There was no doubting that Ethan Vernon had come into the Santos Tour Down Under with strong form, not after he had claimed second place in the prologue on Tuesday, but up until now, things just hadn’t quite fallen into place to make the most of the limited sprint opportunities that existed in this year’s climber-friendly event.
A day that started out looking like it was going pear-shaped for the team, however, changed all that.
“Today’s stage was meant to be for our climbers, George [Bennett] and [Nick] Schultz, and then last night it got changed, so we had to readapt our plan,” said Vernon in the post-race media conference for stage 4, which had the three ascents of Willunga hill removed due to the intense heat – over 40°C – and extreme fire conditions. “And then we lost Corbin [Strong] and Jake to keep up the lead out, at the start of the stage, so again, we had to change it again during the stage.”
“Ethan actually won quite easily and Brady Gilmore – in his first World Tour race – he’s been doing a great job and he actually did a really good job for Ethan in the final, putting him in the right position, and then kind of tried to stay behind him to protect the wheel. That worked perfectly for Ethan.”
“I really wanted to win out here. I wanted to start this season strong. We’ve got a new setup with the team, and to be the first rider to win in this jersey is really special,” said Vernon, who seemed to thrive in the heat, despite coming from temperatures in the…
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