It may have just been a two minute effort, but it was a brutal extertion from Ethan Vernon that saw the Soudal - Quick-Step man power his way to prologue victory and into the overall lead at the Deutschland Tour.
“It was a really good day. I came here from the Worlds, where I competed on the track, and I’m happy to see the form continues to be there," the Brit recapped to his team's official website post-stage. "I went full gas from the start, found the right pacing and I am incredibly delighted with the outcome, especially as I wasn’t expecting a win today."
As you might expect with such a short, sharp burst of a prologue, the time gaps weren't massive, Vernon edging out Mads Pedersen for the win by just 1.27 seconds. "We have more goals here as a team, we want to do a good general classification and we’ll try to give our best in the next stages," Vernon concludes.
𝐄𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧 𝐕𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐨𝐧 𝐝𝐨𝐞𝐬 𝐢𝐭 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐒𝐨𝐮𝐝𝐚𝐥 𝐐𝐮𝐢𝐜𝐤-𝐒𝐭𝐞𝐩!
— Soudal Quick-Step Pro Cycling Team (@soudalquickstep) August 23, 2023
The Brit takes the victory in the #DeineTour prologue after a fantastic display of speed and power!#No41in2023 #WayToRide pic.twitter.com/Xf1HaeJb1x