Tour of Utah: McCabe wins in Layton

Travis McCabe (UnitedHealthcare) pulled himself into the history books as the rider with the most stage wins at the Larry H. Miller Tour of Utah after chalking up his fourth victory and his second of the 2018 edition in Layton.

The UnitedHealthcare rider waited patiently behind lead-out man Sebastian Haedo and hit out simultaneously with Jasper Philipsen (Hagens Berman Axeon), getting the better of the Belgian with the final throw. Edwin Avila (Israel Cycling Academy) was third.

McCabe and his team benefited from having Jonny Clarke in the day's breakaway, allowing the UHC riders to sit in the bunch and let other teams do the chasing. LottoNL-Jumbo took up most of that job, as Rally Cycling's Rob Britton, the 2017 overall winner who started the day just two minutes down, was also in the move.

"The team's strategy played out perfectly," McCabe said. "We knew it was going to be a long day and hot, so we didn't want to take full responsibility overall. The plan was to put someone in the break. We thought that today was the day a breakaway could stick, and we wanted to give opportunities to other riders as well.

"It worked out really well," McCabe said. "Jonny did a great job, and then he got away in the end with Rob. Again it allowed us to not take charge until the very last minute, and we used [Sebastian Haedo] to put me in perfect position for the sprint. Then it was just a drag race between Jasper and I."

The bunch sprint did little to the overall classification, as Sepp Kuss (LottoNl-Jumbo) stayed safely in the peloton to keep the race lead, with 19 seconds over teammate Neilson Powless and 25 seconds over prologue winner Tejay van Garderen (BMC Racing Team).

How it unfolded

The 188km stage 3 route from Antelope Island to Layton City included three intermediate sprints and just one KOM, the punchy climb up the Bountiful Bench 91km into the race. The first intermediate sprint in Syracuse came 33.8km into the day, while the last two were in Farmington at 69km and 112.5km. Bonus seconds of three, two and one were awarded at each sprint.

The peloton was feeling stingy on the fourth day of the race, and all of the early attacks were quickly nullified by the flying field. Points leader Travis McCabe (UnitedHealthcare) won the first intermediate sprint, and LottoNL-Jumbo's Nielson Powless, who started the day second overall behind teammate Kuss, grabbed a two-second bonus for second place.

At the next sprint in Farmington, EF Education First-Drapac's Mike Woods took maximum points and the three-second bonus ahead of McCabe.

The race covered nearly 70km in the first hour before a group of 10 got away with 112km remaining. In the group were Tony Baca (303 Project), Hamish Schruers (Israel Cycling Academy), Lucas Hamilton (Mitchelton-Scott), Michael Rice (Axeon Hagens Berman), Jonny Clarke (UnitedHealthcare), Gage Hecht (Aevolo), Rob Britton (Rally Cycling), Damiano Cima (Nippo-Vini Fantini), Laurent Didier (Trek-Segafredo) and Brendan Canty (EF Education First-Drapac).

The bunch seemed to be happy with the breakaway composition, and the gap quickly went out to more than a minute.

When Baca took the maximum KOM points on Bountiful Bench at 90km, the gap had gone up to 1:30, but with Britton down just two minutes in the general classification, LottoNL-Jumbo never let the escapees have much of an advantage.

The gap hovered at 1:30 as the escapees made their way to the final intermediate sprint of the day back in Farmington 112.5km into the race, where Clarke took the maximum points and three-second time bump.

Riders started attacking the break with 50km remaining as they entered Hill Air Force base, where Schruers jumped and was followed in succession by Britton, Hecht, Cima, Clarke and Baca. But the original breakaway eventually regrouped when Schruers was brought back into the fold. The leaders had 55 seconds with about 40km remaining, and the gap continued to come down from there.

The escapees entered the first of five 5km finishing circuits with 30 seconds on the field. Britton set off on his own, and he was quickly pursued by Clarke to form a new lead duo off the front. They crossed the line with four to go holding 20 seconds over the breakaway remnants and 45 seconds on the field. With two laps to go the gap was down to 30 seconds. When the gap came down to 20 seconds a short time later, Britton and Clarke shook hands for a good try, but at that point, the field sprint was inevitable.

Jelly Belly kept the pace high on the final lap, as LottoNl-Jumbo lurked close behind with race leader Sepp Kuss in tow. Will Clarke (EF-Drapac) attempted to escape inside the 3km mark, but his move didn't last. Axeon Hagens Berman nailed him back with a sudden surge, but McCabe was perfectly positioned on their train and was able to overhaul Philipsen at the line.

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