Colorado Classic 2018 – Stage 2 [FULL STAGE – Individual Time Trial]

August 18, 2018

Colorado Classic 2018 – Stage 2 ITT – Vail – Vail : 15,8 km

The 2018 Colorado Classic will take place August 16-19 with two stages in Vail and two in Denver. The four-day 2.HC race starts with a 103.2km circuit race on Thursday, followed on Friday by the 15.8km Vail Pass Time Trial. Saturday sees the peloton tackle the ‘queen’ stage, a 161.9km test that traverses Lookout Mountain, Cragmont Drive and Indian Hills before the finish back in Denver. The final stage is a 114km circuit race in downtown Denver.

Gavin Mannion (UnitedHealthcare) claimed the uphill individual time trial at the Colorado Classic on Friday, sailing across the line at the top of Vail Pass with a time of 25:41 to also take the leader’s jersey from overnight leader Gage Hecht (Aevolo), who finished 21st on the stage, 1:30 back.

Mannion’s teammate Sergehi Tvetcov finished second on the stage, 11 seconds behind, followed by EF Education First-Drapac’s Hugh Carthy in third at 21 seconds back.

Mannion now leads the overall by 11 second over Tvectov and by 20 seconds over Carthy.

“This is huge,” said Mannion, who lives in Colorado Springs. “This is the biggest win I’ve ever had, so that’s awesome, and it’s a huge win for team as well. It kind of comes at a crucial moment, with UnitedHealthcare looking for a sponsor next year. So to go one-two with a race at this level, you can’t really ask any more for today.”

With the stage starting at altitude and finishing at 2,950 metres of elevation, pacing was crucial on the early flat sections so as not to blow up once the climb started. Mannion pulled it off well, although he said he had initial doubts.

“It’s really hard with the altitude here,” he said. “You kind of just have to go by feel, and hopefully you can hang on at the end. I actually thought I went out too hard, but luckily I was able to kind of keep it going to the finish. But, yeah, with the high altitude it’s really tough to measure that effort.”

Hecht lost the race lead and slipped to 17th overall, but he could take consolation from the fact that he continues to lead the points and mountains classifications, although EF-Drapac’s Daniel Martinez took over as best young rider. Hecht said the rest of the race will be a balancing act between defending his remaining jerseys and helping his teammates who are fighting for a GC result.

“Of course I always want to keep the jerseys,” Hecht said. “That’s really cool thing to walk away form Colorado with at least one jersey. I mean that’s incredible. But definitely I’ll be looking out for the other riders on the team. We all work together pretty smoothly, and I always want to make sure they have theist chance of getting a result as well. It just kind of depends on how tomorrow unravels.”

The race continues Saturday with a 127.8km out-and-back course from Denver that includes three KOMs over Lookout Mountain, Deer Creek in Cragmont and Indian Hills, which tops out 40km from the finish.

How it unfolded

The Colorado Classic’s second stage reprised the Vail Pass time trial course that was used in the Red Zinger Mini Classic and Coors Classic in the 1970s and ’80s, and then was brought back for the USA Pro Challenge in 2013 and 2014. BMC Racing’s Tejay van Garderen set the course record of 24:26 on his way to winning the 2014 USA Pro Challenge title.

The 16.2km course started in Vail Mountain Plaza, which sits at 2,514 metres of elevation, and climbed to the top of Vail Pass at 2,950 metres high. The course started on the brick and cobbled roads in the quaint Vail shopping village, then almost immediately took riders onto the ascent on a narrow bike path.

Unlike the women’s race, where riders were allowed to compete on full time-trial rigs, the men were limited to road bikes with no bar extensions or disc wheels.

EF-Drapac’s trainee Jose Fernandes left the start house as the first of 80 riders and set the benchmark time of 27:48, which stood as the top time until Kyle Murphy (Rally Cycling) crossed the nearly an hour later with a time of 26:59.

From there, the top times started to fall regularly as the GC contenders were out on course.

Murphy’s time stood only a briefly, as Keegan Swirbul (Jelly Belly-Maxxis), who started two riders later, came in with a time of 26:48. Five riders later, Rally Cycling’s Rob Britton came in with a new top time of 26:29.

Holowesko-Citadel’s TJ Eisenhart came close to Britton’s mark, crossing the line nine seconds slower to slot into second place at the time.

