Ineos Grenadiers Racing Academy claimed their first win as a team on Thursday, with Cam Rogers winning the prologue at the Tour of Rhodes.
The Australian, a former junior national time trial champion, won the 2.1km-race by three seconds over Matteo Scalco (XDS Astana Development) and four seconds over Sylvester Vittinghus Stokbro (AIRTOX-Carl Ras). Ben Wiggins (Hagens Berman Jayco) was fourth.
It mean the new under-23 team tasted victory on just its fourth race day, in the 2.2-ranked UCI race. Rogers, the nephew of former TT world champion Michael Rogers, moved to Ineos from Lidl-Trek Future Racing.
The squad was announced in December, and consists of 12 riders: Hugo Boucher, Josh Charlton, Mattie Dodd, Davide Frigo, Max Hinds, Milkias Maekele, Fletcher Medway, Nicolas Milesi, Dylan Sage, Max Standen, Rogers and Theodor Storm. They're a UCI Continental outfit.
"I'm super happy with today," Cam Rogers said in an Ineos press release. "It's a day we've been working towards with the coaches and the team and to get the first win for the Racing Academy is awesome. I'm super happy to have pulled it off.
"It's very special. To be able to get the first win for the team is incredible. I've been working with Boy Sanders my coach, Dario Cioni and Simon Watts towards this. Just to be here was huge, but to pick up the win means a lot. I know how much time and effort these guys have put into our Academy and I've seen how passionate they are. It's the best feeling to be able to pay it off for them and what we're working towards."
"I'd chatted with Dario prior to the race," Rogers continued. "We knew the wind conditions and we knew it would pick up throughout the day, and tried to get my start position as early as possible. The effort was executed perfectly. We did lots of reconing yesterday and today. I didn't brake once to be honest, I was just flinging through the corners. I had to dig really deep and I left it all out there. There's no better feeling.
"Going into the race with the yellow jersey and the young rider's jersey is an awesome feeling. We'll see how the rest of the race plays out.
"There's been a lot of sickness out here in Rhodes across all teams, so it's been a real challenge to be here. I knew this result was possible and that if I could stay healthy I could do this. I've had prologue wins before so I knew that I had it in the legs if I did everything right. Along with how well Dario, Boy, Simon and the team are dialled, I think it was a guaranteed win today.
"Now we're starting our first Tour together in the leader's jersey which is awesome and it's the perfect way to start it."
The four-stage race continues with a lumpy circuit around Maritsa on the Greek island of Rhodes on Friday.
