Tour de Romandie

Stage 1: Crissier - Vallée de Joux

CH Switzerland Wednesday 26 April 2023 170.9 km

Vernon keeps the ball rolling for the Wolfpack in Romandie

Vernon keeps the ball rolling for the Wolfpack in Romandie

Ethan Vernon scored a crushing sprint victory on stage 1 of the Swiss race, after a great lead-out of Casper Pedersen, who placed him in a perfect position with 300 meters to go. A winner of three races in the first couple of weeks of the season, Ethan remained calm in a hectic finale, before launching down the middle of the road and stomping his sprinting authority in Vallée de Joux.

“It’s the second World Tour success of my career after the one in the Volta a Catalunya last year, and just like back then, it feels great to win at this level”, said one of the youngest riders to take a Tour de Romandie stage victory this century.

The day contained three classified climbs, but a flawless teamwork of his Soudal Quick-Step teammates helped the Brit make it over the stage’s difficulties, where many of the other sprinters got dropped. Dries Devenyns did a fabulous job, keeping things together for most of the stage, before Rémi Cavagna and even overall leader Josef Cerny took over in the closing kilometres, making sure Vernon remained well-positioned under the flamme rouge.

Following this victory and the bonus seconds it brought, the 22-year-old went straight to the top of the general classification, ahead of Josef, and will sport the yellow jersey on the hilly stage to La Chaux-de-Fonds.

“It was difficult on the climbs, as some teams upped the tempo and pushed hard, but I survived thanks to the boys. I am grateful to them, not just for their help there, but also for the mammoth work they put in the entire day. I already had three victories this season before today, but the last of these came two months ago, so it feels good to win again. Leading this race is a bonus, and I will enjoy wearing yellow on Thursday”, added Ethan after Soudal Quick-Step’s 21st victory of the year.

 

Photo credit: ©Dario Belingheri / Getty Images

Race details

1 Ethan Vernon
Soudal - Quick Step
4:05:34
2 Thibau Nys
Trek - Segafredo
0:00
3 Milan Menten
Lotto Dstny
0:00
4 Romain Bardet
Team DSM
0:00
5 Jacopo Mosca
Trek - Segafredo
0:00
6 Nick Schultz
Israel - Premier Tech
0:00
7 Lilian Calmejane
Intermarché - Circus - Wanty
0:00
8 Clément Venturini
AG2R Citroën Team
0:00
9 Ivo Oliveira
UAE Team Emirates
0:00
10 Quinten Hermans
Alpecin-Deceuninck
0:00
39 Rémi Cavagna
Soudal - Quick Step
0:00
52 Casper Pedersen
Soudal - Quick Step
0:00
74 Fausto Masnada
Soudal - Quick Step
0:00
78 Josef Černý
Soudal - Quick Step
0:00
84 James Knox
Soudal - Quick Step
0:00
119 Dries Devenyns
Soudal - Quick Step
2:44
1 Ethan Vernon
Soudal - Quick Step
4:12:59
2 Josef Černý
Soudal - Quick Step
0:00
3 Tobias Foss
Jumbo-Visma
0:01
4 Rémi Cavagna
Soudal - Quick Step
0:01
5 Nico Denz
BORA - hansgrohe
0:04
6 Joel Suter
Tudor Pro Cycling Team
0:05
7 Ethan Hayter
INEOS Grenadiers
0:05
8 Mikkel Bjerg
UAE Team Emirates
0:09
9 Matteo Sobrero
Team Jayco AlUla
0:09
10 Ivo Oliveira
UAE Team Emirates
0:09
16 Casper Pedersen
Soudal - Quick Step
0:13
20 Fausto Masnada
Soudal - Quick Step
0:15
73 James Knox
Soudal - Quick Step
0:31
119 Dries Devenyns
Soudal - Quick Step
3:06
1 Ethan Vernon
Soudal - Quick Step
57 pt
2 Tobias Foss
Jumbo-Visma
40 pt
3 Josef Černý
Soudal - Quick Step
30 pt
4 Thibau Nys
Trek - Segafredo
30 pt
5 Rémi Cavagna
Soudal - Quick Step
22 pt
6 Nico Denz
BORA - hansgrohe
22 pt
7 Milan Menten
Lotto Dstny
20 pt
8 Romain Bardet
Team DSM
18 pt
9 Joel Suter
Tudor Pro Cycling Team
17 pt
10 Ivo Oliveira
UAE Team Emirates
17 pt
23 Casper Pedersen
Soudal - Quick Step
6 pt
1 Julien Bernard
Trek - Segafredo
21 pt
2 Dario Lillo
Switzerland
12 pt
3 Michael Schär
AG2R Citroën Team
6 pt
4 Tobias Bayer
Alpecin-Deceuninck
4 pt
5 Kenny Elissonde
Trek - Segafredo
3 pt
6 Egan Bernal Gómez
INEOS Grenadiers
2 pt
7 Jonathan Klever Caicedo Cepeda
EF Education-EasyPost
2 pt
8 Joel Suter
Tudor Pro Cycling Team
1 pt
9 Jonathan Castroviejo Nicolás
INEOS Grenadiers
1 pt
10 Jan Stöckli
Switzerland
1 pt
1 Ethan Vernon
Soudal - Quick Step
4:12:59
2 Juan Ayuso Pesquera
UAE Team Emirates
0:12
3 Finn Fisher-Black
UAE Team Emirates
0:12
4 Johan Price-Pejtersen
Bahrain - Victorious
0:12
5 Thibau Nys
Trek - Segafredo
0:15
6 Max Poole
Team DSM
0:16
7 Matteo Jorgenson
Movistar Team
0:19
8 Oscar Onley
Team DSM
0:23
9 Kévin Vauquelin
Team Arkéa Samsic
0:25
10 Ewen Costiou
Team Arkéa Samsic
0:26
1 Soudal - Quick Step 12:39:08
2 UAE Team Emirates 0:19
3 Tudor Pro Cycling Team 0:22
4 Bahrain - Victorious 0:26
5 Jumbo-Visma 0:29
6 INEOS Grenadiers 0:30
7 BORA - hansgrohe 0:32
8 Movistar Team 0:32
9 Team DSM 0:35
10 EF Education-EasyPost 0:40

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