Simon Clarke has spoken about his decision to give Richie Porte his wheel after Porte punctured close to the finish line on stage ten of the Giro, a decision that cost both men two minutes and 200 Swiss francs.

“Richie punctured right in the middle of a roundabout. He was right behind one of his teammates, but they obviously didn’t hear him puncture, and I was already stopped with him, trying not to crash,” Clarke told journalists. “I was directly behind him, and I didn’t notice any of his teammates around. It was a spontaneous reaction to give him my wheel, being an Aussie and a good friend. I just acted on instinct. I didn’t even think. I just did what I thought was right, and tried to support a friend.”

“The penalty is really unfortunate. That certainly wasn’t my intention. I was just trying to help a mate,” Clarke explained. “You’d never wish someone to puncture in such an unfortunate moment, especially for a GC guy who could lose the race for that.”

Clarke says that he doesn’t regret his decision to give Porte the wheel, saying he made a decision and he will stick to his decision, even though the UCI have frowned on it.

“Regret isn’t probably the right word, especially when someone acted and tried to do the best thing at the time,” Clarke said. “When you’re racing at 60kph, you have less than one second to make a decision. That’s the decision I made, and I have to stand by that.”