The Australian Simon Clarke won only the second grand-tour stage of his career as he outsprinted Bauke Mollema and Allessandro de Marchi at the finish in Roquetas de Mar on Spain’s east coast.
EF Drapac’s Clarke was part of a 25-strong breakaway which splintered down to three riders in the latter stages after he and Mollema caught De Marchi’s lone attack, and the 32-year-old used his nous on the track to edge clear of his co-conspirators on the line.
Briton’s Simon Yates finished safely in the peloton to remain well-positioned fourth overall, 1 min 11 sec behind the surprise new race leader Rudy Molard, the French Cofidis rider who took the red jersey from Team Sky’s Michael Kwiatkowski after he finished the day eight seconds behind the leading trio.
A strong group of general classification challengers are still all within a couple of minutes of Molard, including Nairo Quintana, Thibaut Pinot, George Bennett, Miguel Angel Lopez, Fabio Aru, Rigoberto Uran and David de la Cruz.
“It’s just amazing,” said Clarke afterwards. “I worked so hard since I last won a stage here, and I just couldn’t repeat it. It’s taken me so long to get back there and have my stars aligned. Even today I wasn’t sure it was possible.
“I knew I had good legs, but when you have a breakaway with so many riders, the cooperation is never very good. As we saw, the winning move went on the descent. It was a tricky one to pick. I knew I had good legs and I just had to pray that the moves I was doing were the right ones.
“I grew up on the track since I was 15, it was just like track racing. I know that De Marchi is fast, but it’s such a long stage. It’s so hard to sprint after that. Even I was cramping when Mollema attacked and I just rode through it. I backed myself. I was so worried they would catch us from behind, but in that situation you just have to be as cold as ice. You’ve got to be willing to lose to win, and I was and I came out on top.”
Stage six is one for the sprinters, a flat 156km route finishing in San Javier.
