Tour of Utah: John Murphy wins sprint in South Jordan

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John Murphy gave Holowesko-Citadel its second stage win of the Larry H. Miller Tour of Utah, winning the sprint in South Jordan on stage 4 over Alfredo Rodriguez (Elevate-KHS) and Mihkel Räim (Israel Cycling Academy).

With several teams willing to contribute to pace-setting in the peloton, breakaway riders Gonzalo Serrano (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA) and Lorenzo Rota (Bardiani CSF) were swept up inside the final 10 kilometres. A few short-lived late fliers were quickly brought to heel as well, setting up the field sprint.

UnitedHealthcare led the peloton into the final few hundred metres for sprinter Travis McCabe, but the Pro Continental team's final lead-out man pulled off the front too early for McCabe to make his move, allowing Axeon Hagens Berman to take over at the front for Chris Lawless.

The Axeon rider launched with around 300 metres still to go and McCabe jumped onto his wheel before surging past, but both riders faded as a swarm of rivals came around in the final hundred metres. Murphy pulled into the lead 50 metres from the line and held on to win.

"We had control with 3km to go," Murphy said while describing the finale in the post-stage press conference. "Our boys were on the front and it was looking good, but I think maybe we all knew it was going to be a little too early. With 1km to go, UHC took over with Haedo and McCabe, so I sat behind them. I think they opened the sprint up a little too early, and I stayed patient because we knew it was along way form the last turn.

"A group of guys came by me, and we were going super fast, but I stayed patient and a little hole opened up in the last 150 metres. I was able to get through it and do my sprint. I'm super happy to win in Utah," Murphy said. 

Rob Britton (Rally Cycling) finished safely in the peloton to keep his lead of 26 seconds on Gavin Mannion (UnitedHealthcare), with Serghei Tvetcov (Jelly Belly) remaining in third at 28 seconds.

Rodrigues, the 20-year-old from Mexico, admitted he was surprised to have pulled off the runner-up finish in South Jordan.

"I followed attacks on the last two laps of the circuit and stayed at the front," Rodriguez said. "And in the last corner I tried to hold my place but it's difficult. I was passed by 20 places, but it's so hard the sprint. It's very fast, so I don't know why I finished second place, but I'm happy."

Raim's third-place finish boosted him into the sprint jersey after he took maximum points at the controversial first intermediate intermediate sprint of the day. Despite the success, he was disappointed to have missed the stage win.

"In the end we played our cards to me," Raim said. "I had two teammates lead me out. Personally, I think we started too far back to sprint. We were coming fast, but with 1k to go we were like 40th-50th position, I think. I had good legs for the sprint, but I can say that I was the fastest guy today but I wasn't the best. Those two guys were better than me."

How it unfolded

The 199km stage 4 route started and finished in South Jordan City. After two days of climbing at altitude, the relatively flat stage included no categorised climbs and only two intermediate sprints, the first at at 38.5km and the second at 141km.

Heat was the biggest challenges on the stage, which took riders into the high desert in Rush Valley for a short loop and then back on the same roads to South Jordan City. Organisers cut the planned 10km gravel section because road conditions changed and it was no longer passable by bike.

Despite the heat and wind, the peloton endured repeated attacks in the early going, but none of the moves could stick for the first 90 minutes of racing. Rally was marking any dangerous GC riders while also making sure the teams with sprinters didn't put a rider in the break.

A brief drama played out at the first intermediate sprint as points leader Christopher Lawless crossed the line first but was relegated for deviating from his line. Maximum points went to Mikhel Raim (Israel Cycling Academy) but Lawless maintained his lead over Ty Magner.

Caja Rural-Seguros RGA rider Gonzalo Serrano and Bardiani CSF's Lorenzo Rota eventually slipped away about 60km into the day. They were quickly joined by Marco Zamparella (Amore & Vita), Taylor Sheldon (Jelly Belly-Maxxis), Daniel Turek (Israel Cycling Academy) and Brian McCulloch (Elevate-KHS).

Happy with the composition of the move, the Rally-led bunch finally slowed enough to let the leaders build a gap, which went up to 4:05 with 95km to go. Rota was the best-placed rider in the break at 5:43 down, and when the gap went up to five minutes he was less than a minute out of the virtual lead.

Rally put the brakes on the break from there, slowly drawing down the advantage as the race made its way back to South Jordan. When the gap was down to just 4:40 with 47km to go, Rota attacked the breakaway while McCulloch and Turek were sitting on. The move caused consternation among the escapees after he opened a gap, and Sheldon dragged the others up to Rota, shutting down the move.

When the break reformed, Serrano and Rota jumped away again, this time separating themselves form the rest and cooperating well with each other. In the chase behind, Turek bumped wheels with Zamparella and went down hard. The remnants of the break chased the two leaders solo, split up by seconds on the road, while the field pulled within two minutes with just 30km to go.

Teams with sprint ambitions took up the pace from there, and the remnants of the breakaway were all swept up with 20km to go. The gap to Serrano and Rota was down to 30 seconds with 13km remaining, and it appeared that the sprinters would have their day.

As the leaders hit the finish line to start to closing circuits, the pack was breathing down their necks. They were reeled in before long.

There were a couple of unsuccessful attacks on the closing kilometers, with separate attacks from BMC's Silvan Dillier and Joey Rosskopf being quickly marked.

UnitedHealthcare led into the final metres for McCabe, but Axeon Hagens Berman came blasting up the right side, swarming McCabe as his lead-out pulled over. But it was all too soon. Murphy watched the drama from behind, then chose his moment when the road cleared to blast up the center to victory.

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