Tour of Utah: Canola wins stage 4

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Marco Canola (Nippo-Vini Fantini-Faizane) repeated his 2017 victory on the Salt Lake City stage at the Larry H. Miller Tour of Utah Friday evening, out-kicking Travis McCabe (Worthy Pro Cycling) over the uphill finish in front of the Utah State Capitol. Brendan Rhim (Arapahoe-Hincapie) finished third.

James Piccoli (Elevate-KHS), second overall, launched an attack on the final climb, hoping to gain back some time on race leader Ben Hermans (Israel Cycling Academy), but the Canadian rider fell short, finishing seventh on the stage and on the same time as Hermans and the rest of the group.

Hermans continues to lead Piccoli by 44 seconds, with Niklas Eg (Trek-Segafreo) in third at 1:06.

Canola attended the podium ceremony bearing the bandages from a severe crash at the end of stage 1 earlier in the week. He said the win was a nice redemption after suffering though the preceding days.

"Three days ago I couldn't think about the win because I had a big crash, and the motivation was at the ground," the Italian said. "So I’m really, really happy."

Canola's team worked through the majority of the race to bring back a large breakaway that included McCabe and his Worthy pro Cycling teammate Serghei Tvetcov, as well as several other dangerous sprinters. Tvetcov then joined another four-rider move at the end of the last lap that pressured the field well inside the final kilometre.

"The last kilometre was really hard, because there was a teammate of Travis' in the front and he went so fast," Canola said. "I was thinking, 'No I cannot make it because it was too much,' but then at 400 metres to go fortunately he slowed down so I could breathe.

"I took a big breath and just 200 metres to go I saw a Canel’s rider go for the sprint. I saw Travis go on the left, and I went on the right. I pushed everything out. And when I saw my front wheel the first one, I knew it could be my day. Until that moment I wasn’t thinking about the win, only to push hard. In the last 20 metres I felt again this great feeling to win here in Salt Lake."

How it unfolded

Friday’s fourth stage at the Tour of Utah took place on an urban circuit around the State Capitol in Salt Lake City. The short-but-fast 86.5km stage 1,360 metres over eight laps of the 10.8km course. The uphill finish provided a challenge for the sprinters on a course that had been won previously by Michael Matthews and Canola.

Sprint points and time bonuses were available at the start/finish with five laps to go, three laps to go and one lap to go.

Groups flew off the front in the opening kilometres, with a move of six initially forming off the front as others tried to bridge. The leaders had 10 seconds going through the start/finish at the end of the first lap as Neri Sottoli-Selle Italia-KTM led the chase.

The six riders up front were Ben Wolfe (Arapahoe-Hincapie), Connor Schunk (Aevolo), Stephen Bassett (Wildlife Generation), Jacopo Mosca (Trek-Segafredo), Serghei Tvetcov (Worthy Pro Cycling), Ulises Castillo (Elevate-KHS) and Tony Baca (303 Project).

As other riders bridged briefly, the peloton pulled the move back, and the counter attacks started immediately. Another five-rider group formed and got a 10-second gap. Tvetcov, Bassett, Castillo and Wolfe were joined this time by Lawson Craddock. A large group was trying to bridge, however, and made contact with the leaders right before they started the third lap.

The size of the group was prohibitive, and the peloton was soon all back together on stage 3. The attacks started flying once more, and another group formed off the front, this time with about 20 riders. The peloton appeared ready to slow the pace a bit, and the gap to the leaders started going up.

Worthy Pro Cycling’s Tevtcov and McCabe attacked from the group and went off on their own, getting a quick separation of 10 seconds over a chase group of 12 and 20 seconds on the peloton.

Tvetcov and McCabe started lap 4 with three riders trying to bridge, 10 riders at 15 seconds and the peloton at one minute. The bridging riders were Alex Hoehn (Aevolo), Effren Santos (Canel’s Specialized) and James Whelan (EF Education First).

The new lead group of five continued to hold 15 seconds over the chase, but the gap to the peloton went up to 40. The chasing group soon caught the leaders, however, and the group of the front grew to 16.

The new lead group of 16 included Whelan, McCabe, Tvetcov, Castillo, Santos, Bassett, Baca, Hoehn, Mosca, Alex Howes (EF Education First), TJ Eisenhart (Arapahoe-Hincapie), Eder Frayer (DC Bank), Edwin Avila (Israel Cycling Academy), Umberto Marengo (Neri Sottoli-Selle Italia-KTM), Kevin Vermaerke (Hagens Berman Axeon) and Ty Magner (Rally UHC).

None was a threat to the overall lead of Ben Hermans, so Nippo-Vini Fantini-Faizane took over the chase in the peloton for Canola.

The leaders started the fifth lap with one minute over the peloton, but halfway through the lap, the gap was down to 45 seconds.

McCabe, who took the maximum points with five to go, also claimed the sprint with three to go to solidify his points jersey lead. The leaders started the sixth lap with 40 seconds over the field, but the gap was down to 30 halfway through the lap.

Elevate’s Castillo jumped away from the break and was joined by Avila as the rest of the break lingered just behind. Castillo and Avilla started the penultimate lap with five seconds over the chase, Canola jumped out of the peloton as it got within 25 seconds and started a bridging effort with two other riders.

Canola and crew made contact with the leaders during lap 7 while the peloton closed to within 15 seconds. Mosca attacked the leader during the lap and went off the front solo, as Hayden McCormick (Team Bridgelane) who made the group with Canola, went off in pursuit. McCormick passed Mosca, who was caught by the rest of the breakaway.

The Bridgelane rider took the bell signalling one lap to go with a 30 second gap over 15 chasers and 45 seconds over the peloton.

McCormick’s time off the front ended when he mistakenly thought he won the stage with one lap to go. The New Zealand rider celebrated enthusiastically and then sat up, losing impetus as the chase group quickly closed in. McCormick emptied his tank with the move and was quickly back in the field.

Santos and Alec Cowan (Worthy Pro Cycling), who also joined the leaders with the Canola move, set off the front next. The peloton caught the rest of the break, while Cowan and Santos had 15 seconds.

The lead duo didn’t last long out front, as attacks from the field quickly swallowed them up. Best young rider Joao Almeida attacked next along with Filippo Fiorelli (Nippo-Vini Fantini-Faizanè) and built 10 seconds to two chasers and 20 seconds to the field. Wolfe and Tvetcov were the two bridging riders.

Tvetcov and Wolfe joined Almeida and Fiorelli 3.2km to go and had a 25-second gap. Cooperation in the front fell apart, however, and the peloton had the gap down to 10 seconds. Then Worthy Pro Cycling led the peloton back to the leaders for McCabe.

The peloton made the catch with less than 1km to go, and the sprint finish was on.

Overall runner-up James Piccoli (Elevate-KHS) hit out to try and gain some time, and McCabe jumped on his wheel. Canel's sprinter Pablo Alarcón jumped first, with McCabe and canola reacting. They were neck and neck as the line approached, but the Italian pulled past the American to take the win at the line.

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