Sam Watson Claims Ochre Jersey After Dominating Tour Down Under Prologue

British rider Sam Watson of Ineos Grenadiers has blitzed the Tour Down Under prologue to claim the ochre jersey by just 0.59 seconds from compatriot Ethan Vernon (NSN Cycling Team). Australian favourite Jay Vine (UAE Team Emirates XRG) delivered a statement performance on the snappy 3.6-kilometre course though, finishing in fourth place and taking a handful of seconds out of his general classification rivals. A small error heading into Victoria Park, where he clipped the base of a barrier could have spelled disaster, although he did not seem too affected as he flew to the line. New Zealander Laurence Pithie (Red Bull-bora-hansgrohe) pipped Vine to third place, with the Australian time trial champion just 4.02 seconds off the pace. "It's great to start the season with a win," Watson said, having spent the best part of two hours in the leader's hot seat. "There was quite a lot of guys [that made me nervous]. "That was a big sigh of relief at the end. I was so happy to start with a win. "It's great for myself and the team to start off the season like this." Vine may have expected to claim victory fresh of reclaiming the national time trial championship in Perth two weeks ago, but he should be plenty satisfied with his performance. Winning the Tour Down Under often comes down to a matter of seconds — the last three men's editions have been won by 9 seconds (twice) and, when Vine himself won the race, by 11 seconds — so it was crucial for the overall favourites not to lose time on their rivals ahead of what some are calling the hardest edition in the race's 26-year history. As such, it was a good day for last year's third place finisher Finn Fisher-Black (Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe), who lost just 3 seconds to Vine. Luke Plapp (Jayco AlUla) was a further second behind Fisher-Black, with last year's winner Jhonatan Narváez (UAE Team Emirates XRT) another 2 seconds back. The big loser was Ben O'Connor, who lost 10 seconds to Vine, finishing back in 52nd place. As is always the case with a time trial prologue — especially one as short as 3.6km — the race was a sprint from the off. Starting with a straight, 1km drag down Wakefield Street, riders then turned onto the Victoria Park criterium circuit for a more technical, blustery finale. No time-trial bikes were used — a logistical exercise more than anything else, so teams would not have to bring them from Europe — but that did little to reduce the speeds. The only other previous time the Tour Down Under opened with a short prologue in 2023, Vine went on to win the overall classification despite finishing ninth, 14 seconds behind stage winner Alberto Bettoil. Then the prologue was marred by wet conditions that got progressively worse as the evening went on, with early starter Bettiol claiming victory by 8 seconds. And although it was another early starter who claimed victory this time around, conditions played a role throughout, a fierce southerly wind with occasional gusts of 50km/h under brilliant blue skies causing the riders some issues. British national road race champion Watson set the early benchmark time of 4:16.90 — an average speed of 50.4km/h — and was never bettered. The 11th of 140 starters out of the gate, Watson had a long stint in the leader's chair as he watched the rest of the field fail to beat his time — although he admitted he had not even sat down in the leader's chair when Vernon came within a whisker of bettering him. "Just as I climbed off the bike Ethan Vernon came across the line and he was half a second behind," Watson said. "I knew he would be a contender … maybe I wouldn't even make it to the hot seat." Canadian Michael Leonard (EF Education-Easypost) will ride tomorrow's stage in the white young riders jersey as the best rider under 23. Watson was pleased to claim victory, but had no ambition of retaining the jersey tomorrow, saying Ineos Grenadiers were all in for new teammate, Australian Sam Welsford for the first stage proper. "We go 100 per cent for him," new ochre jersey wearer Watson said. "He's won six times in the last two years now so yeah, all for him. "[I'll be] Last or second-last lead out guy ... whatever Sam prefers, but I'll be up there towards the end." Wednesday's stage sees riders tackle the Barossa Valley, with an undulating 120.6km ride through wine country starting and finishing in the beautiful town of Tanunda.