Tour of Utah 2016 – Stage 6 [FULL STAGE]

August 06, 2016
Tour of Utah 2016 – Stage 6 – Snowbasin Resort – Snowbird Ski and Summer Resort – 183,4 km

The Tour of Utah, officially the Larry H. Miller Tour of Utah, is an annual multiday road cycling race; traversing the states of Idaho, Utah, and Wyoming. Since the 2011 edition, the tour holds UCI classification (2.1). Between five and six UCI ProTeams compete annually. Due to its altitude, distance, and weather conditions, the tour is nicknamed: “America’s Toughest Stage Race”. In 2010, only 71 of the initial 140 riders finished. After receiving 2.1 status in 2011, a stronger field participated; 88 of the initial 120 competitors finished. In September 2014, it was announced that the race was promoted to 2.HC status.

Andrew Talansky (Cannondale Drapac) had too much for Darwin Atapuma (BMC Racing Team) on the final climb on stage 6 of the Tour of Utah, sprinting to the win, and taking the leader’s jersey in the process.

The pair rode away from overnight race leader Lachlan Morton (Jelly Belly-Maxxis) inside the final 4km of the stage and although they rarely collaborated, with Talansky doing most of the work, they had enough to distance on Morton and Adrien Costa (Axeon Hagens Berman) for Talansky to take yellow.

With one stage remaining, Talansky now leads Morton by 22 seconds with Costa in third at 56 seconds. The stage win marked Talansky’s first road race win since the 2014 Criterium du Dauphine.

“It’s definitely been awhile,” Talansky said in the post-race press conference. “It’s been two years since I road my best in the Tour in 2014 before I crashed and had to go home.

“It’s a great feeling to win again,” he said. “To win the stage is really special, and to be sitting here in yellow is great. We have another day of racing to go, but to win the stage was really nice. I think you’d have to look back pretty far to see when I won an actual stage and not the overall race.”

How it unfolded

The Tour of Utah’s Queen stage took riders over 183.4km from Snowbasin to Snowbird Ski and Summer Resort. The route included just two KOMs but more than 3,400 metres of climbing. The day’s biggest challenges were backload in the final 60km, with the climbs of Guardsman Pass and Little Cottonwood Canyon to Snowbird coming back-to-back.

The peloton started the day feeling stingy, and multiple breakaways attempts were kept close and brought back before a group of 10 formed off the front after nearly an hour of racing. Three more riders bridged up to establish the day’s breakaway of 13.

In the group were Ben King (Cannondale-Drapac), Rick Zabel (BMC Racing), Jonathan Fumeaux (IAM Cycling), Kiel Reijnen (Trek-Segafredo), Daniel Eaton (UnitedHealthcare), Nielson Powless (Axeon Hagens Berman), Robin Carpenter (Holowesko-Citadel), Stephen Bassett (Team Jamis), Emerson Oronte (Rally Cycling), Kris Dahl (Silber Pro Cycling), Luis Amaran (Team Jamis), Chad Beyer (Lupus Racing) and Dion Smith (One Pro Cycling).

The leaders built an ultimate advantage of 4:50 about 50km into the day, but from there the chase, led by Jelly Belly-Maxxis for Morton, slowly started eating into the advantage.

By the time the leaders made it to Park City and the second intermediate sprint of the day, the gap was down to just 2:45. Once the leaders were on the lower slopes of the climb, the breakaway started coming apart at the seams, with Reijnen and Smith coming off first, followed by Basset, Dahl and Amaran.

When the leaders were near the top of the climb, Beyer had jumped away and a chase group of four that included King, Eaton, Powless and Oronte was in hot pursuit.

The chase dropped Oronte and linked up with Beyer to start a new lead group of four that reached the descent off the climb together. On the flat transition to the bottom of the Little Cottonwood climb, King, Beyer and Eaton held a small gap over a chase from Nicolae Tanovitchii (Lupus) and reigning U23 world champion Kevin Ledanois (Fortuneo-Vital Concept), while the field was 1:30 back.

King dropped Beyer and Eaton, both of whom had faded back toward the field as Tanovitchii and Ledanois continued on as the first chase group behind the now-solo King.

Further down the slope, Cannondale was setting the pace for Talansky, while Tanovitchii and TJ Eisnehart, who had attacked out of the yellow jersey group, caught and passed Ben King.

