Shayne Bannan puts his faith in Simon Clarke as he signs with Green Edge – Cycling News
Green Edge has added another Australian cyclist to their squad as team has signed the former Under-23 champion Simon Clarke for the coming seasons. The 25-year-old who joined Astana in 2011 has decided to change his team only after one season.
He finished Trofeo Laigueglia, Gran Premio dell'Insubria at 8th position and finished 8th overall at the Tour of Britain, 2009 along with the 4th position at the GP Industria & Artigianato followed by the seventh position
at Giro del Friuli.
Clarke made his debut at the Tour of Flanders as he showed some impressive results and was amongst the leading group beating Sylvain Chavanel as he said, “When I saw Chavanel come across the gap I thought 'this guy means business', because I knew that he
was one of the key cards Quickstep had to play." He finished at 70th position and is looking forward to improve his results under the new Australian team.
Clarke spent six years at the Australian Institute of Sport and that helped him building a good relation with Shayne Bannan who is the General Manager of team Green Edge and was quick to accept the offer made by Bannan as Clarke commented that, Shayne has
worked a lot on this team over the previous years and he is feeling great in joining such a big team.
Team Green Edge is in the process of having the UCI Pro Tour licence as Clarke mentioned that such an opportunity cannot be missed. He said, “It’s also great honour to be part of a groundbreaking Australian team.”
Bannan commented about him as he mentioned that Simon’s performance in the 2009 UCI Road World is not hidden from any one as he protected Simon Gerrans and the leader Cadel Evans at such a young age. He is hopeful that signing the youngster in the team will
help Green Edge achieve their goals as Clarke is young and his fighting spirit will come in handy for the team.
Simon helped Cadel Evans winning the UCI World Championships 2009 as the 25-year-old finished the race at 10th position.
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