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Tour of Utah 2015 Stage 4

photo credit @ Tour of Utah 

Optum-Kelly Benefit Strategies’ Eric Young claimed stage 4 of this year’s Tour of Utah today, after beating Dion Smith (Hincapie Racing) and Jure Kocjan (SmartStop) in a final grind to the finish. 

Meanwhile, as a result of getting tangled up with another rider during today’s finale, Reijnen lost his yellow jersey to Jure Kocjan (Team SmartStop).

Race Highlights 

A breakaway group containing Robin Carpenter (Hincapie Racing), Nicolae Tanovitchii (Jelly Belly-Maxxis), Tim Roe (Drapac), Dan Eaton (Axeon), Ben King (Cannondale-Garmin), Luis Lemus (Airgas-Safeway), and Jim Songezo (MTN-Qhubeka), got underway early on in today’s race.

However, the watchful eye of the peloton, kept them within striking distance at all times, ahead of day’s major climb – Wolf Creek Pass.

No sooner did the ascent up Wolf Creek Pass get underway, the escapee’s advantage began to fall quickly- to where it was just over one minute.

Shortly thereafter, Songezo was the first rider to be reclaimed by the peloton.  

As the race approached the summit of the climb, Greg Daniel (Axeon) decided to attacked from within the ranks of the peloton and bridged his way to the breakaway group. And, in doing so, he also claimed maximum points in the KOM competition. 

Along the descent, Carpenter managed to open up a slight gap on his breakaway companions, while King was dropped as a result of a mechanical problem.

However, as the course flattened out, the 7 escapees all came back together.

As the race crested the Jordanelle climb, the breakaway group was still holding onto a 1:05 advantage. 

Back in the chase, UnitedHealthcare continued to try and pull back the break. And, with less than 3 miles remaining, their efforts paid-off as the breakaway group was finally caught.  

From there, BMC took over duties driving the peloton toward the finish during the final kilometer.

However, they were caught off guard when Young decided to attack. And, despite a valiant effort on the part of John Murphy (UnitedHealthcare) to counter this move, he was unable to catch the Optum rider.

Dion Smith (Hincapie Racing) then surged his way past other riders to take second place on the podium, followed by Kocjan. 

Stage 4 Results
USA 1 YOUNG, Eric (OPTUM P/B KELLY BENEFIT STRATEGIES) 4:47:57
NZL 2 SMITH, Dion (HINCAPIE RACING TEAM)
SLO 3 KOCJAN, Jure (TEAM SMARTSTOP)
USA 4 MURPHY, John (UNITEDHEALTHCARE)
USA 5 BOOKWALTER, Brent (BMC RACING)
ITA 6 COLBRELLI, Sonny (BARDIANI CSF)
USA 7 MCCABE, Travis (TEAM SMARTSTOP)
POR 8 GUERREIRO, Ruben (AXEON CYCLING TEAM)
USA 9 SQUIRE, Robbie (HINCAPIE RACING TEAM)
AUS 10 KERBY, Jordan (DRAPAC)
USA 11 OWEN, Logan (AXEON CYCLING TEAM)
ITA 12 BASSO, Leonardo (TREK FACTORY RACING)
ERI 13 BERHANE, Natnael (MTN – QHUBEKA)
USA 14 HORNER, Christopher (AIRGAS-SAFEWAY CYCLING TEAM)
USA 15 HOWES, Alex (TEAM CANNONDALE – GARMIN)

General Classification after Stage 4
SLO 1 KOCJAN, Jure (TEAM SMARTSTOP) 0
USA 2 REIJNEN, Kiel (UNITEDHEALTHCARE)

 

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