Mannion wins 2018 Colorado Classic

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UnitedHealthcare's Travis McCabe won the fourth and final stage of the Colorado Classic in Denver on Sunday, out-sprinting Rally Cycling's Ty Magner and Holowesko-Citadel's Joe Lewis to take top honours.

McCabe's second stage win of the race completed a winning week for UnitedHealthcare as Gavin Mannion sealed the overall victory, finishing the four-day 2.HC race 15 seconds ahead of teammate Serghei Tvetkov and 22 seconds ahead of Hugh Carthy (EF Education First-Drapac).

The peloton started organising their lead-out trains in the closing 10km, picking up solo breakaway rider Nickolas Zukowsky (Silber Pro Cycling) after he had launched himself from the field on the penultimate lap. Teams Rally Cycling, UnitedHealthcare, Holowesko-Citadel, Jelly Belly-Maxxis and LottoNL-Jumbo were the dominant trains at the front of the field as they rounded the final 14.7km circuit in downtown Denver.

A crash upset the peloton with eight kilometres to go, affecting Neilson Powless (LottoNL-Jumbo), but the teams with strong sprinters continued on in their pursuit of a stage victory. Hagens Berman Axeon took matters into their own hands with one kilometre to go, but UnitedHealthcare's McCabe proved fastest once again on the day.

"Best sprinter in the race, best team in the race," a jubilant McCabe told Cyclingnews in the finishing straight. 

"It's almost easier when you're the guy to beat, because then everyone is sitting behind you and you're not fighting as much as you would be if everyone is going for you," the stage winner said. "I just kind of sat behind Ty [Magner]. I could tell by the way he was spinning his legs he was going to be strong. It was a tailwind finish so I knew it was going to be fast. I just kind of bided my time, waited until the right moment when the door opened up. I was patient, and just as soon as it came I knew that I had it."

UnitedHealthcare could very likely be racing in the team's final race in the US, and, if so, the Pro Continental team is going out in style with first and second overall, three stage wins in four days and the top team in GC. For Mannion, who is rumoured to be moving to Rally Cycling next year, the win marks the biggest victory of his career to date.

"This is incredible," Mannion said. "We couldn't have asked for anything more. It's the best day of my cycling career, for sure. These guys rode amazing all week. Travis rode the front and won the sprint, and I took the overall. Yesterday was the best I've ever seen the team ride, so I couldn't be happier. That was the craziest ride I've ever seen. I'm super stoked for the team. It was just an awesome week."

How it unfolded

The final stage of the 2018 Colorado Classic took place on 14.7km circuit in downtown Denver, with the start/finish in the shadow of Coors Field. Riders circled the route eight times for a total of 114.6km. The circuit had no KOMs, but three intermediate sprints at the end of laps two, four and six offered points and time bonuses of three, two and one second kept the pints jersey in play.

Stage 1 winner Gage Hecht (Aevolo) was the first to attack out of the peloton, but his move was quickly countered by EF Education First-Drapac's Taylor Phinney, who brought James Piccoli (Elevate-KHS) along with him. By the end of the first lap Phinney and Piccoli had 30 seconds on the bunch.

The duo up front got some company over the next lap as Luis Villalobos (Aevolo) and Edward Anderson (Hagens Berman Axeon) bridged to the leaders to form a new four-rider group up front with 30 seconds on the field. With Piccoli the best-placed escapee at 46 seconds back on GC, the move was never going to get much leash.

With five laps to go, the leaders increased their advantage to 55 seconds, and Piccoli was the virtual race leader on the road. The gap went up over a minute briefly, but it was back down to 40 seconds at the midway point.

UnitedHealthcare brought the gap down to 35 seconds at kept it pegged there, while Phinney stopped contributing to the move, possibly in an effort to preserve Hugh Carthy's GC podium spot from the Piccoli threat.

At the beginning of lap six a trio of riders jumped out of the pack. In the group were Hecht, Trek-Segafredo's Greg Daniel and Holowesko-Citadel's Andrei Kasilnikau. The trio linked up to form a new seven-rider lead group, but by the time they made contact the gap was down to just 10 seconds, and the race was about to reshuffle.

Several counter attacks went off the front, but none of the moves stuck as UnitedHealthcare put a clamp on the race. Damien Howson sneaked off the front to take maximum point and time bonus in the intermediate sprint at the end of lap six, lifting him to fourth overall past EF-Drapac's Joe Dombrowski.

The peloton started the penultimate lap together before Silber Pro Cycling's Nickolas Zukowsky peeled off the front and set out on a lone adventure. Rally Cycling came to the front to help with the chase during the lap, and Zukowsky had just 10 seconds on the bunch as they took the bell for one lap to go.

The Rally-led bunch pulled back Zukowsky with less than 9km remaining, and the battle for the stage win was on from there.

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