Ethan Vernon almost followed last month’s Tour Down Under win with a UAE Tour stage victory on Thursday, as his late surge along the corniche in Fujairah proved enough for second on the day.
Vernon was only beaten by Jonathan Milan (LTK), but notably made up significant ground on the Italian after the late catching of the day’s breakaway contributed to an already hectic finish to stage 4.
“It’s slightly disappointing as I felt like I was coming with speed at the end, but I just couldn’t get out until a bit later on,” says Vernon.
“Ideally I’d have launched the sprint a bit earlier, and when I got out, I ran out of room before the line.
“It was a chaotic finale – the break was looking pretty good and I think we only closed it in the last KM.
“I just surfed my way through the last few kilometers. I lost the boys a bit, but I saw INEOS come with a few guys, so I jumped in behind them and they kind of did my lead-out for me.
“Second in the end, but I think I had one of the fastest speeds at the end, so I can take confidence.”
Today’s finish was the first typical bunch sprint of this year’s UAE Tour, with two more opportunities remaining in Dubai on Friday and Abu Dhabi two days later.
“We know we have one of the best sprinters here with Ethan, and we can take confidence from getting second after a hectic finish,” says DS Alex Cataford.
“It was a harder sprint stage than we’d normally have here – a bit more elevation, and that led to a strong breakaway.
“It was touch and go if the break would stay away, so we made sure we put some guys at the front to help bring it back in the last 40KM. It came back right before the line, and the boys did a good job in the final.
“It was a super chaotic sprint, very messy, but they helped each other and we got Ethan where he needed to be going into the last roundabout.
“Ethan did an excellent sprint – when we watched it back it seemed like he was the one coming up with the most speed to the line.”