The new leaders’ time off the front was short-lived, however, as the yellow jersey group was soon on terms with them and the race hit reset.

A TV moto crash in the group caused a split in the field, and in the lead group were Morton, Talansky, Costa, Atapuma, Rob Britton (Rally Cycling), Eisenhart, Rob Squire (Holowesko), Laurent Didier (Trek-Segafredo), Janier Acevedo (Team Jamis) and Andre Krasilnikau (Holowesko).

Atapuma jumped away from the group and Talansky quickly got on terms with the Colombian.

“Darwin attacked and I couldn’t go when he went,” he said. “He has a great acceleration and is a really good climber. But I thought that if I could get up to him we could maybe work together and get that gap. I was looking for a spot, hoping the wind would shift but it didn’t. So I just said, ‘OK, there’s 4km to go and we have to go now.’ I went, we got the gap to Lachlan an then we drove it all the way to the finish.”

Morton, Acevedo and Costa tried to catch the leaders, but they couldn’t match the BMC and Cannondale rider

Acevedo dropped out of the chase, leaving Morton and Costa alone to chase down the leaders. In the finale, Talansky hit out on the slightly downhill run to the finish and took the win just ahead of the Colombian. Costa finished next, followed by Morton, who lit out for the team buses as soon as he crossed the line.

