Joe Martin: Tyler Williams holds off Gage Hecht to win GC at four-day stage race

Tyler Williams (L39ION of Los Angeles) took the overall title at the Joe Martin Stage Race, having to reclaim the GC lead that he held for the first two days with a top 10 finish on the stage 4 Experience Fayetteville Criterium. 

The technical time trial, 30 laps on a 1.2-mile, eight turn course in downtown Fayetteville, Arkansas, was won by George Simpson (Project Echelon Racing), followed by Sean Guydish (Kelly Benefits Strategies) in second, who took best young rider honors for the event. Fans enjoyed seeing Tanner Ward (First Internet Bank Cycling), an Arkansas native, in the break and hold on for third place. 

It was a hard-fought final day for Tyler Williams to regain the race lead after it slipped away on the stage 3 uphill time trial, Gage Hecht (Aevolo) dominating the race of truth to take the leader’s yellow jersey. But a day later in the criterium, turf where he has won eight races so far this season, Williams was able to surpass his two-second deficit to take the GC win.

"I'm still trying to figure out what emotions I'm experiencing right now - it's mostly an overwhelming relief because I have been waiting for this opportunity for a long time.  I've been through a lot to get here,” Tyler Williams said, who also won the points classification.

“The way the guys rallied around me today, I was suffering, I was not feeling my best, but they were so good, and they had so much faith in me that I was able to keep pushing and we did the damn thing.  It will take a little bit for it to actually set in, it was quite an emotional rollercoaster over the last 24 hours."

Aevolo showcased its roster of seven US riders with a win by Tyler Stites on the hilly stage 2 and then Hecht’s crushing performance on the Devil’s Den time trial. Hecht would finish second on GC, just five second behind the L39ION rider. Stites, who was third in the TT, claimed the King of the Mountain title and was fifth overall at Joe Martin.

Third place overall went to 44-year-old Oscar Sevilla (Team Medellin EPM), who prepped for the US stage race by competing in the USA CRITS Speed Week series the week before. He last competed in a UCI stage race in the US in 2019, finishing second overall at the Tour of the Gila.

The Joe Martin Stage Race is a four-day, four-stage professional men and women's cycling race typically held in early spring in Fayetteville, Arkansas. After cancellation last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, organisers moved the race to the August time slot for its 44th anniversary. 2021 marked the seventh year the race has been part o f the UCI America Tour.