Ben Oliver Lands Our First European Victory

Emerging from the rain-swept finale on stage 2 of the Tour de Wallonie, New Zealander Ben Oliver sprinted to an impressive stage victory, taking his first win of the season and Modern Adventure Pro Cycling’s third race victory of the year.

The win didn’t come easy as the team fought not only the tough conditions but a late mishap which saw Oliver unclip heading into the finish, before being brought back to the front by teammates Riley Pickrell and Paul Wright in the final kilometre before powering through to take the team’s biggest victory to date in its debut season.

Having finished fourth on stage 1, Oliver’s victory and time bonuses propel him into the race lead heading into tomorrow’s third stage. Teammate Samuel Flóres maintained his lead in the KOM jersey at the end of stage 2, having taken the jersey on day one from his efforts in the breakaway.

Ben Oliver: “First European win for the team! We were chasing stage wins this week, and to get that on the second stage after a close day yesterday with fourth with George watching before he heads home tomorrow. To get it done whilst he was here was an awesome way to finish a wet and windy day in the Tour of Wallonie. The boys had my back all day. Me and Riley were in a good position for the sprint then him and Paul got me out of trouble with 1500m to go. We got the job done - a wicked day for the team.”

Modern Adventure Pro Cycling DS Ty Magner: “So happy for the guys. So happy for the organization. We’ve been telling the team for months to commit to each other, commit to the plans, commit to being a team, and results will follow. From day one in Alula the guys showed what was possible, and it’s only taken 6 months to take our first win in Europe.

Also just extremely happy for Ben. This time last year he was racing crits in the states, and for him to have these opportunities now is one reason this team was founded. A bike racer will always be a bike racer. We’ll enjoy this one!”