The Campbell Town veteran claimed an impressive win on the iconic Champs-Élysées in Paris in the inaugural edition of the Virtual Tour de France.

The 42.9-kilometer stage comprised six laps of a 6.6km circuit contested on the app Zwift and, much like the traditional closing stage of the actual Tour, a bunch sprint was expected.

Clarke finished fourth on stage 4 last weekend having led until the final seconds and was determined to go better for his Trek-Segafredo team.

A heavily reduced bunch was still together heading into the final 15km, having averaged nearly 50km/h over the first half-hour of racing.

A perfectly-timed sprint saw Clarke blast past the competition on the line to claim Trek-Segafredo's second stage win in the e-race after Julien Bernard's victory on stage 2.

"I'm really happy with today's race," he said.

"It was obviously pretty hard, and starting out I just had to make sure I stayed at the front. The selection was made pretty early on, and I think there were only 30 or 40 riders left, so I just had to make sure I stayed towards the front and tried to save energy when I could.

"Last week I sprinted too early, but this time I made sure I timed it exactly right. It was hard because I came from a long way back, but it's a nice result to finish off this Virtual Tour de France.

"The goal today was to try and get another stage win after Julien (Bernard) started really well for the team two weeks ago."

In his 12th season as a pro, Clarke's last race was the UAE Tour in February which was abandoned after five of the seven stages due to the escalating pandemic.

Clarke's teammate and fellow 35-year-old Tasmanian Richie Porte is scheduled to lead the Trek-Segafredo charge from August 29 in what will be his 10th Tour de France.

Porte is expected to resume racing at the one-day Mont Ventoux Challenge in France on August 6.

Hobart's ironman triathlete Cam Wurf, 36, represented Team INEOS in the virtual Tour stage.