Less than a month after winning a silver medal at the Olympic Games, Ethan Vernon marked his return to road racing by finishing second in stage 1 of the Tour of Britain.
After a thrilling and combative final 35 kilometers of racing, Vernon was guided to the final 200 meters by teammate and fellow Brit Jake Stewart, but was overhauled by Paul Magnier (SOQ) in sight of the line.
“I’m a bit fed up with seconds at the moment,” Vernon joked afterwards. “The boys did a great job, they delivered me exactly where I needed to be. I just think I lack a bit of racing in the last few months, that’s why the sprint didn’t go to plan. I hesitated too long, but I felt cramp coming on so I had to leave it later than I planned. But, hopefully, with a few more days’ racing we can go one step higher this week.”
Although the stage culminated in the much-anticipated sprint, the action leading up to the finish was centered around the race’s GC favorites. Stevie Williams covered a multi-team move on the penultimate climb of Scott’s View, before Nick Schultz, Joe Blackmore, and Stewart also outlined their form by following accelerations from the likes of Remco Evenepoel, Julian Alaphilippe, and Tom Pidcock.
Despite this being his first road race since the Giro d’Italia in May, Vernon was able to keep in contact with the front group, even as the pace increased.
He adds: “I could see guys like Remco and Julian going off, and I could see teammates like Joe and Stevie covering the moves, so there was no stress from me about that. I managed to get myself over the climbs in the front group, so I’m pretty happy with the form.”
Stewart finished ninth to cap a solid day’s work for IPT, with Williams and Blackmore expected to feature heavily during Wednesday’s undulating second stage from Darlington to Redcar.
