Tour of Utah: Woods wins in Salt Lake City

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Michael Woods claimed Optum Pro Cycling’s second consecutive stage win Friday at the Larry H. Miller Tour of Utah, outsprinting the compact peleton up a steep climb to the finish on a Salt Lake City circuit and seizing the overall lead from Team SmartStop’s Jure Kocjan as his reward

Woods timed his winning move perfectly, jumping away from the field on the steepest part of the puncheur climbs leading to the finish line above the Utah State Capitol Building. Sonny Cobrelli (Bardiani-CSF) was second, followed by UnitedHealthcare's Kiel Reijnen.

"I was dumbstruck, eh," Woods told Cyclingnews immediately after the finish. "This was quite the moment. I figured I had the legs to do it, but to actually do it is crazy. This is a 2.HC race, so, you know, I get the pro win on Pro Cycling Stats now, so I look official I guess."

Woods started the day 14 seconds behind Kocjan, who finished the stage nine seconds down. A 10-second time bonus for the winner lifted Woods into the overall lead heading into Saturday's Queen stage. BMC's Brent Bookwalter moved into second overall, four seconds behind Woods, while Kocjan slipped to third, five seconds in arrears.

Earlier this season Woods, 28, a former middle-distance runner who got into cycling four years ago after a foot injury ended his running career, showed his promise by finishing fifth in the Volta a Algarve behind Richie Porte (Sky), Michal Kwiatkowski (Etixx-QuickStep), Ion Izzagirre (Movistar) and Geraint Thomas (Sky).

"Those guys are the best in the world, so finishing with them was pretty cool, but to cross the line first is awesome," he said.  

How it unfolded

The 89km stage 5 circuit in downtown Salt Lake City consisted of seven laps on a lumpy urban circuit that featured two intermediate sprints with time bonuses included. The day’s main challenge came near the end of the circuit as the riders had to ascend two short climbs with grades of 20 percent.

A breakaway of eight riders formed in the early kilometres of the stage as Travis McCabe (Team SmartStop), Phil Gaimon (Optum Pro Cycling), Carson Miller (Jamis-Hagens Berman), Stefano Pirazzi (Bardiani-CSF), Adam Phelan (Drapac), Jack Bobridge (Budget Forklifts), Danny Summerhill (UnitedHealthcare) and Songezo Jim (MTN-Qhubeka) slipped away and quickly built a gap of nearly a minute.

McCabe, teammate of overall leader Jure Kocjan, was only 14 seconds out of the general classification, but Gaimon was just 24 seconds down and Miller 27. Back in the field, SmartStop rode the front to hold the leaders’ advantage in check, but the difficult course made the race hard to control.

Hincapie, which had Robin Carpenter in the runner-up spot two seconds down, threw several riders into the chase to help out.

At the first sprint with four laps remaining, McCabe took maximum points and the three-second time bonus. Gaimon grabbed two seconds, followed by Pirazzi with one.

BMC’s Kilian Frankiny, a 21-year-old trainee from Switzerland, peeled off the front of the field on the fifth of the seven laps and built a small gap. While Frankiny tried to bridge, the leaders’ advantage dropped to 45 seconds, prompting Pirazzi and Jim to jump away from the group.

Jim refused to take a pull, however, and the hard-charging peloton, which swept up the remaining breakaway riders on lap 5, were soon nipping on the two leaders’ heels as well. Carpenter sensed the impending catch and jumped away, making contact with the leaders at the beginning of the sixth lap. Carpenter’s move was short-lived, however, as the field made contact soon after his bridge.

As the peloton climbed toward the start/finish to begin the final lap, MTN-Qhubeka’s Johan Van Zyl led Natnael Berhane, who started the day 14 seconds down, up the climb. Berhane launched a solo move over the top and quickly had 25 seconds on the field.

A UnitedHealthcare rider tried to bridge up to Berhane, and he in fact made it, but he connected only moment before the BMC-led peloton made the catch. BMC continued on the front from there, hoping to set up Bookwalter, but UnitedHealthcare seized control again with 1.5km to go.

A Team Colombia rider lit out on the bottom of the final climbs, but UnitedHealthcare quickly neutralised that move as well, continuing to press the pace at the front. Kocjan was near the front midway through the climb, but the Slovenian strongman faded as the road kept getting steeper.

Woods timed his attack perfectly, jumping away on the steepest pitch and gaining the gap that he’d hold all the way to the line.

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