Alex Edmondson grabs opportunity to take third at Down Under Classic
14 January 2019 09:17
Mitchelton-Scott's Alex Edmondson could have been forgiven if he'd come away from Sunday's Down Under Classic feeling rather pleased with himself. While thrilled to have finished third, just behind one of the world's best sprinters and the world's most popular cyclist, Edmondson was typically humble when describing how he did it. "It was a pretty chaotic final there," he told Cyclingnews after stepping off the Down Under Classic podium in Adelaide's East End, referring to the crash on the last lap that took arguably 2018's best sprinter, Deceuninck-QuickStep's Elia Viviani, out of the mix. "I had [teammate] Daryl Impey move me up with about two laps to go, and then Daryl dropped me off, luckily in front of the crash, and I just sucked the wheels and managed to come to the finish line. I didn't really do a hell of a lot; all I did was just hold the wheel."ADVERTISEMENT The fact that the wheel belonged to three-time world champion Peter Sagan – the winner of last year's Down Under Classic – shouldn't be left unsaid. Winner Caleb Ewan, meanwhile, left Edmondson's Mitchelton-Scott team at the end of last season to try his luck in 2019 with Lotto Soudal. That freed up Edmondson to have his chance in Sunday's sprint, and he took full advantage of having been put in the right place at the right time, and of the faith the team had put in him to be their designated sprinter for the race. "I was there to see what I could do in the sprint," he said. "I haven't really had many opportunities, obviously with leading out Caleb last year, so this was really the first opportunity to see what it was like and to have a bunch gallop. "I was a bit nervous beforehand," he admitted, "but you can only do what you can do, and I think my teammates helped me out as much as they could, and put me in the perfect place, so I'm pretty thrilled to have come away with third." Impey
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