Simon Clarke flies Australian flag in Florence

Orica GreenEdge's Simon Clarke was the sole Australian finisher at the World Road Race Championships in Florence in seventh, 34 seconds down on race winner, Rui Costa (Portugal). In the reduced bunch sprint for sixth -after Ukrainian Andriy Grivko slipped away for fifth, Clarke was bested only by Peter Sagan as he came in ahead of headline riders such as Fabian Cancellara (Switzerland) and Philippe Gilbert (Belgium).