Tour Down Under Prologue: Watson Denies UAE Favorites

Sam Watson achieved the first WorldTour win of the season Tuesday in the opening 3.6km prologue of the Santos Tour Down Under.

Two things instantly stood out.

First, Watson did not wear his team’s white shorts. Ineos Grenadiers’ controversial white-grey knicks were absent when the 24-year-old finished in Adelaide at 50kph.

Second, UAE Emirates-XRG and its strong team of time trialists and climbers did not win… yet.

However, both situations may change quickly.

UAE’s pre-race favorite Jay Vine and defending champion Jhonatan Narváez finished less than 10 seconds behind Watson in a 4-minute ride that served as both a ceremonial start and a racing test.

Regarding Watson’s shorts?

the british road race champion wore dark shorts wiht his national jersey and mirrored the look in his team-issue TT suit.

But cycling fans can rest easy.

Watson switched to team-compliant white shorts for the winner’s ceremony. Other ineos racers also chose white-shorted TT skinsuits Tuesday.

Those bear-pokin