Ethan Vernon made it two stage wins in two stages at the Tour of Slovakia. After taking out the prologue ahead of teammates Josef Cerny and Michael Mørkøv, Vernon was led expertly to the finale of stage 1 in Trnava where he out-sprinted Astana's Gleb Syritsa.
The stage win extended the Briton's lead in the race to 17 seconds over Cerny and 25 on Mørkøv.
“It was the first day of my career in the leader’s jersey and I couldn’t have asked for a better outcome. We wanted a bunch sprint today and the guys made sure we’d have one. They were the only ones pulling and rode incredibly today," Vernon said.
"In the final kilometers the speed they pushed was so high that nobody could pass us, so this is their victory. I knew I was in good form after the prologue and I’m happy with this win. Keeping yellow tomorrow will be very difficult, but I will give my best."
Results powered by FirstCycling
-
Maggie Coles-Lyster wins Tour Down Under Women's One-Day Race, sprinting from reduced bunch after crashes in final kilometres
Canadian sprints to victory at ProSeries event in Australia after crashing two laps before finish -
‘A few things that we want to tweak’ - Runner up spot again for Matthew Brennan in Tour Down Under stage 1 but optimistic for next chance
“We're very aware of what we need to work on now and we're very confident that we can fix that," says rider from Great Britain who is leading the young rider classification -
As it happened: Danish rider outsprints favourites to win stage 1 at Tour Down Under
Peloton take on three ascents of Menglers Hill and a flat finish after a wickedly fast descent into Tanunda -
Tour Down Under: Tobias Lund Andresen holds off speeding Matthew Brennan to win tight stage 1 sprint
Dane takes ochre leader's jersey as Sam Welsford is third in Tanunda
