Alex Hoehn (Above & Beyond Cancer Cycling) took the overall win at the Tour of the Gila on Sunday with a margin of just two seconds to Óscar Sevilla (Medellín-EPM), who claimed the fifth and final stage.
A break formed early in the stage from Silver City to Piños Altos, with the climber-friendly parcours of the "Gila Monster". At one stage it included as many as 19 riders but ultimately was whittled down and just two remained at the front of the race.
Sevilla tried to put Hoehn in the rearview mirror inside the final kilometre. Hoehn, however, was up to the challenge, joining Sevilla for the final moments of the stage and the race.
“In the end, I came with Alex, a great young, strong rider, and I fought until the end, but I could only win the stage, not the overall race,” said Sevilla. “But I am very happy, I think the feeling is very good. Winning is a lot of happiness for me, and second place in the general classification is also very good.”
Hoehn had actually started the day working to defend the position of his Above & Beyond Cancer teammate Torbjørn Røed, however the break changed that. Røed finished the stage more than three minutes after the lead duo, so it fell to Hoehn to capture victory for the team.
“I was supposed to mark a couple riders, Sevilla being one of them, and once he went, I went with him, and that ended up being the break of the day,” Hoehn said. “The Medellín team worked really hard and they did really well, and then I pretty much just had to hang on Sevilla’s wheel and not lose any time on the finish in order to get the overall win.”
Lars Quaedvlieg (Universe Cycling Team) took third on the day after Sevilla took the stage victory and Hoehn secured the GC win. Røed's seventh on the final stage saw him fall two slots on the overall to third position behind Sevilla.
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