photo credit @ Tour of Alberta
Nikias Arndt (Giant-Alpecin) won the 6th and final stage of the Tour of Alberta, after winning a bunch sprint ahead of Michael Matthews (Orica-GreenEdge) and Dion Smith (Hincapie Racing) in Edmonton today.
Meanwhile, Bauke Mollema (Trek Factory Racing), who led the race for five of the six stages, secured the overall title – finishing six seconds ahead of Adam Yates (Orica-GreenEdge), while double stage winner Tom-Jelte Slagter (Cannondale-Garmin), rounded out he podium 22 seconds back.
Race Highlights
The day’s breakaway group consisted of Kristoffer Skjerping (Cannondale-Garmin), Cesar Benedetti (Bora-Argon 18), Jon Hornbeck (Hincapie Racing), Benjamin Perry (Silber Pro Cycling) and Taylor Sheldon (Jelly Belly p/b Maxxis), who got underway early on in today’s stage.
However, it wasn’t long before Ty Magner and Toms Skujins (Hincapie Racing), and Greg Daniel (Axeon), managed to bridge their way to the quintet over the first climb of Bellamy Hill.
Perry took full points at the top of the first KOM, to further increase his lead in the mountain classification.
In the meantime, Skujins, who was sitting in seventh overall at 1:14 back, won the first intermediate sprint for three seconds.
With two laps to go (22km), the escapees were clinging to a slim gap of just 25 seconds.
With the peloton knocking at their backdoor, Sheldon decided to attack his breakaway companions, while Benedetti quickly followed his move.
However, their efforts proved to be futile, as the entire breakaway group was eventually caught.
From there, Trek Factory Racing remained at the front during the last lap, but so too was Orica-GreenEdge, with the aim of moving Michael Matthews into position.
As the race headed into the final kilometers, a flurry of attacks came from Katusha, Cannondale-Garmin, Team SmartStop, Axeon, Hincapie Racing and Bora-Argon 18, but none were able to create a gap.
At the point, Slagter made a last-ditch attack, but Mollema was right on his wheel, but the duo were quickly reeled back in with 2 kilometers remaining.
During the final kilometer, Giant-Alpecin and Hincapie Racing took control of the field.
Arndt and Smith and Matthews proceeded to tuck in behind them, as they raced toward the finish line.
Matthews and Arndt crossed the line nearly side-by-side with Arndt taking the final stage win.
photo credit @ Trek Factory Racing
Stage 6 Results GER 1 ARNDT, Nikias (TEAM GIANT – ALPECIN) 2:44:57 AUS 2 MATTHEWS, Michael (ORICA GreenEDGE) NZL 3 SMITH, Dion (HINCAPIE RACING TEAM) NED 4 WIPPERT, Wouter (DRAPAC) IRL 5 BENNETT, Sam (BORA-ARGON 18) NED 6 SINKELDAM, Ramon (TEAM GIANT – ALPECIN) + 2 RUS 7 TCATEVICH, Aleksei (KATUSHA) USA 8 OIEN, Justin (AXEON CYCLING TEAM) NZL 9 RAY, Alexander (SILBER PRO CYCLING) NOR 10 BYSTRØM, Sven Erik (KATUSHA)
Final General Classification NED 1 MOLLEMA, Bauke (TREK FACTORY RACING) 20:20:28 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) + 39 DEN 6 HANSEN, Lasse Norman (TEAM CANNONDALE – GARMIN) + 1:08 LAT 7 SKUJINS, Toms (HINCAPIE RACING TEAM) + 1:12 GER 8 VOSS, Paul (BORA-ARGON 18) + 1:16 ITA 9 FORMOLO, Davide (TEAM CANNONDALE – GARMIN) + 1:23 CAN 10 WOODS, Michael (OPTUM P/B KELLY BENEFIT STRATEGIES) + 1:25
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