Clarke fought hard to make the early move, then rode well with his breakaway companions over the nearly 20 kilometres of cobbles during the race. The stage was inspired by the cobbled one-day race, Paris-Roubaix, known as the ‘Hell of the North’ for its unforgiving terrain and frenetic racing.
It was more a case of being one from heaven for Clarke however, as it became clear that the attackers would fight it out for the stage victory. After a series of attacks from riders who were clearly at their physical limit, Clarke was able to respond to Taco van der Hoorn’s (Intermarché–Wanty–Gobert Matériaux) final surge to the line, just coming over the top of his Dutch rival to claim his maiden Tour de France individual stage victory.
It would take a moment for Clarke to be confirmed the winner via the photo finish, and the Aussie collapsed with a combination of tiredness and emotion past the line.
“I can’t believe I got it on the line there, Taco was well ahead of me with 50 metres to go,” said Clarke. “I was cramping in both legs, I just lined up the biggest throw I could possibly do and I just prayed it was enough. I still don’t quite believe it.”
The Victorian broke down in tears passed the finish, the stage win a culmination of decades of effort from moving to Europe as an aspiring professional to reviving his career after being left without a contract in 2022 when his team folded.
“I moved to Europe when I was 16 and I’m 36 on the second rest day,” said Clarke. “So 20 years in Europe and today the dream came true.”
“After the winter I had, when I had no team, to then have Israel ring me up and say ‘we’ll give you that chance’ it gives you such a reality check to make the most of every opportunity. I think you’ve seen that this season, I’ve come out in every race swinging, trying to make the most of every opportunity.
“For these first four days, I’ve been contributing to the team and then checking out and saving as much energy as possible. Zak Dempster (Israel team director) came to me this morning and said to me ‘this is a breakaway day. First one up, so I had to make it count.”
Clarke finished with a tribute to everyone watching his feat from back in Australia late into the night, with the race finishing at 1.13am AEST.
“Hi to everyone in Australia, thanks for the support and I hope I did you proud,” said Clarke.
It was a chaotic stage behind the Australian, with the peloton in turmoil as a number of contenders crashed or suffered mechanicals during the stage, with Australian Jack Haig (Bahrain Victorious) one of the major casualties as he abandoned the race.
Clarke had given little notice of his intention to attack during Stage 5 in a pre-race interview, joking around with SBS interviewer Dan Jones ahead of the racing.
However, when the flag dropped it was all business for the 35-year-old Australian, as he chased down an early move of Edvald Boasson Hagen (TotalEnergies), Magnus Cort (EF Education-EasyPost) and Alexis Gougeard (B&B Hotels-KTM) with Neilson Powless (EF Education-EasyPost) and van der Hoorn to make a group of six at the head of affairs.
The breakaway was working well together, but the peloton was able to let them get much of a lead, with the major teams all keen to stay at the head of affairs to keep their protected riders safe for the cobbled sections. Their maximum lead was three minutes and 50 seconds but that was reduced as the main bunch increased their pace into the first cobble section of Villers-au-Tertre à Fressain.
There was plenty of turmoil behind as general classification favourites suffered mechanicals and crashes, but that did little to effect Clarke and co.
Behind, Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) and Jasper Stuyven (Trek-Segafredo) attacked from the peloton and began to claw back their lead, getting to within 40 seconds of the now front five riders up front with Gougeard dropped.
Briefly distanced with 20 kilometres to go, Clarke rejoined the front group and went to the front on the next cobbled section to control the tempo. Cort was the next one dropped, this time for good, and it was down to just four riders to contest the stage win, with the attack of Stuyven and Pogačar fading slightly from the initial surge.
In the final kilometres, the battle for the stage win began in earnest on the false flat uphill drag to the line in Arenberg. Powless was the first to attack, with an effort that saw the others looking at each other to commit to shut down the move.
Boasson Hagen attacked through the final corner to slightly gap Clarke and van der Hoorn, with the Australian digging deep to drag his way up to the wheel of the attackers. Clarke and van der Hoorn reached the wheel of Boasson Hagen and Powless with just over 300 metres to go, enough time to grab a brief breather before van der Hoorn launched the final sprint.
With everyone clearly on their limit, Clarke set off in pursuit, and while he didn’t have much of an acceleration left in tired legs, he persevered and managed to claw back van der Hoorn slowly before moving to pass and throwing the bike for the line, a few centimetres all there was in it at the finish as Clarke won the race.
“You really have to bide your time,” said Clarke of the finish. “Even when Powless attacked, you have to sit back and pray the other guys panic before you do. I tried to give Edvald (Boasson Hagen) a bit of space so that maybe he would try and get the jump on me. He took the bait and then I really had to chase hard.
“Then Taco went almost straight over the top and I thought ‘It’s still a long way to go and we’ve been sprinting a long time. I just tucked in behind him and just went as hard as I could to the finish.”
The Tour de France continues with a hilly Stage 6 over 219.9 kilometres from Binche to Longwy. Watch on SBS, SBS On Demand and the SBS ŠKODA Tour Tracker.
