Tour of Utah: McCabe wins stage 5

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UnitedHealthcare's Travis McCabe won stage 5 of the Larry H. Miller Tour of Utah on Friday, sprinting to victory ahead of Marco Canola (Nippo-Vini Fantini) and Logan Owen (Axeon Hagens Berman).

A pair of late third-category climbs spurred attacks at the business end of the race, but things came together in the closing kilometres to set up the sprint in Bountiful. BMC Racing's Joey Rosskopf pulled the reduced peloton into the finale with teammate Brent Bookwalter on his wheel, but as the fast finishers wound up to speed, Holowesko-Citadel's Robin Carpenter quickly powered into the lead.

McCabe stayed patient, however, finally hitting out with around 250 metres to go. He surged to the front and held on to take the victory, with Canola pipping Owen for second and Carpenter settling for fourth.

Race leader Rob Britton (Rally Cycling) finished safely the bunch to maintain his grip on the race leader's jersey.

McCabe said he nearly quit three times coming up the final climb, but he persevered to take the win.

"Coming into the climb it was hot with a bit of a tailwind, and that just makes that climb that much harder," McCabe said. "Coming over the op on the last bit, I came off with about 200 metres to go with Logan. Fortunately I had Jonny Clark there to pace me back on. Him and Neilson Powless (Axon Hagens Berman) pretty much did the grunt work to bring Logan and I back on, and that was really hard.

"It was a pretty fast finish with that slight downhill and a tailwind coming into the finish," McCabe said. "I was just patient and waited until 250 metres to go and opened it up and was the fastest one today, so I’m pretty proud. It was a stage that I’ve been targeting all year long really. I love Utah and I’ve done this now for the third year, and I know just how hard it is. So to get a win is pretty emotional. I’m quite Happy.

How it unfolded

The 185.4km fifth stage started out on flat roads before the first climb came 95 kilometres into the day. The biggest vertical challenge came in the two 14-kilometre finishing circuits that featured a punchy, Ardennes-like climb up the Bountiful Bench and then a fast descent to the line.

The flat roads didn’t facilitate an easy day for establishing a breakaway, however, as once again it took nearly 90 minutes for a move to go.

Eventually a 15-rider move escaped the peloton’s grasp about 60 kilometres into the race. In the group were Patrick Müller (BMC), Chris Jones (UnitedHealthcare), Justin Oien (Caja Rural), Diego Rubio Hernández (Caja Rural), Alan Marangoni (Nippo-Vini Fantini), Red Halilaj (Amore & Vita), David Galarreta (Amore & Vita), William Barta (Axeon Hagens Berman), Cortlan Brown (Hangar 15), Erik Stack (Hangar 15), John Murphy (Holowesko-Citadel), Andre Kasrilnikau (Holowesko-Citadel), Pierre-Andre Cote (Silber) and Guillaume Boivin (Israel Cycling Academy).

The advantage went up to 3:20 over 30 kilometres, and it hovered there as the riders entered Hill Air Force Base to the sound of F-35s in flight overhead. As the Rally-led chase started whittling into the lead, a group of four riders attacked from the break and set off toward Bountiful without the rest.

The new lead group included Boivin, Oien, Halilaj and Cote, who was knocked out of the group by a mechanical.

The breakaway was caught just before the race reached Bountiful, and UnitedHealthcare’s Lachlan Norris jumped away. He was quickly back in the fold after the first trip up Bountiful Bench before James Piccoli (Elevate-KHS) made his own move.

Piccoli, who was just 1:15 down on the general classification, built a 15-second gap as Rally’s Sepp Kuss hit the front to bring him back. Nippo-Vini Fantini’s Marco Canola attempted to bridge, stringing out the field behind him the second time up Bountiful Bench.

The GC group brought Piccoli and Canola back into the fold before the second KOM, where a select group of about a dozen riders made it over the top, including Britton, and then headed down toward the finish. Britton had two teamamtes, while Caja Rural put three riders in the move. Gavin Mannion (UnitedHealthcare) was also there, along with fellow GC riders TJ Eisenhart (Holowesko-Citadel) and Brent Bookalter

A chasing group that included McCabe caught the leaders in the closing kilometres, setting up the reduced bunch sprint, where McCabe proved fastest to the line.

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