Max Stedman begins the first road stage of the Tour Alsace on Thursday afternoon following an impressive prologue by the Great Britain squad.
The 15th edition of the UCI 2.2 battle got under way with a 4.7km half team time trial on the streets of Sausheim in north east France on Wednesday.
Split into two squads of three, the national under-23 talents placed second and eighth of the 50 trios who rolled out for the UCI 2.2 battle.
Canyon Eisberg climber Stedman joined forces with 100%ME duo Fred Wright and Joe Nally in the first of the two British line-ups to take to the course.
They clocked a superb time of 5min 43.11sec to ride into the hot seat – before ultimately finishing in eighth position.
Soon afterwards, their Great Britain team-mates – Jake Stewart, Adam Hartley and Matt Bostock – lit up the course with a time of 5.36.31.
At an average speed of 50.357kph, they topped the time sheets before the USA under-23 squad clinched victory in 5.29.97.
Ian Garrisson, who also helped the Americans to prologue success last year, will wear the yellow leader’s jersey for the opening road stage on Thursday (12.30pm).
Meanwhile, Bostock was granted the green sprints jersey as recognition of the British squad’s performance in the pipe-opener for what promises to be a thrilling race.
Thursday’s dash from Champ du Feu to Sélestat will cover a 145.5km and – with a relatively flat parcours – is expected to finish with a bunch kick.
Back-to-back summit finishes on Friday (La Planche des Belle Filles) and Saturday (Col du Calvaire) will then shake up the general classification before Sunday’s finale into Dannemarie.
Check out our Tour Alsace race preview and click here to for live coverage of the opening road stage, which gets under way at 12.30pm (BST) on Thursday.
Stedman charges into Tour Alsace jersey