Results :
1 Andrew Talansky (USA) Cannondale-Drapac 4:47:03
2 Darwin Atapuma (Col) BMC Racing Team
3 Adrien Costa (USA) Axeon Hagens Berman 0:00:31
4 Lachlan David Morton (Aus) Jelly Belly p/b Maxxis
5 Rob Britton (Can) Rally Cycling 0:00:46
6 Robbie Squire (USA) Holowesko-Citadel Racing Team 0:01:01
7 Joseph Rosskopf (USA) BMC Racing Team 0:01:12
8 Riccardo Zoidl (Aut) Trek-Segafredo 0:01:22
9 Laurent Didier (Lux) Trek-Segafredo 0:01:37
10 Taylor Eisenhart (USA) BMC Racing Team
11 Joe Dombrowski (USA) Cannondale-Drapac
12 Christopher Horner (USA) Lupus Racing Team
13 Janier Alexis Acevedo Colle (Col) Team Jamis 0:01:41
14 Manuel Senni (Ita) BMC Racing Team 0:02:12
15 Janez Brajkovic (Slo) UnitedHealthcare Professional Cycling Team
16 Damiano Cunego (Ita) Nippo – Vini Fantini 0:02:16
17 Tao Geoghegan Hart (GBr) Axeon Hagens Berman 0:02:44
18 Julien Loubet (Fra) Fortuneo – Vital Concept 0:02:47
19 Jonathan Clarke (Aus) UnitedHealthcare Professional Cycling Team 0:02:54
20 Dylan Teuns (Bel) BMC Racing Team 0:03:25
21 Nicolae Tanovitchii (Mda) Lupus Racing Team 0:03:32
22 Joseph Chavarria (CRc) Lupus Racing Team 0:04:53
23 Peter Stetina (USA) Trek-Segafredo 0:04:54
24 Eddie Dunbar (Irl) Axeon Hagens Berman
25 Hayden Mccormick (NZl) ONE Pro Cycling 0:05:20
26 David Drouin (Can) Silber Pro Cycling 0:05:51
27 Daniel Jaramillo (Col) UnitedHealthcare Professional Cycling Team 0:05:52
28 Simon Pellaud (Swi) IAM Cycling 0:07:17
29 Benjamin King (USA) Cannondale-Drapac
30 Chad Beyer (USA) Lupus Racing Team
31 Lawrence Warbasse (USA) IAM Cycling
32 Alex Howes (USA) Cannondale-Drapac
33 Alexander Cataford (Can) Silber Pro Cycling
34 Julien Bernard (Fra) Trek-Segafredo
35 Jean-Marc Bideau (Fra) Fortuneo – Vital Concept 0:08:11
36 Angus Morton (Aus) Jelly Belly p/b Maxxis 0:08:58
37 Robin Carpenter (USA) Holowesko-Citadel Racing Team 0:09:30
38 Alberto Bettiol (Ita) Cannondale-Drapac 0:10:26
39 Kevin Ledanois (Fra) Fortuneo – Vital Concept 0:10:51
40 Javier Megias (Spa) Team Novo Nordisk 0:11:39
41 Jacopo Mosca (Ita) Trek-Segafredo 0:12:32
42 Andrei Krasilnikau (Blr) Holowesko-Citadel Racing Team
43 Christopher Jones (USA) UnitedHealthcare Professional Cycling Team 0:13:53
44 Taylor Sheldon (USA) Jelly Belly p/b Maxxis
45 Emerson Oronte (USA) Rally Cycling 0:14:38
46 Brayan Stiven Sanchez Vergara (Col) Team Jamis 0:15:23
47 Matthew Busche (USA) UnitedHealthcare Professional Cycling Team 0:16:14
48 Daniel Eaton (USA) UnitedHealthcare Professional Cycling Team
49 Rick Zabel (Ger) BMC Racing Team 0:16:32
50 Nicola Bagioli (Ita) Nippo – Vini Fantini 0:16:54
51 Neilson Powless (USA) Axeon Hagens Berman
52 Krists Neilands (Lat) Axeon Hagens Berman
53 Andzs Flaksis (Lat) Holowesko-Citadel Racing Team
54 Bryan Lewis (USA) Lupus Racing Team 0:18:16
55 Phillip Gaimon (USA) Cannondale-Drapac
56 Barry Miller (USA) Lupus Racing Team
57 Evan Huffman (USA) Rally Cycling 0:20:26
58 Danny Pate (USA) Rally Cycling
59 Tanner Putt (USA) UnitedHealthcare Professional Cycling Team 0:22:40
60 Kiel Reijnen (USA) Trek-Segafredo
61 Dion Smith (NZl) ONE Pro Cycling
62 Travis McCabe (USA) Holowesko-Citadel Racing Team
63 Luis Romero Amaran (Cub) Team Jamis
64 Alessandro Bisolti (Ita) Nippo – Vini Fantini
65 Jonathan Fumeaux (Swi) IAM Cycling
66 Marco Canola (Ita) UnitedHealthcare Professional Cycling Team
67 Tom Bohli (Swi) BMC Racing Team 0:26:46
68 Fabian Lienhard (Swi) BMC Racing Team
69 Marcel Aregger (Swi) IAM Cycling
70 Thomas Vaubourzeix (Fra) Lupus Racing Team
71 Frederic Brun (Fra) Fortuneo – Vital Concept
72 Logan Owen (USA) Axeon Hagens Berman
73 Matthieu Jeannes (Fra) Lupus Racing Team
74 Nicolas Masbourian (Can) Silber Pro Cycling
75 Elie Gesbert (Fra) Fortuneo – Vital Concept
76 Ruben Companioni (Cub) Team Jamis
77 Steven Tronet (Fra) Fortuneo – Vital Concept 0:26:49
78 Stephen Bassett (USA) Team Jamis
79 Lucas Sebastian Haedo (Arg) Team Jamis
80 David Tanner (Aus) IAM Cycling
81 Francis Mourey (Fra) Fortuneo – Vital Concept
82 David Gaona Vazquez (Mex) Nippo – Vini Fantini 0:33:18
83 Jonathan Dibben (GBr) Cannondale-Drapac
84 Colin Joyce (USA) Axeon Hagens Berman
85 Joseph Lewis (Aus) Holowesko-Citadel Racing Team
86 Pier Paolo De Negri (Ita) Nippo – Vini Fantini
87 Kyle Murphy (USA) Team Jamis
88 Eric Marcotte (USA) Team Jamis
89 James Oram (NZl) ONE Pro Cycling
90 Jordan Cheyne (Can) Jelly Belly p/b Maxxis
91 Richard Handley (GBr) ONE Pro Cycling
92 Stephen Clancy (Irl) Team Novo Nordisk
93 Matteo Dal-Cin (Can) Silber Pro Cycling
94 Alexandr Braico (Mda) Jelly Belly p/b Maxxis
95 Ryan Roth (Can) Silber Pro Cycling
96 Iuri Filosi (Ita) Nippo – Vini Fantini
97 Keijzer Gerd De (Ned) Team Novo Nordisk
98 Joshua Berry (USA) Jelly Belly p/b Maxxis
99 Adam De Vos (Can) Rally Cycling
100 Kristofer Dahl (Can) Silber Pro Cycling
101 Ulises Alfredo Castillo Soto (Mex) Jelly Belly p/b Maxxis
102 Jacob Rathe (USA) Jelly Belly p/b Maxxis
103 Pierrick Naud (Can) Rally Cycling
104 Eric Young (USA) Rally Cycling

