Clarke's victory on stage five of the Tour marked the first time Israel-Premier Tech had won a stage at the race, after the Aussie edged ahead of Taco van der Hoorn (Intermarché–Wanty–Gobert Matériaux) in a thrilling photo finish.
The win was noted as additionally significant due to the cobble-heavy 157km route from Lille to Arenberg being widely regarded as one of the most challenging stages of the race.
It was also the first time an Aussie had won a stage at the Grand Tour since Ben O'Connor (AG2R Citroën) in stage nine of last year's race, and Clarke was rightfully overcome with emotion at the finish line.
"I can't believe it. Even when I crossed the line, I didn't think I had won," Clarke said.
"I was still a fairway behind Taco (van der Hoorn) in the final metres and I just threw my bike as hard as I could, thinking it's now or never - maybe I never get close to another stage like this.
"If you panic, you lose and we saw that in the last kilometre today. The important thing is to cross the line first so I was lucky that things worked out well, but I also said that I can't sprint for 800 metres so I need to line this up and have the run at the line at the right time, so in the end it worked out perfectly."
Briton teammate Chris Froome also revelled in Clarke's success on the day - the veteran rider brimming with pride after watching his 35-year-old teammate take out the stage honours.
“Incredible feeling. For us, that victory just made our Tour de France,” Froome said.
“For Simon, he fully deserves it. I’ve been with him on the training camps building up to this race and that win today is probably the biggest victory of his career to date, I’d say.
“Winning on the cobbles – such a monumental stage of the Tour de France like that, it must mean the world to Simon and it certainly meant the world to us as a team – such a young team.
“Our big goal was to try to win a stage of this year’s Tour de France, so to have won this stage, especially, that’s incredibly special for us.”
