Tour of Utah 2018 – Stage 1 [FULL STAGE]

August 7, 2018

Tour of Utah 2018 – Stage 1 – Cedar City – Cedar City : 162,5 km

The 2018 Larry H. Miller Tour of Utah will take place August 6-12. Host venues for 2018 include St. George, Cedar City, Payson City, Antelope Island State Park, Layton City, Salt Lake City, Canyons Village, Snowbird Resort and Park City. After moving the race back one week from its traditional dates, allowing European teams a full week of travel following the Tour de France, organisers secured five WorldTour teams for 2018, including BMC Racing, Trek-Segafredo, Mitchelton-Scott, EF Education First-Drapac and LottoNL-Jumbo. The route for the seven-day 2.HC race starts in the southern end of the state with the prologue time trial in St. George, and then makes its way north for the final day in Park City, which returns to the race after a one-year absence. A newly configured circuit in Salt Lake City is also on tap for 2018.

Travis McCabe (UnitedHealthcare) won a chaotic sprint to take stage 1 at the Tour of Utah Tuesday in Cedar City. McCabe kicked early, around the final corner, and opened up a comprehensive gap on the rest of the field.

Ulises Alfredo Castillo (Jelly Belly-Maxxis) and Edwin Avila (Israel Cycling Academy) rounded out the top three, while overnight leader Tejay van Garderen (BMC Racing) enjoyed a quiet day and retained his lead. The result moved McCabe into second overall.

“There aren’t really any big sprinter teams because it’s such a heavy climbing race this year,” McCabe said, “so I just floated along and waited for the opportune time to sprint, opened it up with 250 metres to go and won.”

The stage was dominated by an early break, but on the long descent into Cedar City the sprinters’ teams began to take control. Until that point BMC Racing and Trek had set the tempo, before the last rider from the break, Daan Olivier (LottoNL-Jumbo), was caught.

That sparked a number of counter attacks with Luis Lemus (Israel Cycling Academy) the next rider to try his luck. Neilson Powless was the next to try with 7km to go, and despite opening up a short gap he was caught at the start of the final lap by a small group that contained Griffin Easter (303 Project), who thought the race was over, duly sprinted and raised his arms a lap early after thinking he had taken the win.

In truth, none of the sprinters’s teams were able to take control of the bunch. Ivan Santaromita attacked late on and was then joined and overtaken by Serghei Tvetcov (UnitedHealthcare). That move looked dangerous, but inside the final 1,000m the remnants of the sprint trains hit the front.

When McCabe came through to the front with over 200m to go it looked as though he had gone too early, but by now the remaining fast men were on the their own and without teammates. As soon as McCabe opened up a sprint, and gained an initial gap, the stage win was his.

“I waited until the lull came because it as an uphill tailwind,”Mccabe said. “I came in second wheel behind one of the Axeon guys who was going. As soon as you see guys start to open up around you, you don’t have a choice, you either go or if you wait you end up losing. With that tailwind I was confident. I wasn’t afraid, and it paid off.”

How it unfolded

Stage 1 at the Tour of Utah started in Cedar City and finished there after 168.km of racing. The stage featured 1 intermediate sprint at 36.2km and two categorised climbs: the category 1 ascent of Cedar Breaks at 61km and the category 4 Bristlecone climb at 124.4km.

Prologue winner van Garderen started in his yellow jersey but his BMC Racing team mostly moved out of the way in the early going as riders tried to establish the day’s breakaway. With a sprint finish likely back in Cedar City, the peloton was not eager to let any of the sprinters’ teams put a rider in the move, and so the attacks flew steadily over the opening kilometres.

Van Garderen suffered a puncture and had to chase back alone through the caravan, while up front a group of four escapees finally met with the pack’s approval and set off for a day’s adventure.

In the group was Rally Cycling’s Evan Huffman, who started the day ninth overall at 12 seconds back and was quickly the virtual race leader on the road. Huffman was joined up front by Daan Olivier (LottoNL-Jumbo), George Simpson (Elevate-KHS) and Lionel Mawditt (Jelly Belly-Maxxis).

Mobius BridgeLane and Aevolo were not happy about missing the break and tried to send riders across, but by then BMC had taken their place at the front of the peloton and weren’t keen to let anyone else go up the road.

