William Clarke proved his worth after the Stage 2 win at the Santos Tour Down Under
After a splendid performance, William Clarke proved his true worth at the second stage of Santos Tour Down Under 2012.
The cyclist failed to make it through to the final RadioShack-Nissan roaster and accepted an offer from Asia’s first Professional Continental side, Champion System.
Clarke secured the biggest win of his career during the second stage of the Santos Tour. It was his first ever victory at the World Tour level and the cyclist is now positive to dominate the remaining stages of the race.
The 26-year-old made his debut with Team Ag2r-La Mondiale in 2010, and accepted an offer from the Leopard Trek squad in 2011.
He finished 5th at the Oceania Cycling Championships 2009, alongside securing a third place finish at the Tour de Taiwan 2010.
The top two teams in the sport, RadioShack and Leopard Trek, decided to join hands for the season ahead and William was not included in the squad. He was amongst many other riders who were left without a team after the merger.
The Australian finished the race in a total time of 3 hours, 58 minutes and 35 seconds by taking a lead of 1 minute and 2 seconds over Michael Mathews.
William is currently at the 66th position after the stage 2 General Classifications, with a deficit of 36 seconds behind Martin Kohler.
William Clarke is also leading the Jayco Sprints Overall Classifications with 21 points to his credit.
He commented on winning the race, "It's going to give me a confidence boost. I had a bit of a hard year last year but now I'm back so we'll see what happen now".
Clarke was leading the 148 kilometre stage 2 of the race, with BMC’s Martin Kohler continuing to dominate the top podium position in the General Classification after stage 2.
Team Manager Dave Sander appreciated his efforts. "What he did was huge," explained team manager Dave Sanders.
He continued, "It wasn't just physically and mentally, emotionally... He took it on and said, 'I can race these guys.' He took it up... big heart, big, big character; I'm really pleased he got something from it”.
Clarke has provided his team with a perfect start to begin the 2012 season. Dave believes that Team Champion System is very much capable of winning the overall classifications at the race.
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