Tour of Alberta: Tanner Putt wins stage 2 into Olds

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Tanner Putt outfoxed breakaway companion Alexis Cartier (Canadian National Team) on stage 2 of the Tour of Alberta into Olds for his first professional victory. The UnitedHealthcare rider played a cat-and-mouse game with Cartier on the run in to Olds, with Putt putting in several attacks before his final and decisive move for the win.

Tyler Williams (Axeon Hagens Berman) managed to take third place from the field, with Evan Huffman (Rally Cycling) in fourth and yellow jersey holder Colin Joyce (Axeon Hagens Berman) in fifth to keep the overall lead despite the breakaway holding off the peloton.

Putt and Cartier were in the day's initial breakaway, which was caught by a large chase group before the two riders peeled away again for their final, successful move. With the field bearing down in the closing kilometres, the duo off the front had to cooperate to the very last kilometre before the finish-line games began.

"On the radio they wanted me to hit out with a little bit to go, just because whenever you are riding with somebody to the finish in the last couple of kilometres it's hard for both of you to fully commit 100 percent," Putt said in the post-race press conference. "We were both committed, but it's hard to give 100 percent, because you don't want to give 100 percent and then have the guy hit you. So I hit it a couple of times just to see how he was and see how his reaction was. I hit it going into 1km to go and then sat back up again and kind of forced him to take the lead going into 1km to go. I knew I could take it from 250-300, and I just waited until then and hit out."

Conditions changed from a drizzle at the start to full-on rain in the middle and then a slight let up at the end, but Putt, who comes from Park City, Utah, appeared to enjoy the 10 degree (Celsius) conditions as he rode throughout the day in a skinsuit with no jacket, arm warmers or leggings.

Axeon Hagens Berman did the yeoman's work of pulling the breakaway close enough by the finish to protect Joyce's lead, but when they surrendered the chase to the teams hoping for a stage win, there was too little to time and not enough cooperation to make the catch before the line. Joyce said he was happy to see an alumni of the Axeon development program cross the finish line first.

"It's awesome to see him win," Joyce said. "He definitely deserved that win. He rode so hard today, it as really impressive. Our plan was to work for GC still and keep the gap manageable. Some other teams decided to take it up near the finish, and really bring the gap down. But our plan wasn't to bring them back. It wasn't our job to do as we were just trying to look after yellow."

How it unfolded

The 182km second stage from the foothills of the Rocky Mountains in Kananaskis to Olds featured just one intermediate sprint at 78km and one KOM at 85km. The rest of the stage was a generally downhill run to the finish through Mountain View County. 

Overcast skies, a light drizzle and cooler temperatures started the day, and the riders wasted little time after the 3.7km neutral to start attacking. Multiple moves went up the road, but after the successful breakaway on the opening day, it took some fighting to establish the day's major move when the peloton allowed Tanner Putt (UnitedHealthcare), Travis Samuel (H&R Block) and Alexis Cartier (Canada) up the road.

By the time the lead trio was 5km from the sprint they had built a gap of 2:15 on the peloton. Putt took maximum points in the sprint and earned a three-second time bonus, while Samuel was second and Cartier third.

After the sprint the riders had another 7km to the KOM, the biggest climb of the tour, at 85km. Putt and Cartier dropped Samuel on the climb, and Putt took the maximum points on the KOM as well. In the race behind, the climb tore the field apart into several groups, and seven more riders were able to bridge to the leaders, including race leader Colin Joyce (Axeon Hagens Berman).

The new breakaway group included Putt, Cartier, Joyce, Toms Skujins (Cannondale-Drapac) and a quintet of Holowesko-Citadel riders: Robin Carpenter, Travis McCabe, Joe Lewis, Andz Flaksis and Andrei Krasilnikau

With just under 80km to go, the group of nine had 1:35 on the peloton, and the cat-and-mouse game to the line in Olds was on. Their advantage came crashing down on the initial descent off the climb, however, as a group of about 25 riders formed the first chase group and had them within sight as they descended in the rain.

The chasers quickly caught the leaders to form a massive lead group of 34 – more than a third of the peloton – and the large numbers caused Putt to jump away, with Cartier joining on to re-form their earlier two-rider group. The duo opened up a minute gap with about 60km remaining.

With just two riders up the road, the main peloton, which by now was down to about 40 riders, let the gap go out again, and the advantage to the leaders went up to 2:30 over the next 5km. The gap continued to go up, and the leaders added another 30 seconds with 45km left to race.

Putt, who started the day 2:18 behind Joyce, was the virtual race leader on the road at this point, and his former team, Axeon Hagens Berman, was on the front trying to chase him down and protect Joyce's overall lead. The rain continued to pick up

Trek-Segafredo suffered a blow as Belgian powerhouse Stijn Devolder abandoned the race, joining Jelly Belly-Maxxis' Jordan Cheyne in the broom wagon.

Axeon's Eddie Dunbar did the lion's share of the work on the front over the next 15km, and the 2015 Irish U23 road champion pulled the gap down to 2:35 with 30km to go.

With 21km to go and the gap holding at 2:35, Holowesko-Citadel threw a couple riders into the chase to help bring the gap down for their fast men Carpenter and McCabe. The extra help paid off quickly, and the gap was down to 2:10 just a few kilometres later.

Axeon moved off the front with 15km to go, ceding the responsibility for the chase to Cannondale-Drapac. The fresh legs on the front reinvigorated the chase, and the gap was down to 1:30 with 13.5km remaining. Holowesko and Axeon came back to the front, and the gap continued to fall precipitously, dropping to a minute with 8km to go.

Danny Pate came to the front for Rally and began to drill the pace in the peloton, and the gap went down under a minute for the first time since Putt and Cartier escaped for the second time. But the last-ditch efforts from the chase weren't enough to close the gap, setting up the two-man battle in the finale between Putt and Cartier.

Cannodnale's Toms Skujins said there was little interest among most teams in bringing the leaders back after a difficult, cold day on the bike.

"I think Holowesko wanted to, but it didn't work out for them," Skujins said. "Other than that, I don't think anyone else was keen on closing it down too much."

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