Cade Bickmore (Project Echelon Racing) won Saturday's stage 4 of the Tour of the Gila, the Downtown Silver City Criterium.
The 69.5 km (43.2 mile) stage took the men's peloton at the Tour of the Gila on 40 laps of an urban circuit of just over a mile on slightly hilly roads, and Project Echelon worked hard to control the day with the hope of closing out the stage with a bunch kick. Despite repeated attempts by enterprising breakaway hopefuls to get away, nobody managed to stay clear of the pack for long.
As such, Bickmore racked up intermediate after intermediate, moving into the points lead even before the finish. There was, however, some intrigue in the finale as Conn McDunphy (SoCalCycling.com) joined a small break and then powered away for a solo bid with two laps to go. He took a 10-second lead into the final lap, but the Project Echelon-led pack managed to reel him in to set up the sprint.
Rewarding his team for their efforts, Bickmore proved fastest in the bunch, winning the stage ahead of Theodore Obholzer (SoCalCycling.com) and Brayan Sánchez (Medellin). Meanwhile, overnight leader Torbjørn Røed (Above & Beyond Cancer Cycling) finished safely in the peloton and will wear the leader's jersey for Sunday's final stage, dubbed the Gila Monster Road Race, which will take riders 161.9 km (100.6 miles) from Silver City to Piños Altos.
Results
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