After sprinting to his first win of 2024 at the Tour des Alpes – Maritimes two weeks ago, Ethan Vernon showed his versatility with a strong performance against the clock on the opening day of Tirreno – Adriatico.
The Brit tackled the 10-kilometer flat time trial course in Lido di Camaoire on his Factor HANZŌ to stop the clock at 11:37 and was initially awarded third place, before dropping one place in the official results, which sees him sitting amongst some of the best time trialists in the peloton.
“I felt really good actually,” said an elated Vernon at the finish. “I spent quite a bit of time in the wind tunnel on this bike in the winter, optimizing different things and obviously working really hard on the track ahead of the Olympics. So it’s nice to show that the hard work has paid off on the track and also with the time trial training.”
While short and sharp prologues are more suited to Vernon, as seen with his Deutschland Tour prologue win in 2023, Vernon liked the surprisingly technical course in Lido di Camaoire.
“It wasn’t a straight forward time trial. It looked it on paper because it was out an out and back time trial but the little 90-degree corners on and off the course were actually really tight which really killed the speed. So it was a very on and off effort, it wasn’t a standard British time trial where you flatline the pace but it was a good course. I prefer it like that as there’s a bit more to it, a bit more than just power with a bit of technical ability too.”
With stage 2 of Tirreno – Adriatico expected to be a bunch sprint, Vernon will have another chance to show his form in Italy.
