{"id":430379,"date":"2026-01-24T14:13:11","date_gmt":"2026-01-24T14:13:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/430379\/"},"modified":"2026-01-24T14:13:11","modified_gmt":"2026-01-24T14:13:11","slug":"vernon-powers-to-maiden-nsn-win-on-reshaped-queen-stage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/430379\/","title":{"rendered":"Vernon powers to maiden NSN win on reshaped Queen stage"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ethan Vernon delivered a statement win for the brand-new (sort of) NSN Cycling Team, sprinting to victory on Stage 4 of the Santos Tour Down Under after organizers altered the traditional Willunga Hill finale. With bushfire risk forcing the finish lower down High Street in Willunga, the stage was set up for the fastmen rather than the climbers, and Vernon made no mistake.<\/p>\n

A very different Queen stage<\/p>\n

\u201cToday\u2019s stage was meant to be for our climbers, George and Nick, but last night it got changed, so we had to re-adapt our plan,\u201d Vernon explained. \u201cThen we lost Corbin and Jake, who are part of the lead-out, early in the stage. So again, we had to change things on the fly. We had quite a few changes today, but in the end it showed that we can communicate well and adapt to situations that are thrown at us. We came away with the win, and by quite a margin as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Willunga Hill axed as Tour Down Under alters key stage amid fire threat<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

An early break featuring Matthew Greenwood, Luke Plapp and R\u00e9mi Cavagna built a healthy advantage before being reeled in with 24 km to go. The race was shaken earlier when Jhonatan Narv\u00e1ez, second overall, crashed out, leaving Jay Vine with a firmer grip on the leader\u2019s jersey.<\/p>\n

First win for NSN<\/p>\n

As teams lined up for the expected bunch sprint, the slight uphill drag suited powerful finishers. Vernon surged clear in the final meters, beating Tobias Lund Andresen and Laurence Pithie to claim his first victory for the team, while GC ambitions remained largely unchanged.<\/p>\n

\u201cI really wanted to win out here,\u201d Vernon, who rides for the team formerly known as Israel \u2013 Premier Tech, said. \u201cI wanted to start the season strong. We\u2019ve got a new setup with the team, and to be the first rider to win in this jersey is really special. We\u2019ve got some new sponsors, and I wanted to do those guys proud. I think when you win in Australia, it builds momentum for the whole team. Most of our guys are on training camp now, but winning here helps build momentum for them too. Hopefully they start the season in Europe strong as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Leonard loses white<\/p>\n

Although Oakville, Ont.\u2019s Michael Leonard finished safely in the bunch in 33rd\u2013and preserved his seventh overall\u2013he would have to give up the young rider\u2019s jersey. Andrea Raccagni Noviero (Soudal Quick-Step) earned the maximum time bonus of three seconds and now leads the young rider\u2019s competition with one stage remaining. Leonard took the jersey after a strong TT on Stage 1, lost it, then regained it on Stage 3.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Results powered by FirstCycling.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ethan Vernon delivered a statement win for the brand-new (sort of) NSN Cycling Team, sprinting to victory on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":430380,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[445],"tags":[49,48,635,77777,75504,82,146893],"class_list":["post-430379","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-cycling","tag-ethan-vernon","tag-michael-leonard","tag-sports","tag-tour-down-under"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/430379","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=430379"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/430379\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/430380"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=430379"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=430379"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=430379"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}