just over 4 minutes over the peloton. Movistar and BMC were chasing now, trying to preserve some position in the general classification. Clarke was deep inside the pain cave at this point.

Clarke was holding on to a 2’35″ lead with 3 km to. If he was able to come in with more than a two minute gap, he would move into the lead. Euskaltel-Euskadi had now moved into the front to chase.

Clarke wins the stage with the peloton rolling in at more than a minute back.

Brief Results:

1. William Clarke , (AUS) UniSA, at 3:58:35
2. Michael Matthews , (AUS) Rabobnak, at 1:02
3. Simon Gerrans , (AUS) GreenEDGE, at 1:02
4. Alejandro Valverde , (ESP) Movistar, at 1:02
5. Edvald Boasson-Hagen , (NOR) Sky, at 1:02
6. Oscar Freire , (ESP) Katusha, at 1:02
7. Greg Van Avermaet , (BEL) BMC Racing, at 1:02
8. Luke Roberts, (AUS) Saxo Bank, at 1:02
9. Gerald Ciolek , (GER) Omega Pharma Quick Step, at 1:02
10. Heinrich Haussler, (AUS) Garmin-Barracuda at 1:02

General Classification After Stage 2:

1. Martin Kohler , (SUI) BMC Racing, at 8:33:05
2. André Greipel , (GER) Lotto-Belisol, at 2
3. Michael Matthews , (AUS) Rabobank, at 4
4. Simon Gerrans , (AUS) GreenEDGE, at 8
5. Rohan Dennis , (AUS) UniSA, at 9
6. Eduard Vorganov, (RUS) Katusha, at 10
7. Xavier Florencio, (ESP) Katusha, at 12
8. Jonathan Cantwell, (AUS) Saxo Bank, at 12
9. Jan Bakelants, (BEL) Radioshack Nissan Trek, at 12
10. Luke Roberts, (AUS) Saxo Bank, at 12