William Clarke wins 2nd stage of Tour Down Under

ADELAIDE, Australia (AP) - Unheralded Australian William Clarke won the second stage of cycling's Tour Down Under on Wednesday, defying the peleton in one of the boldest individual breakaways in the history of the World Tour event.

The 26-year-old Clarke was the last rider selected for the six-stage tour when he was added to the UniSA team after finishing fifth and winning the sprint classification at the Australian national road championships.

He made the best of a rare appearance in elite professional company Wednesday, first joining Switzerland's Martin Kohler in a two-man break, then leading on his own for half of the 148 kilometer (92 mile) stage from Lobethal to Stirling in the Adelaide Hills.

Clarke led an Australian clean sweep of the podium placings as Michael Matthews finished second and Simon Gerrans third.

Spain's Alessandro Valverde, competing in his first race after a two-year doping ban, finished fourth on the stage - 1 minute, 2 seconds behind Clarke and moved up to 20th place on general classification, 12 seconds from Kohler's overall lead.

Clarke and Martin Kohler, of U.S.-based BMC Racing Team, broke away from the peleton after less than a kilometer of Wednesday's stage and were more than 10 minutes or 3 kilometers (2 miles) ahead after 40 kilometers (25 miles).

Kohler started the day in third place on general classification and only four seconds behind first stage winner and race leader Andre Greipel of Germany.

He picked up a three second time bonus when he won the first intermediate sprint, to close within one second of Greipel, then took the overall lead on the road when he also won the second intermediate sprint at the 62.4-kilometer (39-mile) mark.

Kohler then sat up and fell back to the peleton while Clarke continued on his own. His lead peaked at more than 12 minutes and he was still 10 minutes, 50 seconds ahead at the 105-kilometer (61-mile) mark.

When the peleton roused itself, it closed quickly but Clarke was able to stay ahead over three 20-kilometer laps through the finish line at Stirling.

After 132 kilometers, his lead was down to 5 minutes, 5 seconds; with 10 kilometers to go he led by 4 minutes, 20 seconds and 5 kilometers from the finish he was still in front by 4 minutes, 10 seconds.

He was still able to hold the peleton at bay by more than a minute to achieve his most important professional victory.

"This is unbelievable really," Clarke said. "I was up the road with a BMC rider (Kohler) to get some sprints points and I kept going when he went back to the peleton.

"I was dying in the last 10 kilometers. It's amazing that a breakaway rider can stay away for so long."

Two riders were unable to start Wednesday's stage after suffering serious injuries in a crash 800 meters from the start of the first stage, reducing the peleton to 131 riders.

Jurgen Roelandts of Greipel's Lotto-Belisol team is in Royal Adelaide Hospital with a fracture to the C6 vertebra in his neck. The fracture was stable and he does not require surgery.

Frederic Guesdon, of the FDJ-Big Mat team, suffered a fractured pelvis.

Thursday's fourth stage will take riders 134.5 kilometers (84 miles) from Unley to Victor Harbor.

Conditions on Wednesday were much milder than for stage one when riders battled fierce crosswinds and temperatures of up to 40 degrees Celsius (102 degrees Fahrenheit).