Tour of the Gila: Young wins stage 2 at Fort Bayard

Eric Young (Rally Cycling) out-kicked Travis McCabe (UnitedHealthcare) to win stage 2 at the 2017 Tour of the Gila in a bunch sprint at the end of 120.7km of racing.

Young narrowly edged McCabe at the line at Fort Bayard as Jose Aguirre (Canel’s Specialized) crossed next for third. Young’s teammate Matteo Dal-Cin finished safely in the bunch to hold onto the overall race lead he earned with the stage 1 win.

"It was a good day,” Young said after taking the stage victory. "The guys rode well all day, managing the break and keeping Matteo’s leader’s jersey in a good spot. I felt decent all day and definitely wanted to go for the win. Danny, Colin and Sepp made sure the breakaway stayed close and in the final few kilometers, Adam de Vos made some huge efforts to keep me in a good position."

The Inner Loop Road Race, which started and finished at historic Fort Bayard, featured a first intermediate of the day at just 10km, so riders wasted little time trying to jump off the front after a short neutral roll out.

Elevate-KHS rider Nick Torraco took the maximum bonus at the sprint, but attempts to sneak away from the peloton were continually stifled until riders started making their way up the climb to Pino Altos.

More attacks flew on the climb, but nothing could stick as the peloton was obviously feeling stingy. Movistar-Team Ecuador’s Byron Guama took the the first KOM honours ahead of Victor Garcia (Canel’s) and Janier Acevedo (UnitedHealthcare), and an escape finally gained some ground in the ensuing kilometres when Francisco Mancebo (Canyon Bicycles), Lachlan Norris (Unitedhealthcare), Stephen Bassett (Silber Pro Cycling) and Michael Rice (Axeon Hagens Berman) slipped away and had a 50 second gap with about 55km left to race.

The breakaway dangled out front until the second sprint of the day, where Bassett won in front of Norris and Mancebo, but then the riders sat up after sprinting for the time bonuses. Norris hadn’t quite had enough, however, and continued on alone with the gap intact.

The Australian rider built his lead to 1:35 with 25km remaining, but concerted chasing from Mobius Futures and others doomed his effort. With less than 10km to go, his gap was down to five seconds, and the catch was inevitable.

From there, teams fought for position over the closing kilometres, with Mobius, Jelly Belly-Maxxis and Holowesko-Citadel among those fighting for control. UnitedHealthcare lined things up for McCabe in the finale, but Rally rose to the top at the line with Young taking his third win of the season and Rally’s second win at the Gila out of two stages.

"I’m really happy to win the Inner Loop Road Race again," Young said. "It is one of my favorite races and it's even special today as it comes the day after Matteo’s performance yesterday. The time trial is tomorrow, which will be really important for the overall. Hopefully we can continue our success."

Despite his disappointment at missing out on the stage win, which would have been his fourth of the season so far, McCabe was also anticipating success this week in New Mexico.

"I had a great lead out from Greg Henderson, the whole team rode well," he said of the stage 2 finish. "I just didn't have the legs to execute. I ended up second on the stage. Eric Young got the best of me, but it's not over yet."

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