Tour of Alberta 2015 Stage 4

photo credits @ TOA/Twitter

Tom-Jelte Slagter (Cannondale-Garmin) claimed his second stage victory in-a-row during today’s Tour of Alberta, after winning stage 4 with a final surge during the closing 100 meters, to beat his compatriot Bauke Mollema (Trek Factory Racing) and Adam Yates (Orica-GreenEDGE) at Marmot Basin Lodge. 

Slagter, along with Mollema and Yates, were initially part of a 20-rider breakaway group, that approached slopes of today’s final the seven-mile climb intact.

After a series of late attacks however, Slagter managed to escape the group and go on to clinch the victory – 4 seconds ahead of Mollema.  

“Today and yesterday were the main stages for GC; I don’t know how many seconds I am behind, maybe 20-25,” said Slagter. “It’s not easy to regain those seconds, but we will try and anything is possible.”

Race Highlights

Scott Thwaites (Bora-Argon 18), Logan Owen (Axeon), and Thomas Vaubourzeix (Lupus) managed to ride clear of the peloton during the opening kilometers of today’ stage.

From there, the escapees went on to establish a three minute advantage over the chase.

However, as the trio neared the final climb, their lead over the peloton had dropped to around 1:45. And, with 10 miles left, their lead dwindled even further, to where they were clinging to just a 45 second gap.  

Owen was the last of the escapees to get caught, when a group 20 riders came to form the head of the peloton.

Not long after, a flurry of attacks got underway, with Slagter’s ultimately sticking.

“I expected the attacks,” said Mollema, who went to the front briefly and remained steady as others tried to jump clear. “I had the GC and Cannondale and Katusha had three or four riders there in the GC. Yes, I expected the attacks, but there were some flat parts in the middle. So, it’s really hard to attack. You expend a lot of energy on those parts, so it was hard to stay in front.”

Mollema continues to lead the race with a 6 second lead over Yates. 

Stage 4 Results
NED 1 SLAGTER, Tom Jelte (TEAM CANNONDALE – GARMIN) 4:09:26
NED 2 MOLLEMA, Bauke (TREK FACTORY RACING) + 4
GBR 3 YATES, Adam (ORICA GreenEDGE)
NZL 4 SMITH, Dion (HINCAPIE RACING TEAM) + 6
USA 5 HUFFMAN, Evan (TEAM SMARTSTOP) + 8
NZL 6 ORAM, James (AXEON CYCLING TEAM) + 14
RUS 7 LAGUTIN, Sergey (KATUSHA) + 19
LAT 8 SKUJINS, Toms (HINCAPIE RACING TEAM) + 22
GER 9 VOSS, Paul (BORA-ARGON 18) + 27
CAN 10 WOODS, Michael (OPTUM P/B KELLY BENEFIT STRATEGIES)
SWE 11 LUDVIGSSON, Tobias (TEAM GIANT – ALPECIN) + 35
ITA 12 FORMOLO, Davide (TEAM CANNONDALE – GARMIN)
USA 13 HORNBECK, John (HINCAPIE RACING TEAM) + 49
USA 14 MANNION, Gavin (JELLY BELLY P/B MAXXIS) + 51
USA 15 MURPHY, Kyle (LUPUS RACING TEAM) + 54
CAN 16 MEIER, Christian (ORICA GreenEDGE) + 56
AUT 17 PREIDLER, Georg (TEAM GIANT – ALPECIN) + 58
LAT 18 FLAKSIS, Andzs (HINCAPIE RACING TEAM) + 1:03
USA 19 BROWN, Nathan (TEAM CANNONDALE – GARMIN) + 1:09
NED 20 VAN DER HAAR, Lars (TEAM GIANT – ALPECIN) + 1:13
CZE 21 BARTA, Jan (BORA-ARGON 18)
SLO 22 SPILAK, Simon (KATUSHA) + 1:23
RUS 23 ZAKARIN, Ilnur (KATUSHA)
CAN 24 HESJEDAL, Ryder (TEAM CANNONDALE – GARMIN) + 1:28
NOR 25 BYSTRØM, Sven Erik (KATUSHA) + 1:39
DEN 26 HANSEN, Lasse Norman (TEAM CANNONDALE – GARMIN) + 1:45
RUS 27 CHERNETSKI, Sergei (KATUSHA)
USA 28 SHELDON, Taylor (JELLY BELLY P/B MAXXIS) + 1:48
MDA 29 BRAICO, Alexandr (JELLY BELLY P/B MAXXIS)
NZL 30 RAY, Alexander (SILBER PRO CYCLING)
CAN 31 CATAFORD, Alexander (SILBER PRO CYCLING) + 1:51
CAN 32 ANDERSON, Ryan (OPTUM P/B KELLY BENEFIT STRATEGIES)
CAN 33 ELLSAY, Nigel (SILBER PRO CYCLING)
SWE 34 LUDVIGSSON, Fredrik (TEAM GIANT – ALPECIN)
AUS 35 LEWIS, Joseph (HINCAPIE RACING TEAM) + 1:55
AUS 36 DURBRIDGE, Luke (ORICA GreenEDGE) + 2:45
CAN 37 MCLEOD, Garrett (H&R BLOCK PRO CYCLING) + 3:05
USA 38 EATON, Daniel (AXEON CYCLING TEAM)
FRA 39 JEANNES, Matthieu (LUPUS RACING TEAM) + 3:39
CAN 40 DAL-CIN, Matteo (SILBER PRO CYCLING) + 3:58

General Classification after Stage 4
NED 1 MOLLEMA, Bauke (TREK FACTORY RACING) 13:10:58
GBR 2 YATES, Adam (ORICA GreenEDGE) + 6
NED 3 SLAGTER, Tom Jelte (TEAM CANNONDALE – GARMIN) + 22
RUS 4 LAGUTIN, Sergey (KATUSHA) + 35
NZL 5 SMITH, Dion (HINCAPIE RACING TEAM) + 45
LAT 6 SKUJINS, Toms (HINCAPIE RACING TEAM) + 1:14
GER 7 VOSS, Paul (BORA-ARGON 18) + 1:16
ITA 8 FORMOLO, Davide (TEAM CANNONDALE – GARMIN) + 1:20
CAN 9 WOODS, Michael (OPTUM P/B KELLY BENEFIT STRATEGIES) + 1:22
NZL 10 ORAM, James (AXEON CYCLING TEAM) + 1:26
USA 11 HUFFMAN, Evan (TEAM SMARTSTOP) + 1:29
USA 12 HORNBECK, John (HINCAPIE RACING TEAM) + 1:39
SLO 13 SPILAK, Simon (KATUSHA) + 1:48
LAT 14 FLAKSIS, Andzs (HINCAPIE RACING TEAM) + 1:59
AUT 15 PREIDLER, Georg (TEAM GIANT – ALPECIN) + 2:02
SWE 16 LUDVIGSSON, Tobias (TEAM GIANT – ALPECIN) + 2:06
USA 17 MURPHY, Kyle (LUPUS RACING TEAM) + 2:08
RUS 18 ZAKARIN, Ilnur (KATUSHA) + 2:12
USA 19 BROWN, Nathan (TEAM CANNONDALE – GARMIN)
CAN 20 HESJEDAL, Ryder (TEAM CANNONDALE – GARMIN) + 2:17