"We’re not just here for a January holiday in the lead-up to the European season" - Simon Clarke on the underestimated importance of Tour Down Under

It may only be January 19th but the attention of many a rider and team is already focused on the UCI World Tour points race for the end of the season. That's why, according to Simon Clarke, the importance of the Tour Down Under cannot be underestimated.

“Particularly since the points tables were introduced, and there being quite a lot of points available in January, teams don’t assign the whole team but there’s a group of seven guys that they assign at the end of the previous season to say ‘we need you to be ready for January so that we can maximise the possibilities of scoring points’,” the vastly experienced, Israel - Premier Tech star told GCN.

Clarke's Israel - Premier Tech were actually relegated from World Tour status at the end of the last cycle, so the Australian knows the threat better than most. “We still go about the race the same, everyone wants to win, and if you win you score points. So the way you go about the race probably hasn’t changed, it’s more just making sure that everyone’s here ready to race," he explains. "We’re not just here for a January holiday in the lead-up to the European season, which is maybe what some people use this race as.”

Having been around the sport for such a long time, Clarke has also seen a drastic change in recent seasons, regarding the points system. “The sport’s constantly growing and you have to adapt,” the Australian concludes. “It is getting faster but so is the equipment and the training methods, so you just have to keep adapting and keep up with the times. It’s good I think, I like the way cycling’s evolving.”