By the time the break reached the intermediate sprint, the gap had ballooned to more than three minutes. Simpson took the sprint and the three-second time bonus for the winner. He started the day just two seconds behind Huffman, who rolled across the sprint line for second and two bonus seconds to save his virtual race lead.

The leaders built a lead of more than 5 minutes on the first climb, where Mawditt and Olivier pulled away near the sprint for the KOM. Olivier led out Mawditt, who came by him by centimetres at the line to take the first mountain points on offer in the race. The peloton crossed the KOM 4:30 behind the leaders, who quickly regrouped on the descent.

With EF Education First-Drapac helping BMC with the chase, the leaders’ gap was down to just over three minutes when they started the second climb of the day. Once again, Mawditt and Olivier rode away from Simpson and Huffman. But Olivier also dropped Mawditt on the climb.

Olivier pressed on and claimed maximum points over the top of the climb ,with BMC Racing and Trek setting the pace at 2:40. With just over 17 kilometres remaining, Luis Lemus (Israel Cycling Academy) attacked and swooped by Olivier. However, as the road flatted out Lemus was left with just 10 seconds of an advantage as the race tackled three finishing circuits and the sprinters’ teams controlled the chase.

Results :
1 Travis McCabe (USA) UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling 4:17:05
2 Ulises Alfredo Castillo Soto (Mex) Jelly Belly p/b Maxxis
3 Edwin Avila (Col) Israel Cycling Academy
4 Brent Bookwalter (USA) BMC Racing Team
5 Kiel Reijnen (USA) Trek-Segafredo
6 Damiano Cima (Ita) Nippo-Vini Fantini-Europa Ovini
7 Kyle Murphy (USA) Rally Cycling
8 Simone Ponzi (Ita) Nippo-Vini Fantini-Europa Ovini
9 Koen Bouwmam (Ned) LottoNL-Jumbo
10 Michael Rice (Aus) Hagens Berman Axeon
11 Sean Bennett (USA) Hagens Berman Axeon
12 Charles Etienne Chretien (Can) Silber Pro Cycling
13 Janier Alexis Acevedo Calle (Col) UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling
14 Cameron Meyer (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott
15 Joe Dombrowski (USA) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale
16 Nathan Brown (USA) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale
17 Pascal Eenkhoorn (Ned) LottoNL-Jumbo
18 Eder Frayre Moctezuma (Mex) Elevate-KHS
19 Joey Rosskopf (USA) BMC Racing Team
20 Nicolas Masbourian (Can) Silber Pro Cycling
21 Michael Woods (Can) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale
22 Jack Haig (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott
23 Sepp Kuss (USA) LottoNL-Jumbo
24 Gavin Mannion (USA) UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling
25 Gage Hecht (USA) Aevolo
26 Ben Hermans (Bel) Israel Cycling Academy
27 Bernat Font Mas (Spa) 303 Project
28 Niklas Eg (Den) Trek-Segafredo
29 Ivan Santaromita (Ita) Nippo-Vini Fantini-Europa Ovini
30 Peter Stetina (USA) Trek-Segafredo
31 Robert Britton (Can) Rally Cycling
32 Luis Ricardo Villalobos Hernandez (Mex) Aevolo
33 TJ Eisenhart (USA) Holowesko-Citadel p/b Arapahoe Resources
34 Tejay van Garderen (USA) BMC Racing Team
35 Jack Burke (Can) Jelly Belly p/b Maxxis
36 Hugh Carthy (GBr) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale
37 Ruben Plaza (Spa) Israel Cycling Academy
38 Nickolas Zukowsky (Can) Silber Pro Cycling
39 Emerson Oronte (USA) Rally Cycling
40 Ed Anderson (USA) Hagens Berman Axeon
41 Daan Olivier (Ned) LottoNL-Jumbo
42 Daniel Jaramillo (Col) UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling
