Clarke leads a Unitedhealthcare 1-2-3 in Somerville

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The Unitedheadlthcare team has continued its strong run of form by taking an impressive 1-2-3 at the Tour of Somerville. Hilton Clarke was the first from the 'blue train' across the line while lead-out man Karl Menzies still had plenty in the tank to take second and Carlos Alzate rounded-out the podium in third.

Unitedhealthcare worked hard to bring back a dangerous escape that at one point extended out to over 45-seconds but the additional firepower of Robert Förster, who returned from a knee injury that sidelined him earlier in the year meant the team had that little bit extra in reserve when it came to line-out the sprint.

Race winner Clarke paid tribute to the return of 'Frösi' along with the rest of his teammates who were again tirless in their pursuit of the breakaway.

"Today was a very special race for the team as we had Frösi back for the first time since his bad injury," said Clarke. "The team was really excited that he is OK and back racing with us. We put no pressure on him but asked that he hit the front with 500m to go and give us all he had. Frösi did and got Karl to the 250m to go and that was a big part of us being able to sweep the podium.

"Aldo (Ilesic) and Jonny (Clarke) also did an amazing job riding the front from 10 laps to go to bring back a dangerous break of four riders which at one point had 45 seconds on us."

Second on the day Menzies was elated with the outcome of the day and also gave a shout-out to his teammate Förster.

"It was a great day for everyone here. All of the guys on the team did their job perfectly and then some. Jonny went all out to bring the break back and Aldo was just unbelievable with his effort, which in the end set us up for a podium sweep. He got Frösi a long ways down the home straight, so when he kicked hard, I knew we were good to go.

"By the time I started my effort, we had 250m to go and I hit out knowing we still had Hilton and Carlos behind me and our chances were good for first, second and third. It was great racing with a different few guys as well as having Frösi back from injury."

In the women's event it was the Australian criterium champion Kimberley Wells (Fearless Femme Racing p/b Pure Energy) that took the win ahead of Amy Cutler and Laura Brown from the Colavita Fina Cooking squad.

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