"Luckily I had the legs to follow and survive the climbs" - Ethan Vernon takes second World Tour victory at the Tour de Romandie

Ethan Vernon proved the strongest of the remaining quick men after a chaotic stage one of the Tour de Romandie and continued Soudal - Quick-Step's recent hot-streak, much to his delight.

“This is very nice, because it is my second WorldTour victory after last year's Tour of Catalonia,” he says in his post-stage interview. "That's why it's nice to win again in the WorldTour. We knew it was going to be difficult. Luckily I had the legs to follow and survive the climbs. I took advantage of that.”

The 22-year-old's victory comes a day after his teammate Josef Cerny took the opening prologue win and last weekend of course, Remco Evenepoel rode to a dominant Liege-Bastogne-Liege success. With the Giro d'Italia close at hand, things are looking positive for Soudal - Quick-Step.

“That is very special. I will take over the jersey from a teammate. But luckily keeping him in the squad. As a team, we are winning a lot anyway. It is certainly good for me, because this spring I had already won three times, but then I got sick. It's great that I'm winning now that I'm fit again," Vernon continues. “Tomorrow's stage is again difficult, but I had good legs today. If it doesn't work out, we have more riders in the team who can take their chance."