Tour of Utah: Lachlan Morton wins stage 5

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Lachlan Morton (EF Education First) got the better of a two-way sprint in Park City to secure the stage 5 victory Saturday at the Larry H. Miller Tour of Utah over Hayden McCormick (Team Bridgelane).

The Australian took the outside line around the final bend before powering his way to the stage victory in a photo finish. McCormick was forced to settle for second place, but he picked up enough points during the stage to move to the top of the mountain classification standings.

In the post-stage press conference, Morton said a last-minute decision before the stage may have given him the advantage in the sprint.

"I’m not really one to look at the finish, but I just had a feeling, so five minutes before the start I just went down and rode the last 300 metres," Morton said. "I’m not an amazing sprinter. My sprint is always the same. I could do 30 hard races and my sprint would be the same.

"So I thought if I just committed through the last corner, the only chance to come around would be in the last 50," he said. "It turns out it was about a metre too late for Hayden but very perfect timing for me. I’d like to say I planned it, but sometimes luck just falls that way and you win." 

Simone Velasco (Neri Sottoli-Selle Italia-KTM) was part of the chase group and crossed the finish line in third place, 18 seconds back with stage 4 winner Marco Canola (Nippo-Vini Fantini-Faizane) and Evan Huffman (Rally UHC).

Ben Hermans (Israel Cycling Academy) added to his lead in the overall classification with one stage remaining. he now leads James Piccoli (Elevate-KHS) by 46 seconds and Niklas Eg by 1:10.

Morton won the overall in Utah in 2016 when he rode for Jelly Belly, but his performance up until Saturday was below par for the talented climber. Morton admitted that he was starting to have doubts about his form until something "clicked" Friday night.

"I wasn’t feeling very good in the first few days of this race," he said. "I’ve had a big few months doing a few things, and I thought I’d done irreversible damage. Because leading into this race I thought I was going well, and I started racing and I was like, ‘Maybe I’ve really done something here.’ But then last night all of the sudden it just clicked, and all of the sudden I felt really good. In the meeting [team director] Fabrizio [Guidi] said I should try for the breakaway, so I just went with everything."

How it unfolded

Saturday’s penultimate stage at the Tour of Utah started and finished at Canyons Village in Park City. The 137km route included 1,596 metres of climbing over three KOMs, the first of which came just 22.2 kilometres into the day and then at Browns Canyon with 29.2km and at the Utah Olympic Park with just 4.6km remaining.

Intermediate sprints at Kamas [34.5km] and Hoytsville [74.5km] lievend up the middle section of the stage between the climbs.

The day started with a 5.2km neutral roll out, and the attacks started as soon the the neutral flag dropped. 

A group of eight riders peeled away with about 120km remaining, getting a small gap as more riders attempted to bridge. In the move were stage 4 winner Macro Canola (Nippo-Vini Fantini-Faizanè), stage 4 runner-up Travis McCabe (Worthy Pro Cycling), stage 4 most aggressive Hayden McCormick (Team Bridglane), Lachlan Morton (EF Education First), Evan Huffman (Rally UHC), Bernat Font (303 Project), Simone Velasco (Neri Sottoli-Selle Italia-KTM), Michael Rice (Axeon Hagens Berman), Dylan Sunderalnd (Team Bridgelane) and Matt Zimmer (DC Bank Pro Cycling).

With 110km remaining, the 10 leaders has 30 seconds on a single chaser and 1:30 to the peloton.

McCormick took maximum points on the KOM as solo chaser Sam Boardman (Wildlife Generation) continued to linger at 30 seconds, with the bunch holding at 1:50. Boardman finally made contact with 100 km to go, and the lead groups swelled to 11 riders.

McCabe added another five points to his sprint tally, winning the intermediate sprint in Kamas ahead of Canola and jumping 20 points ahead of the Italian in the points competition.

With 85km remaining, the gap to the 11 leaders ballooned up to 3:45. The leaders added another 15 seconds over the next 5km, lifting their gap to an even four minutes with 80km remaining. Ten kilometres later the gap was up to 4:30.

McCanr took maximum points at the intermediate sprint in Hoytsville, and with just over 50km remaining, the leaders’ gap was holding above four minutes at 4:20.

The breakaway riders approached the bottom of the Browns Canyon climb with their 4:30 gap intact, as Israel Cycling Academy continued to power the chase for Hermans. McCormick won maximum points at the penultimate KOM ahead of Sunderland, Font and Canola.

The bunch seemed to sense the breakaway riders were going to be fighting for the win, and the impetus in the chase slowed considerably, allowing the gap to reach five minutes with just under 20km remaining.

The final KOM of the day, the category 2 ascent to the Utah Olympic Park, was nearly 5km long and topped out 4.6km from the finish, where the riders would face another small uphill after a descent.

Sunderland attacked the break with 13.5km remaining and opened a gap while his teammate McCormick waited in the group. The rest of the break appeared unimpressed, and didn't take the bait to chase him down.

With 10km remaining, Sunderland had 10 seconds on the rest of the breakaway and 4:20 on the field. Cooperation among the breakaway started to fall apart, and Sunderland’s gap was up to 20 seconds a kilometre later.

Morton launched an attack that split the group, with only McCormick able to stick on his wheel. The other lost contact as Morton continued to power the move toward Sunderland.

In the peloton, Rally UHC went to the front to set a pace for Kyle Murphy, splitting the field and winnowing the group down to select climbers.

Up front, Morton and McCormick caught and dropped Sunderland with just over 6km to go. The duo powered away from their former breakmates in search of stage glory.

Meanwhile, back in the bunch, Hermans neutralised the Rally moves and protected his lead, while Serghei Tevtcov (Worthy Pro Cycling), who was not a threat to the overall, tried to jump away.

The leaders hit a gravel section 1km from the top of the climb, with Morton continuing to set the pace and a group of chasers dangling at 20 seconds back.

Down the road in the GC group, Murphy attacked again, but overall runner-up James Piccoli (Elevate-KHS) took up the chase to protect his podium spot.

McCormick took the final KOM ahead of Morton, while back down the road, Murphy cracked and started losing big time. Morton and McCormick continued to work together toward the stage win, while Huffman, Canola and Sunderland joined forces to chase them down.

The two riders sprinted into the finishing straight with Morton in the lead, but McCormick made a late surge at the line to force a photo finish. In the end, it was Morton who nailed the win.

In the GC battle, Hermans jumped away from the select group near the finish and added to his overall lead ahead of Piccoli and Niklas Eg (Trek-Segafredo). 

The Tour of Utah concludes Sunday with stage 6 in Park City.

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