It was almost the perfect start: Ethan Vernon, making his debut in the Vuelta a España, narrowly missed out on taking the victory and the maglia rossa in Saturday’s opening stage in Novara, Italy.
“I wanted to win, but in the end, second is not bad, and it gives us confidence for the rest of the race,” says Vernon.
The British rider, who turns 25 on Tuesday, previously recorded his best Grand Tour stage result in last year’s Giro d’Italia. He placed seventh on stage 3, which coincidentally started in Navara, the location of today’s finish.
Having been brilliantly supported by his IPT teammates – who were active in the peloton throughout the stage, and helped ensure that the day’s six-rider breakaway never stood any chance of causing an upset – the Brit started the sprint and was only beaten to the line by 14-time Grand Tour stage winner Jasper Philipsen.
“We were at the front and then we were at the back and then we were at the front again, so in the end, we took it up, which we weren’t planning to do,” says Vernon. “In the end, I had Jasper’s wheel. He was super fast. I tried to jump him by taking the sprint up myself, but his lead-out man took me a bit wide.
“I wasn’t a million miles away, and we’ve got four more opportunities. Anything can happen on a different day. So I’m pretty confident we can go one further this race.”
Sports Director Daryl Impey praised Vernon and his teammates’ efforts, saying: “I think we are right where we wanted to be. Obviously, we are sprinting against some top quality guys, but we were really close today.
“I think the team rode really well today, for the whole day. We probably exceeded the expectations in that final KM, having more guys there than we thought, so I think it just shows that we’re building a nice group here for Ethan.
“Ethan taking the sprint up with 200 metres to go shows that he’s got confidence in himself to go for the win, too, which is exciting to see.”