General classification after stage 6 :
1 Andrew Talansky (USA) Cannondale-Drapac 24:04:30
2 Lachlan David Morton (Aus) Jelly Belly p/b Maxxis 0:00:22
3 Adrien Costa (USA) Axeon Hagens Berman 0:00:56
4 Darwin Atapuma (Col) BMC Racing Team 0:01:23
5 Rob Britton (Can) Rally Cycling 0:02:09
6 Joseph Rosskopf (USA) BMC Racing Team 0:02:35
7 Taylor Eisenhart (USA) BMC Racing Team 0:03:02
8 Robbie Squire (USA) Holowesko-Citadel Racing Team 0:04:59
9 Joe Dombrowski (USA) Cannondale-Drapac 0:05:35
10 Laurent Didier (Lux) Trek-Segafredo
11 Janez Brajkovic (Slo) UnitedHealthcare Professional Cycling Team 0:06:10
12 Tao Geoghegan Hart (GBr) Axeon Hagens Berman 0:06:36
13 Manuel Senni (Ita) BMC Racing Team 0:06:37
14 Jonathan Clarke (Aus) UnitedHealthcare Professional Cycling Team 0:06:52
15 Christopher Horner (USA) Lupus Racing Team 0:07:35
16 Julien Loubet (Fra) Fortuneo – Vital Concept 0:08:45
17 Peter Stetina (USA) Trek-Segafredo 0:08:52
18 Dylan Teuns (Bel) BMC Racing Team 0:09:23
19 Nicolae Tanovitchii (Mda) Lupus Racing Team 0:09:27
20 Eddie Dunbar (Irl) Axeon Hagens Berman 0:10:51
21 Robin Carpenter (USA) Holowesko-Citadel Racing Team 0:11:32
22 Alex Howes (USA) Cannondale-Drapac 0:13:11
23 Julien Bernard (Fra) Trek-Segafredo 0:13:35
24 Riccardo Zoidl (Aut) Trek-Segafredo 0:13:40
25 Lawrence Warbasse (USA) IAM Cycling 0:13:42
26 Joseph Chavarria (CRc) Lupus Racing Team 0:14:37
27 Angus Morton (Aus) Jelly Belly p/b Maxxis 0:15:23
28 Chad Beyer (USA) Lupus Racing Team 0:15:25
29 Hayden Mccormick (NZl) ONE Pro Cycling 0:15:31
30 Benjamin King (USA) Cannondale-Drapac 0:19:11
31 Janier Alexis Acevedo Colle (Col) Team Jamis 0:20:50
32 Damiano Cunego (Ita) Nippo – Vini Fantini 0:21:03
33 Neilson Powless (USA) Axeon Hagens Berman 0:21:19
34 Daniel Jaramillo (Col) UnitedHealthcare Professional Cycling Team 0:24:02
35 David Drouin (Can) Silber Pro Cycling 0:24:20
36 Matthew Busche (USA) UnitedHealthcare Professional Cycling Team 0:26:04
37 Kiel Reijnen (USA) Trek-Segafredo 0:26:22
38 Emerson Oronte (USA) Rally Cycling 0:27:27
39 Simon Pellaud (Swi) IAM Cycling 0:27:37
40 Jacopo Mosca (Ita) Trek-Segafredo 0:29:23
41 Evan Huffman (USA) Rally Cycling 0:31:37
42 Taylor Sheldon (USA) Jelly Belly p/b Maxxis 0:32:30
43 Alexander Cataford (Can) Silber Pro Cycling 0:33:35
44 Javier Megias (Spa) Team Novo Nordisk 0:34:39
45 Kevin Ledanois (Fra) Fortuneo – Vital Concept 0:34:48
46 Jean-Marc Bideau (Fra) Fortuneo – Vital Concept 0:35:13
47 Elie Gesbert (Fra) Fortuneo – Vital Concept 0:36:47
48 Alessandro Bisolti (Ita) Nippo – Vini Fantini 0:38:32
49 Brayan Stiven Sanchez Vergara (Col) Team Jamis 0:39:11
50 Logan Owen (USA) Axeon Hagens Berman 0:39:31
51 Alberto Bettiol (Ita) Cannondale-Drapac 0:39:44