Starting five riders later, Joe Dombrowski (EF-Drapac) set a blistering time of 26:06 over the course to knock Britton out of the hot seat, and then Damian Howson (Mitchelton-Scott) came in at 26:08 to knock Britton down to third at the time.

EF-Drapac’s Carthy was next to top the leader board, coming in at 26:02 to take the stage lead ahead of Dombrowski and Howson.

Mannion was the next stage leader, however, clocking a time of 25:41 after catching his minute man and nearly catching the rider who started two minutes ahead, crossing the line with that rider’s team car.

Mannion’s time held up well as the most of the top GC contenders finished, with Tvetcov coming close with a time of 25:52 to slot into second. None of the others was able to challenge Mannion’s time.

Results :
1 Gavin Mannion (USA) UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling 0:25:41
2 Serghei Tvetcov (Rom) UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling 0:00:11
3 Hugh Carthy (GBr) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale 0:00:21
4 Joe Dombrowski (USA) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale 0:00:25
5 Damien Howson (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott 0:00:27
6 Daniel Martinez (Col) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale 0:00:29
7 James Piccoli (Can) Elevate-KHS 0:00:42
8 Robert Britton (Can) Rally Cycling 0:00:48
9 Toms Skujins (Lat) Trek-Segafredo 0:00:51
10 Alexander Cataford (Can) UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling 0:00:53
11 TJ Eisenhart (USA) Holowesko-Citadel p/b Arapahoe Resources 0:00:58
12 Jack Burke (Can) Jelly Belly p/b Maxxis 0:00:59
13 Neilson Powless (USA) LottoNL-Jumbo 0:01:00
14 Keegan Swirbul (USA) Jelly Belly p/b Maxxis 0:01:07
15 Luis Ricardo Villalobos Hernandez (Mex) Aevolo 0:01:07
16 Nathan Brown (USA) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale 0:01:10
17 Niklas Eg (Den) Trek-Segafredo 0:01:13
18 Kyle Murphy (USA) Rally Cycling 0:01:18
19 Rob Power (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott 0:01:19
20 Brayan Stiven Sanchez Vergara (Col) Holowesko-Citadel p/b Arapahoe Resources 0:01:23
21 Gage Hecht (USA) Aevolo 0:01:31
22 Matteo Jorgenson (USA) Jelly Belly p/b Maxxis 0:01:35
23 Koen Bouwmam (Ned) LottoNL-Jumbo 0:01:37
24 Nigel Ellsay (Can) Rally Cycling 0:01:40
25 Daniel Alexander Jaramillo Diez (Col) UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling 0:01:47
26 Griffin Easter (USA) 303 Project 0:01:49
27 Daan Olivier (Ned) LottoNL-Jumbo 0:01:56
28 Sean Bennett (USA) Hagens Berman Axeon 0:01:58
29 Nickolas Zukowsky (Can) Silber Pro Cycling 0:02:01
30 Jose Neves (Por) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale 0:02:07