43 Serghei Tvetcov (Rom) UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling
44 Brayan Stiven Sanchez Vergara (Col) Holowesko-Citadel p/b Arapahoe Resources
45 Neilson Powless (USA) LottoNL-Jumbo
46 Brendan Canty (Aus) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale
47 Alex Hoehn (USA) Aevolo
48 Ruben Companioni (Cub) Holowesko-Citadel p/b Arapahoe Resources
49 Maarten Wynants (Bel) LottoNL-Jumbo
50 Flavio De Luna (Mex) 303 Project
51 Keegan Swirbul (USA) Jelly Belly p/b Maxxis
52 Lucas Hamilton (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott
53 Angus Lyons (Aus) Mobius Bridgelane
54 Thomas Revard (USA) Hagens Berman Axeon
55 Jordan Cheyne (Can) Elevate-KHS
56 Danick Vandale (Can) Silber Pro Cycling
57 Jan Maas (Ned) LottoNL-Jumbo
58 Nigel Ellsay (Can) Rally Cycling
59 Cullen Easter (USA) 303 Project
60 Isaiah Newkirk (USA) 303 Project
61 Kilian Frankiny (Swi) BMC Racing Team
62 Lucas Sebastian Haedo (Arg) UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling
63 Connor Brown (USA) Mobius Bridgelane
64 Nicola Conci (Ita) Trek-Segafredo
65 Peter Livingstone (Aus) Mobius Bridgelane
66 Jonathan Clarke (Aus) UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling
67 Russell Finsterwald (USA) Mobius Bridgelane
68 Sho Hatsuyama (Jpn) Nippo-Vini Fantini-Europa Ovini
69 Tony Baca (Mex) 303 Project
70 Evan Huffman (USA) Rally Cycling
71 Hamish Schreurs (NZl) Israel Cycling Academy
72 Jonathan Brown (USA) Hagens Berman Axeon
73 Alexander Evans (Aus) BMC Racing Team
74 Imerio Cima (Ita) Nippo-Vini Fantini-Europa Ovini 0:00:17
75 William Clarke (Aus) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale 0:00:20
76 Michel Ries (Lux) Trek-Segafredo 0:00:27
77 Alex Howes (USA) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale 0:00:55
78 Griffin Easter (USA) 303 Project 0:01:09
79 Luis Lemus (Mex) Israel Cycling Academy 0:01:32
80 George Simpson (USA) Elevate-KHS
81 Alan Marangoni (Ita) Nippo-Vini Fantini-Europa Ovini 0:01:53
82 Taylor Shelden (USA) Jelly Belly p/b Maxxis 0:02:02
83 Benjamin Wolfe (USA) Jelly Belly p/b Maxxis
84 Brayan Chaves Rubio (Col) Mitchelton-Scott
85 Samuel Bassetti (USA) Elevate-KHS
86 Rob Power (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott
87 Lionel Mawditt (Aus) Jelly Belly p/b Maxxis 0:14:37
88 Jasper Philipsen (Bel) Hagens Berman Axeon 0:16:18
89 Guy Sagiv (Isr) Israel Cycling Academy
90 Laurent Didier (Lux) Trek-Segafredo
91 Cormac McGeough (Irl) Jelly Belly p/b Maxxis
92 Brian McCulloch (USA) Elevate-KHS
93 Sam Bewley (NZl) Mitchelton-Scott
94 Andrei Krasilnikau (Blr) Holowesko-Citadel p/b Arapahoe Resources
95 Fernando Islas Lopez (Mex) Aevolo
96 Gregory Rast (Swi) Trek-Segafredo
97 Lance Haidet (USA) Aevolo
98 Freddy Ovett (Aus) BMC Racing Team
99 Emile Jean (Can) Silber Pro Cycling
100 Michael Hernandez (USA) Aevolo
101 Tyler Williams (USA) Israel Cycling Academy
102 Pier-André Côté (Can) Silber Pro Cycling
103 Tom Bohli (Swi) BMC Racing Team
104 Joseph Lewis (Aus) Holowesko-Citadel p/b Arapahoe Resources 0:21:14
105 Maikel Zijlaard (Ned) Hagens Berman Axeon
106 Jesse Coyle (Aus) Mobius Bridgelane
107 Adam Roberge (Can) Silber Pro Cycling
108 Laurent Gervais (Can) Aevolo
109 Danny Pate (USA) Rally Cycling
110 Morgan Schmitt (USA) Holowesko-Citadel p/b Arapahoe Resources
111 Tyler Magner (USA) Rally Cycling
DNF Bryan Steve Gomez Peñaloza (Col) Holowesko-Citadel p/b Arapahoe Resources
DNF Jose Alfredo Rodriguez Victoria (Mex) Elevate-KHS
DNF Cristhian Ravelo Avila (Col) 303 Project
DNF Ben Carman (Aus) Mobius Bridgelane
DNS James Piccoli (Can) Elevate-KHS
DNS Conor Murtagh (Aus) Mobius Bridgelane

