“My original plan was to go to Track Worlds" - Ethan Vernon ends difficult 2024 with first World Tour victory of the year at Tour of Guangxi

British sprinter Ethan Vernon has had a mixed first season in the colours of Israel - Premier Tech in 2024. Ending the campaign on a high though, the 24-year-old has taken his first World Tour victory of the campaign on stage 3 of the Tour of Guangxi.

In a thrilling finale to the day's racing, Vernon narrowly prevailed ahead of UAE Team Emirates' Juan Sebastian Molano, only on the bike throw. “I’m really happy,” he said in his post-stage interview afterqards. “I’ve been struggling a bit after the Olympic Games to get back into it. In training, my shape is getting better and better but I just haven’t really had the results to prove it. I’ve had a good week so far and a few close calls so I’m really happy that I could end the season with a win."

In fact, Vernon wasn't even initially planned to head to China for the Tour of Guangxi, but after Olympic disappointment the Brit decided to park his track ambitions for the meantime and focus on ending the road season on a high. “My original plan was to go to Track Worlds but after the Olympics, I was pretty down because it hadn’t gone to plan and really struggling. I started getting my rhythm back on the road and didn’t really fancy going back to the track and wanted to focus on the road. So I really pushed hard to be selected for the team here as I really believed that I could win a stage,” he explains. “I put some pressure on myself as I told the team this so I felt like I had to deliver.”

“We changed the tactic a bit from previous days. We were leading Riley Pickrell out instead and I had a free card, which actually worked out really well as it ended up being an extended lead out," Vernon concludes. “There was a slight headwind and maybe Riley opened up a bit too early out of Jake Stewart's wheel, which gave me the advantage. What we did was perfect, so everyone is really happy.”