52 Rick Zabel (Ger) BMC Racing Team 0:39:55
53 Jonathan Fumeaux (Swi) IAM Cycling 0:40:50
54 Marco Canola (Ita) UnitedHealthcare Professional Cycling Team 0:41:17
55 Christopher Jones (USA) UnitedHealthcare Professional Cycling Team 0:43:50
56 Nicola Bagioli (Ita) Nippo – Vini Fantini 0:46:09
57 Travis McCabe (USA) Holowesko-Citadel Racing Team 0:47:36
58 Andrei Krasilnikau (Blr) Holowesko-Citadel Racing Team 0:48:32
59 Krists Neilands (Lat) Axeon Hagens Berman 0:49:18
60 Bryan Lewis (USA) Lupus Racing Team 0:50:08
61 Barry Miller (USA) Lupus Racing Team
62 Ruben Companioni (Cub) Team Jamis 0:51:37
63 Daniel Eaton (USA) UnitedHealthcare Professional Cycling Team 0:51:58
64 David Tanner (Aus) IAM Cycling 0:51:59
65 Dion Smith (NZl) ONE Pro Cycling 0:54:32
66 Luis Romero Amaran (Cub) Team Jamis 0:55:18
67 Fabian Lienhard (Swi) BMC Racing Team 0:57:50
68 Colin Joyce (USA) Axeon Hagens Berman 0:58:22
69 Stephen Bassett (USA) Team Jamis 0:58:38
70 Andzs Flaksis (Lat) Holowesko-Citadel Racing Team 0:58:41
71 Frederic Brun (Fra) Fortuneo – Vital Concept 0:58:47
72 Lucas Sebastian Haedo (Arg) Team Jamis 0:58:54
73 Marcel Aregger (Swi) IAM Cycling 0:59:23
74 Tanner Putt (USA) UnitedHealthcare Professional Cycling Team 0:59:32
75 Phillip Gaimon (USA) Cannondale-Drapac 1:00:41
76 Francis Mourey (Fra) Fortuneo – Vital Concept 1:00:49
77 Tom Bohli (Swi) BMC Racing Team 1:01:38
78 Thomas Vaubourzeix (Fra) Lupus Racing Team 1:02:19
79 Steven Tronet (Fra) Fortuneo – Vital Concept 1:03:19
80 Matthieu Jeannes (Fra) Lupus Racing Team 1:03:38
81 Jacob Rathe (USA) Jelly Belly p/b Maxxis 1:05:10
82 Iuri Filosi (Ita) Nippo – Vini Fantini 1:08:13
83 Alexandr Braico (Mda) Jelly Belly p/b Maxxis 1:08:18
84 Pier Paolo De Negri (Ita) Nippo – Vini Fantini 1:09:48
85 Eric Marcotte (USA) Team Jamis
86 David Gaona Vazquez (Mex) Nippo – Vini Fantini 1:10:16
87 Kristofer Dahl (Can) Silber Pro Cycling 1:10:38
88 Ulises Alfredo Castillo Soto (Mex) Jelly Belly p/b Maxxis 1:10:49
89 Jonathan Dibben (GBr) Cannondale-Drapac
90 Nicolas Masbourian (Can) Silber Pro Cycling 1:11:06
91 Ryan Roth (Can) Silber Pro Cycling 1:11:44
92 Danny Pate (USA) Rally Cycling 1:14:45
93 Pierrick Naud (Can) Rally Cycling 1:15:46
94 James Oram (NZl) ONE Pro Cycling 1:16:16
95 Richard Handley (GBr) ONE Pro Cycling
96 Jordan Cheyne (Can) Jelly Belly p/b Maxxis 1:18:11
97 Joshua Berry (USA) Jelly Belly p/b Maxxis 1:19:25
98 Joseph Lewis (Aus) Holowesko-Citadel Racing Team 1:22:53
99 Matteo Dal-Cin (Can) Silber Pro Cycling 1:23:48
100 Kyle Murphy (USA) Team Jamis 1:29:46
101 Stephen Clancy (Irl) Team Novo Nordisk 1:30:02
102 Adam De Vos (Can) Rally Cycling 1:31:26
103 Eric Young (USA) Rally Cycling 1:32:28
104 Keijzer Gerd De (Ned) Team Novo Nordisk 1:36:08