William Clarke and his teammates made it clear that Drapac Professional Cycling came to Amgen Tour of California to factor aggressively in the race and put the Drapac Brand and philosophy in the spotlight. Clarke spent the nearly the entire day driving a powerful three-man breakaway, taking all three sprints, earning the KOM and the Break Away from Cancer Most Courageous Jerseys.

”The break went pretty early in the day and was nearly 200km in the breakaway for me today. We were working well together and I am happy with today to earn the jerseys,” Clarke said. “This is a good place for the team to start this race off. This is one of the most important races for us this season so I am glad we can start off well.”

The race began with a neutral lap around downtown Sacramento before heading out to the flat open countryside. The four-man break of Rob Britton (Team Smartstop), Robert Sweeting (Team Smartstop), and Steve Fisher (Jelly Belly p/b Maxxis) jumped at just over 10km and the gap grew to five minutes at one stage. Clarke handily took the first two sprints of the day.

At  140km, Britton decided to sit up and go back to the peloton leaving the other three to push on. With just under 40km remaining, the main group began to get organized and the gap quickly came back to 1:50. With 12 km to go, it became a two man show with Clarke and Sweeting battling for the final sprint of the day, with Clarke taking it.

“I was pushing hard as we headed into town. I wish the break could have stuck like a few years ago in Down Under but that is racing. I am pleased with today and the effort.” Clarke added.

The breakaway was absorbed with 8.5 km to go, with the dominant sprint teams reorganizing for the final. Graeme Brown unfortunately flatted with just under 8km to go, leaving sprinter Wouter Wippert down his lead out. Wippert came across 7th in the sprint, with Mark Cavendish taking the win again in Sacramento.

“We wanted to start California on a positive note and Will executed the teams race plan perfectly. He is an incredible athlete and has a natural instinct of getting in the right moves. He rode cleverly out there, on a long and windy stage – he conserved when he could and ensured he had enough towards the end to take out the third intermediate sprint,” Keith Flory, Sports Director said.

Tomorrow’s stage starts in Nevada City and with just one climb  this will likely be another sprinter-friendly stage.

“We came to this race in mind with what we did today. We want to be active in the stages, and also going for the sprints. Getting to wear the jersey tomorrow is a bonus but the real focus will be keeping our team together and going for it again tomorrow,” Tom Southam, Sports Director said.