31 Isaiah Newkirk (USA) 303 Project 0:02:08
32 Ruben Plaza (Spa) Israel Cycling Academy 0:02:15
33 Peter Stetina (USA) Trek-Segafredo 0:02:17
34 Jan Maas (Ned) LottoNL-Jumbo 0:02:18
35 Eder Frayre Moctezuma (Mex) Elevate-KHS 0:02:20
36 Andrei Krasilnikau (Blr) Holowesko-Citadel p/b Arapahoe Resources 0:02:27
37 Ryan Roth (Can) Silber Pro Cycling 0:02:28
38 Alex Hoehn (USA) Aevolo 0:02:34
39 Joseph Lewis (Aus) Holowesko-Citadel p/b Arapahoe Resources 0:02:39
40 Evan Huffman (USA) Rally Cycling 0:02:40
41 Stephen Bassett (USA) Silber Pro Cycling 0:02:43
42 Nicola Conci (Ita) Trek-Segafredo 0:02:49
43 Kevin Girkins (USA) Elevate-KHS 0:02:51
44 Gregory Daniel (USA) Trek-Segafredo 0:02:54
45 Laurent Didier (Lux) Trek-Segafredo 0:02:58
46 Cullen Easter (USA) 303 Project 0:03:05
47 Taylor Phinney (USA) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale 0:03:06
48 Thomas Revard (USA) Hagens Berman Axeon 0:03:08
49 Travis McCabe (USA) UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling 0:03:10
50 Lachlan Norris (Aus) UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling 0:03:11
51 Maarten Wynants (Bel) LottoNL-Jumbo 0:03:13
52 Ed Anderson (USA) Hagens Berman Axeon 0:03:14
53 Christopher Winn (Aus) 303 Project 0:03:16
54 Taylor Shelden (USA) Jelly Belly p/b Maxxis 0:03:17
55 Travis Samuel (Can) Silber Pro Cycling 0:03:19
56 Christopher Blevins (USA) Hagens Berman Axeon 0:03:20
57 Lucas Hamilton (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott 0:03:21
58 Lionel Mawditt (Aus) Jelly Belly p/b Maxxis 0:03:22
59 Morgan Schmitt (USA) Holowesko-Citadel p/b Arapahoe Resources 0:03:23
60 Tyler Williams (USA) Israel Cycling Academy 0:03:28
61 Austin Stephens (USA) 303 Project 0:03:36
62 Luis Lemus (Mex) Israel Cycling Academy 0:03:37
63 Michael Hernandez (USA) Aevolo 0:03:43
64 Pascal Eenkhoorn (Ned) LottoNL-Jumbo 0:03:46
65 Ulises Alfredo Castillo Soto (Mex) Jelly Belly p/b Maxxis 0:03:48
66 Brayan Chaves Rubio (Col) Mitchelton-Scott 0:03:49
67 Ruben Companioni (Cub) Holowesko-Citadel p/b Arapahoe Resources 0:03:54
68 Edwin Alcibiades Avila Vanegas (Col) Israel Cycling Academy 0:03:57
69 Jordan Cheyne (Can) Elevate-KHS 0:03:57
70 Pier Andre Cote (Can) Silber Pro Cycling 0:04:02
71 Cole Davis (USA) Hagens Berman Axeon 0:04:09
72 Guy Sagiv (Isr) Israel Cycling Academy 0:04:14
73 Samuel Bassetti (USA) Elevate-KHS 0:04:14
74 Nsengimana Jean Bosco (Rwa) Rwanda 0:04:25
75 Lance Haidet (USA) Aevolo 0:04:29
76 Emile Jean (Can) Silber Pro Cycling 0:04:38
77 Tyler Magner (USA) Rally Cycling 0:04:39
78 Maxx Chance (USA) 303 Project 0:05:06
79 Danny Pate (USA) Rally Cycling 0:05:08
80 Nicholas Torraca (USA) Elevate-KHS 0:05:52

