After a race against the clock yesterday, it was time for the sprinters to shine on Tour Down Under stage 1 and although the stage didn’t play out how the team hoped, Ethan Vernon managed to hold on for fifth place in the bunch sprint in Tanunda following his second place in the prologue.
The nerves were high in the peloton on the first lap of the course through the Barossa Valley and Corbin Strong found himself caught up in an early crash that left the Kiwi banged up but able to finish the stage.
In the first sprint of the season, Vernon, who was looking after the sprinter’s blue jersey today, found himself coming from a distance and in the final stages of the sprint, the Brit was boxed in.
“We were being patient for it to open up like it has in previous years and it didn’t really so we were a bit boxed in at the end,” explains Vernon. “So we had to do a last minute effort which kind of killed the sprint. In the end, we salvaged fifth place. Not the win, not a horrendous start either, but a good starting point.
“The sensations were good. You could tell there were a lot of nerves in the peloton today with it being most guys’ first real race of the season after a few months of people not being in the peloton. There were a few crashes and unfortunately Corbin went down, but hopefully tomorrow is a bit calmer. We’ll keep fighting for another win.”.
Sports Director Sam Bewley reiterated Vernon’s account of the stage saying “It didn’t go in an ideal way for us.
“Corbin crashed pretty hard in the first 30 kilometers and he’s a bit banged up. Then, we didn’t get it right in the sprint. We didn’t get the side of the road or the side of the bunch we wanted which made things a bit harder and more hectic for the guys and Ethan had to come from quite far back. We didn’t get the win but Ethan is clearly in good shape so we’ll look at the video and see what we could have done better ahead of his next opportunities.”.
Stage 2 sees the peloton tackle the infamous Corkscrew climb twice before finishing in Uraidla.
Photos: (C) Sprint Cycling