General Classification after Stage 1 :
1 Tejay van Garderen (USA) BMC Racing Team 4:23:32
2 Travis McCabe (USA) UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling 0:00:02
3 Joey Rosskopf (USA) BMC Racing Team 0:00:04
4 Neilson Powless (USA) LottoNL-Jumbo 0:00:07
5 Evan Huffman (USA) Rally Cycling 0:00:10
6 Pascal Eenkhoorn (Ned) LottoNL-Jumbo 0:00:11
7 Serghei Tvetcov (Rom) UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling
8 Nathan Brown (USA) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale
9 Koen Bouwmam (Ned) LottoNL-Jumbo 0:00:13
10 Joe Dombrowski (USA) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale
11 Gavin Mannion (USA) UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling
12 Hugh Carthy (GBr) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale
13 Daniel Jaramillo (Col) UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling 0:00:14
14 Michael Woods (Can) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale
15 Jack Haig (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott 0:00:15
16 Brent Bookwalter (USA) BMC Racing Team
17 Brendan Canty (Aus) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale
18 Kiel Reijnen (USA) Trek-Segafredo
19 Ruben Plaza (Spa) Israel Cycling Academy 0:00:17
20 Jan Maas (Ned) LottoNL-Jumbo
21 Sepp Kuss (USA) LottoNL-Jumbo
22 Peter Stetina (USA) Trek-Segafredo
23 Ben Hermans (Bel) Israel Cycling Academy
24 Nicola Conci (Ita) Trek-Segafredo 0:00:18
25 Robert Britton (Can) Rally Cycling
26 Thomas Revard (USA) Hagens Berman Axeon 0:00:19
27 Kyle Murphy (USA) Rally Cycling
28 Nigel Ellsay (Can) Rally Cycling 0:00:20
29 Gage Hecht (USA) Aevolo
30 Janier Alexis Acevedo Calle (Col) UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling 0:00:21
31 Nicolas Masbourian (Can) Silber Pro Cycling
32 Cameron Meyer (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott
33 Nickolas Zukowsky (Can) Silber Pro Cycling
34 Kilian Frankiny (Swi) BMC Racing Team
35 Alex Hoehn (USA) Aevolo 0:00:22
36 Angus Lyons (Aus) Mobius Bridgelane 0:00:23
37 Sean Bennett (USA) Hagens Berman Axeon
38 Ruben Companioni (Cub) Holowesko-Citadel p/b Arapahoe Resources 0:00:24
39 Rob Power (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott
40 Ulises Alfredo Castillo Soto (Mex) Jelly Belly p/b Maxxis 0:00:25
41 Samuel Bassetti (USA) Elevate-KHS
42 Luis Ricardo Villalobos Hernandez (Mex) Aevolo
43 Jack Burke (Can) Jelly Belly p/b Maxxis
44 Lucas Hamilton (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott 0:00:26
45 Eder Frayre Moctezuma (Mex) Elevate-KHS
46 Niklas Eg (Den) Trek-Segafredo 0:00:27
47 Maarten Wynants (Bel) LottoNL-Jumbo
48 TJ Eisenhart (USA) Holowesko-Citadel p/b Arapahoe Resources
49 Jordan Cheyne (Can) Elevate-KHS
50 Keegan Swirbul (USA) Jelly Belly p/b Maxxis
51 Ivan Santaromita (Ita) Nippo-Vini Fantini-Europa Ovini 0:00:28
52 Daan Olivier (Ned) LottoNL-Jumbo 0:00:29
53 Charles Etienne Chretien (Can) Silber Pro Cycling 0:00:30