General Classification after Stage 2 :
1 Gavin Mannion (USA) UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling 2:58:43
2 Serghei Tvetcov (Rom) UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling 0:00:11
3 Hugh Carthy (GBr) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale 0:00:21
4 Joe Dombrowski (USA) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale 0:00:25
5 Damien Howson (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott 0:00:27
6 Daniel Martinez (Col) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale 0:00:29
7 James Piccoli (Can) Elevate-KHS 0:00:42
8 Robert Britton (Can) Rally Cycling 0:00:48
9 Alexander Cataford (Can) UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling 0:00:49
10 Toms Skujins (Lat) Trek-Segafredo 0:00:51
11 TJ Eisenhart (USA) Holowesko-Citadel p/b Arapahoe Resources 0:00:58
12 Jack Burke (Can) Jelly Belly p/b Maxxis 0:00:59
13 Neilson Powless (USA) LottoNL-Jumbo 0:01:00
14 Luis Ricardo Villalobos Hernandez (Mex) Aevolo 0:01:07
15 Niklas Eg (Den) Trek-Segafredo 0:01:10
16 Nathan Brown (USA) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale
17 Gage Hecht (USA) Aevolo 0:01:12
18 Rob Power (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott 0:01:19
19 Brayan Stiven Sanchez Vergara (Col) Holowesko-Citadel p/b Arapahoe Resources 0:01:23
20 Matteo Jorgenson (USA) Jelly Belly p/b Maxxis 0:01:34
21 Koen Bouwmam (Ned) LottoNL-Jumbo 0:01:37
22 Nigel Ellsay (Can) Rally Cycling 0:01:40
23 Daniel Alexander Jaramillo Diez (Col) UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling 0:01:46
24 Griffin Easter (USA) 303 Project 0:01:49
25 Daan Olivier (Ned) LottoNL-Jumbo 0:01:56
26 Sean Bennett (USA) Hagens Berman Axeon 0:01:58
27 Nickolas Zukowsky (Can) Silber Pro Cycling 0:02:01
28 Peter Stetina (USA) Trek-Segafredo 0:02:17
29 Jan Maas (Ned) LottoNL-Jumbo 0:02:18
30 Keegan Swirbul (USA) Jelly Belly p/b Maxxis 0:02:25
31 Ryan Roth (Can) Silber Pro Cycling 0:02:28
32 Alex Hoehn (USA) Aevolo 0:02:34
33 Joseph Lewis (Aus) Holowesko-Citadel p/b Arapahoe Resources 0:02:35
34 Stephen Bassett (USA) Silber Pro Cycling 0:02:43
35 Nicola Conci (Ita) Trek-Segafredo 0:02:49
36 Kyle Murphy (USA) Rally Cycling 0:02:52
37 Travis McCabe (USA) UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling 0:03:04
38 Taylor Phinney (USA) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale 0:03:06
39 Taylor Shelden (USA) Jelly Belly p/b Maxxis 0:03:17
40 Christopher Blevins (USA) Hagens Berman Axeon 0:03:20
41 Lucas Hamilton (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott 0:03:21
42 Michael Hernandez (USA) Aevolo 0:03:43
43 Pascal Eenkhoorn (Ned) LottoNL-Jumbo
44 Ruben Plaza (Spa) Israel Cycling Academy 0:03:49
45 Edwin Alcibiades Avila Vanegas (Col) Israel Cycling Academy 0:03:56
46 Ed Anderson (USA) Hagens Berman Axeon 0:04:09
47 Kevin Girkins (USA) Elevate-KHS 0:04:25
48 Cullen Easter (USA) 303 Project 0:04:38
49 Tyler Magner (USA) Rally Cycling 0:04:39
50 Lachlan Norris (Aus) UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling 0:04:44
51 Christopher Winn (Aus) 303 Project 0:04:50
52 Lionel Mawditt (Aus) Jelly Belly p/b Maxxis 0:04:56
53 Tyler Williams (USA) Israel Cycling Academy 0:05:02
54 Andrei Krasilnikau (Blr) Holowesko-Citadel p/b Arapahoe Resources 0:05:20
55 Ruben Companioni (Cub) Holowesko-Citadel p/b Arapahoe Resources 0:05:27
56 Pier Andre Cote (Can) Silber Pro Cycling 0:05:36
57 Thomas Revard (USA) Hagens Berman Axeon 0:05:41
58 Cole Davis (USA) Hagens Berman Axeon 0:05:43
59 Ulises Alfredo Castillo Soto (Mex) Jelly Belly p/b Maxxis 0:07:01
60 Lance Haidet (USA) Aevolo 0:07:21
61 Isaiah Newkirk (USA) 303 Project 0:07:27
62 Laurent Didier (Lux) Trek-Segafredo 0:08:18
63 Travis Samuel (Can) Silber Pro Cycling 0:08:39
64 Evan Huffman (USA) Rally Cycling 0:09:07
65 Jordan Cheyne (Can) Elevate-KHS 0:09:17
66 Gregory Daniel (USA) Trek-Segafredo 0:09:21
67 Samuel Bassetti (USA) Elevate-KHS 0:09:34
68 Eder Frayre Moctezuma (Mex) Elevate-KHS 0:09:35
69 Maarten Wynants (Bel) LottoNL-Jumbo 0:09:39
70 Austin Stephens (USA) 303 Project 0:10:02
71 Luis Lemus (Mex) Israel Cycling Academy 0:10:04
72 Maxx Chance (USA) 303 Project 0:10:25
73 Nsengimana Jean Bosco (Rwa) Rwanda 0:10:52
74 Danny Pate (USA) Rally Cycling 0:11:34
75 Nicholas Torraca (USA) Elevate-KHS 0:12:19
76 Morgan Schmitt (USA) Holowesko-Citadel p/b Arapahoe Resources 0:14:10
77 Jose Neves (Por) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale 0:14:15
78 Brayan Chaves Rubio (Col) Mitchelton-Scott 0:14:37
79 Emile Jean (Can) Silber Pro Cycling 0:15:26
80 Guy Sagiv (Isr) Israel Cycling Academy 0:16:22