When a rider wins the general classification by the second-biggest margin in the race’s history, you can’t help but be happy with second place, and that was exactly the case for Jayco AlUla as Mauro Schmid confirmed his runner-up spot behind Jay Vine at Sunday’s Tour Down Under finale.
The race for the Ochre jersey was all but wrapped up by the end of stage 2, when Vine attacked away and notched up what would become an unassailable lead of more than a minute.
Jayco raced on aggressively across home roads, launching several attempts to try and win from a breakaway, but in the end, they had to settle for second and victory in the team classification – it’s far from what they wanted at the start, but it puts them on the right path for the season ahead.
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“We come to the Tour Down Under to win, but when you come up against somebody like Jay Vine with the form that he’s in, he was clearly the best on the Corkscrew, and that set up his GC,” said sports director Mathew Hayman.
“He’s worked really hard, and realised last year that with his form – he just missed it on one of the stages last year – and I think he’s learned his lesson and came back with just that little bit of extra preparation and was there from day one.
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“His prologue was really good, and he’s followed through. It’s a great result for him, and he’s building confidence as a rider. For me, it’s just nice to see him using the team, [because] he’s often done a lot of his results by himself, just going after stuff with brute force, but this was a team effort. He was relying on the guys and using them – that’s another good takeaway.”
(Image credit: Getty Images)
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