photo credits @ Tour of Utah
Travis McCabe (Holowesko-Citadel) claimed stage 4 of the Tour of Utah today, after easily winning a sprint finish ahead of Kiel Reijnen (Trek-Segafredo) and Sebastian Haedo (Team Jamis) in Kearns.
Meanwhile, Lachlan Morton (Jelly Belly-Maxxis) finished safely in the peloton to retain his grip on the overall race lead.
“It was a pretty hectic finish with that downhill,” McCabe said in the post-stage press conference. “We were coming into that at 70km/h with a pretty choppy left-hand turn. The road was pretty beat up so it was just kind of a patience game and staying in good position, not too far forward.
“I think I jumped at 250 metres or thereabouts and was able to hold it. It was great. It was really good.”
Reijnen, who won the opening stage of last year’s Tour of Utah, said his Holowesko-Citadel rival was just faster today.
“If you saw the sprint we did in Torrey, Travis was quicker than I was, so I think to beat him today I had to come from behind,” Reijnen said. “I tried to play that card and he didn’t take the bait, so definitely a deserved win.”
Race Highlights
A breakaway group containing Matthew Busche (UnitedHealthcare), Eddie Dunbar (Axeon Hagens Berman), Nicolae Tanovitchii (Lupus Racing), Hayden McCormick (One Pro Cycling), Nicola Bagioli (Nippo-Vini Fantini), Luis Amaran (Team Jamis), Joe Lewis (Holowesko-Citadel) and Danny Pate (Rally Cycling), succeeded in riding clear after 20 kilometers of racing.
“The field wasn’t going to give us much leash to go anywhere,” said Busche. “I think the sprinters wanted their day today. But we saw on stage 2 that even two guys could stay away, so it was kind of a potentially a fruitless venture, but you don’t know if you don’t try.”
From there, the escapees went on to build up an advantage of almost 3 minutes over the peloton – by the time they reached the 100 kilometer mark.
However, during the final 30 kilometers, the breakaway group began to splinter, leaving Busche, Dunbar, McCormick and Pate alone out front.
But, a determined peloton eventually reeled in the quartet a further 10 kilometers later, as the race entered into the final finishing loops in Kearns.
Lupus Racing’s Chad Beyer and Fortuneo-Vital Concept’s Elsie Gesbert both enjoyed a brief moment out front, with Gesbert being the last hold-out before being caught by a group of riders at the start of the second lap.
The lead group was now comprised of Gesbert, Joey Rosskopf (BMC Racing), Robin Carpenter (Holowesko-Citadel), Janez Brajkovic (UnitedHealthcare), Peter Stetina (Trek-Segafredo), Chad Beyer (Lupus Racing), Damiano Cunego (Nippo-Vini Fantini), Ulises Castillo (Jelly Belly-Maxxis) and Pierrick Naud (Rally Cycling).
However, their time out front was short-lived as well, with UnitedHealthcare’s Tanner Putt managed to ride clear with a solo attack.
But, his efforts didn’t pay-off, as the peloton regrouped during the final kilometers and sped toward a sprint finale.
Top 20 Finishers
1 Travis McCabe (USA) Holowesko-Citadel Racing Team 3:23:47 2 Kiel Reijnen (USA) Trek-Segafredo 3 Lucas Sebastian Haedo (Arg) Team Jamis 4 Marco Canola (Ita) UnitedHealthcare Professional Cycling Team 5 Eric Young (USA) Rally Cycling 6 Colin Joyce (USA) Axeon Hagens Berman 7 Daniel Jaramillo (Col) UnitedHealthcare Professional Cycling Team 8 Jacob Rathe (USA) Jelly Belly p/b Maxxis 9 Rick Zabel (Ger) BMC Racing Team 10 Jonathan Dibben (GBr) Cannondale-Drapac 11 Logan Owen (USA) Axeon Hagens Berman 12 Dion Smith (NZl) ONE Pro Cycling 13 Pier Paolo De Negri (Ita) Nippo – Vini Fantini 14 Kristofer Dahl (Can) Silber Pro Cycling 15 Fabian Lienhard (Swi) BMC Racing Team 16 Jean-Marc Bideau (Fra) Fortuneo – Vital Concept 17 Tom Bohli (Swi) BMC Racing Team 18 Ulises Alfredo Castillo Soto (Mex) Jelly Belly p/b Maxxis 19 Neilson Powless (USA) Axeon Hagens Berman 20 Simon Pellaud (Swi) IAM Cycling
General classification after stage 4
1 Lachlan David Morton (Aus) Jelly Belly p/b Maxxis 14:54:40 2 Adrien Costa (USA) Axeon Hagens Berman 0:00:07 3 Andrew Talansky (USA) Cannondale-Drapac 0:00:09 4 Darwin Atapuma (Col) BMC Racing Team 0:01:32 5 Joseph Rosskopf (USA) BMC Racing Team 6 Rob Britton (Can) Rally Cycling 7 Taylor Eisenhart (USA) BMC Racing Team 0:01:34 8 Robin Carpenter (USA) Holowesko-Citadel Racing Team 0:01:44 9 Kiel Reijnen (USA) Trek-Segafredo 0:04:01 10 Neilson Powless (USA) Axeon Hagens Berman 0:04:07 11 Janez Brajkovic (Slo) UnitedHealthcare Professional Cycling Team 12 Manuel Senni (Ita) BMC Racing Team 13 Robbie Squire (USA) Holowesko-Citadel Racing Team 14 Jonathan Clarke (Aus) UnitedHealthcare Professional Cycling Team 15 Tao Geoghegan Hart (GBr) Axeon Hagens Berman 16 Peter Stetina (USA) Trek-Segafredo 17 Joe Dombrowski (USA) Cannondale-Drapac 18 Laurent Didier (Lux) Trek-Segafredo 19 Nicolae Tanovitchii (Mda) Lupus Racing Team 0:06:04 20 Eddie Dunbar (Irl) Axeon Hagens Berman 0:06:06
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