54 Jonathan Clarke (Aus) UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling 0:00:31
55 Ed Anderson (USA) Hagens Berman Axeon
56 Brayan Stiven Sanchez Vergara (Col) Holowesko-Citadel p/b Arapahoe Resources
57 William Clarke (Aus) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale 0:00:32
58 Danick Vandale (Can) Silber Pro Cycling 0:00:34
59 Michael Rice (Aus) Hagens Berman Axeon
60 Isaiah Newkirk (USA) 303 Project
61 Damiano Cima (Ita) Nippo-Vini Fantini-Europa Ovini 0:00:35
62 Tony Baca (Mex) 303 Project 0:00:36
63 Alexander Evans (Aus) BMC Racing Team
64 Hamish Schreurs (NZl) Israel Cycling Academy 0:00:37
65 Emerson Oronte (USA) Rally Cycling 0:00:38
66 Flavio De Luna (Mex) 303 Project
67 Jonathan Brown (USA) Hagens Berman Axeon
68 Connor Brown (USA) Mobius Bridgelane 0:00:39
69 Bernat Font Mas (Spa) 303 Project 0:00:41
70 Peter Livingstone (Aus) Mobius Bridgelane 0:00:43
71 Sho Hatsuyama (Jpn) Nippo-Vini Fantini-Europa Ovini 0:00:44
72 Imerio Cima (Ita) Nippo-Vini Fantini-Europa Ovini 0:00:46
73 Edwin Avila (Col) Israel Cycling Academy
74 Lucas Sebastian Haedo (Arg) UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling 0:00:48
75 Cullen Easter (USA) 303 Project
76 Russell Finsterwald (USA) Mobius Bridgelane 0:00:49
77 Simone Ponzi (Ita) Nippo-Vini Fantini-Europa Ovini 0:00:57
78 Michel Ries (Lux) Trek-Segafredo 0:00:58
79 Griffin Easter (USA) 303 Project 0:01:41
80 George Simpson (USA) Elevate-KHS 0:01:43
81 Alex Howes (USA) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale 0:01:45
82 Benjamin Wolfe (USA) Jelly Belly p/b Maxxis 0:02:28
83 Alan Marangoni (Ita) Nippo-Vini Fantini-Europa Ovini
84 Luis Lemus (Mex) Israel Cycling Academy 0:02:29
85 Taylor Shelden (USA) Jelly Belly p/b Maxxis 0:02:31
86 Brayan Chaves Rubio (Col) Mitchelton-Scott 0:03:02
87 Lionel Mawditt (Aus) Jelly Belly p/b Maxxis 0:15:15
88 Tom Bohli (Swi) BMC Racing Team 0:16:24
89 Jasper Philipsen (Bel) Hagens Berman Axeon 0:16:38
90 Tyler Williams (USA) Israel Cycling Academy
91 Pier-André Côté (Can) Silber Pro Cycling 0:16:39
92 Emile Jean (Can) Silber Pro Cycling 0:16:42
93 Sam Bewley (NZl) Mitchelton-Scott
94 Cormac McGeough (Irl) Jelly Belly p/b Maxxis 0:16:44
95 Fernando Islas Lopez (Mex) Aevolo 0:16:49
96 Gregory Rast (Swi) Trek-Segafredo 0:16:50
97 Freddy Ovett (Aus) BMC Racing Team 0:16:52
98 Andrei Krasilnikau (Blr) Holowesko-Citadel p/b Arapahoe Resources
99 Guy Sagiv (Isr) Israel Cycling Academy 0:16:55
100 Michael Hernandez (USA) Aevolo
101 Lance Haidet (USA) Aevolo 0:17:05
102 Laurent Didier (Lux) Trek-Segafredo 0:17:06
103 Brian McCulloch (USA) Elevate-KHS 0:17:16
104 Adam Roberge (Can) Silber Pro Cycling 0:21:29
105 Morgan Schmitt (USA) Holowesko-Citadel p/b Arapahoe Resources 0:21:44
106 Tyler Magner (USA) Rally Cycling
107 Jesse Coyle (Aus) Mobius Bridgelane 0:21:46
108 Danny Pate (USA) Rally Cycling
109 Maikel Zijlaard (Ned) Hagens Berman Axeon 0:21:47
110 Joseph Lewis (Aus) Holowesko-Citadel p/b Arapahoe Resources 0:21:49
111 Laurent Gervais (Can) Aevolo 0:21:56