Ben Hermans wins 2019 Tour of Utah

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Ben Hermans (Israel Cycling Academy) relied on a week of solid climbing to win the overall title at the 2019 Larry H Miller Tour of Utah in Park City on Sunday, improving on his 2018 runner-up result.

Joe Dombrowski (EF Education First) won the final stage after crossing the finish line alone with 24 seconds to spare ahead of a chase group that included Joao Almeida (Hagens Berman Axeon) in second, Keegan Swirbul (Worthy Pro Cycling) in third, Hermans in fourth and overall runner-up James Piccoli (Elevate-KHS) fifth on the stage.

Hermans finished the seven-day race with the overall victory by 50 seconds over Piccoli (Elevate-KHS), while Dombrowski moved up to third overall with his stage win, 1:32 back.

"From the first time I did this race in 2014, I had a good feeling with this race," Hermans said in the post-race press conference. "I keep getting a better result in the GC, so last year I got second and this year I won. I’m really happy with this win, and also really happy with how the team worked for me this week. We were never in trouble, so it was a really good week for us."

Dombrowski said his team had hoped to put a rider in the early breakaway with the idea that Dombrowski could then bridge to the move and have a teammate there. That point was moot, however, when the field caught the break at the very bottom of the final climb up 12km Empire Pass.

"It’s a different climb in that typically the selection can happen at the bottom because it’s consistently steep, but once you get to the second half of the climb it rolls, and it’s even got some downhills. So if you’re with the group it is more difficult to get away," Dombrowski said. "So I tried at the bottom and Ben [Hermans] and James [Piccoli] were with me.

"They didn’t have any real obligation to work with me because I was only a few minutes back on GC. We were racing different races, I suppose. I decided to ease off on the climb and maybe some guys would come back, and it would present another opportunity to go just at the very top. If you have a gap at the top, you can usually keep it to the line, and it worked out."

How it unfolded

The final stage at the 2019 Tour of Utah covered familiar territory for the race. The 125.9km route started and finished in Park City, taking in two intermediate sprints and two KOMs along the way.

The first intermediate sprint came in Kamas at 33km, followed by the first KOM, the category 2 climb through the affluent gated community of Wolf Creek Ranch, at 58.6km. The final intermediate sprint of the 2019 race came in Midway at 99.7km.

The major obstacle of the day, the 12km Hors Categorie climb over Empire Pass, topped out 8.9km from the finish before a hair-raising descent back into Park City.

As with most of the previous stages of the 2019 Tour of Utah, the breakaway took a long time to establish. Despite numerous attacks, the peloton approached the sprint in Kamas together until George Simpson (Elevate-KHS) slipped away alone with about 95km to go.

Simpson faded back into the bunch after the sprint, but Ty Magner (Rally UHC) and Gabriel Rojas (Aevolo) surged forward to form  a new two-rider group. The duo had 15 seconds with 85km to go, but they were also quickly neutralised.

Over the next 5km another large move of 23 riders tried to gain some traction, and with 75km remaining they’d built a gap of 1:05. Several riders lost contact on the climb through Wolf Creek Ranch.

In the move were James Whelan (EF Education First), Jacopo Mosca (Trek-Segafredo), Ty Magner and Gavin Mannion (Rally UHC), Edwin Avila (Israel Cycling Academy), Dayer Quintana, Edoardo Zardini and Umberto Marengo (Neri Sottoli-Selle Italia-KTM), Giovanni Lonardi (Nippo-Vini Fantini-Faizane), Alec Cowan, Noah Granigan and Serghei Tvetcov (Worthy Pro Cycling), Pablo Alarcorn (Canel’s Specialized), Cade Bickmore, Gabriel Rojas and Scott McGill (Aevolo), Brendan Rhim, Tanner Putt and Ben Wolfe (Arapahoe-Hincapie), Tony Baca and Cullen Easter (303 Project) and Matt Zimmer (DCBank).

Kevin Vermaerke (Hagens Berman Axeon) jumped out of the field to try and bridge while the leaders had 2:05 on the peloton. The 18-year-old winner of U23 Liege-Bastogne-Liege powered over the gap and made contract with about 55km remaining.

Cowan took maximum points on the Wolf Creek KOM, and the leaders got to work increasing or holding their advantage to the bottom of Empire Israel Cycling Academy continued on the front of the peloton, keeping the move in check, and with 42km to go the leaders’ gap was at 1:40.

The leaders rolled through the Midway sprint with 26.2km remaining, holding a gap on the peloton of just over a minute. Marengo claimed maximum points at the sprint, but the point was moot as Travis McCabe (Worthy Pro Cycling) had already sealed the win in the points classification.

The breakaway started to come apart at the bottom of Empire Pass, with multiple riders losing the pace and quickly being absorbed by the field.

The entire remnants of the breakaway were soon back in the fold, and EF Education First’s Dombrowski went on the attack alone. Piccoli reacted immediately to grab Dombrowski’s wheel, and Hermans let the Elevate-KHS rider go initially. The race leader then reacted to bring the move back.

Five riders remained in the lead, with Dombrowski, Piccoli, Hermans, Peter Stetina (Trek-Segafredo) and Adwin Avila (Israel Cycling Academy) in the group. Dombrowski surged again as Avila suffered a mechanical and had to stop. Dombrowski got a gap, while Piccoli launched multiple attacks against Hermans without success.

Hermans and Piccoli rode back up to Dombrowski, forming a lead group of three as the rest of the peloton was spread out all over the mountain. Keegan Swirbul (Worthy Pro Cycling) and Kyle Murphy (Rally UHC) emerged from the melee on the mountain and set off after the lead trio.

Swirbul made contact with the leaders first, while Murphy was joined further down the slope by Lawson Craddock (EF Education First) and Almeida.  Murphy was hoping to ride onto the podium, while Niklas Eg (Trek-Seagfredo) struggled on the climb, paced by teammate Stetina.

Murphy lost the pace in the chase as Almeida and Craddock neared the leaders. Meanwhile, Swirbul cracked and faded out of the picture. Craddock lost the pace of Almeida, who continued to chase alone. The best young rider was soon with the leaders, and he immediately went past.

Dombrowski jumped on Almeida’s wheel as Hermans and Piccoli allowed a gap to open. Hermans took charge and brought them back, re-establishing the lead quartet with just over 15km to go.

Five kilometres from the top, Piccoli had lost the pace, leaving Hermans, Dombrowski and Almeida at the front of the race. Swirbul caught Piccoli, but he didn't appear able to lend the Elevate rider much assistance in the chase. Swirbul must have been playing possum, however, as he let Piccoli do most of the work to get close, then jumped the Elevate rider right before the pair made contact with the leaders.

Swirbul gained the group 3km from the top, while Piccoli continued to battle, with the leaders in sight. Dombrowski sensed the overall runner-up catching the lead group and accelerated, dropping Swirbul and Hermans as Almeida lost the pace and drifted back. Dombrowski had 10 second on Hermans and Swirbul with 1km to go to the top.

Dombrowski crested Empire and started the final 8.9km with a 25-second lead. Almeida regained contact with Hermans and Swirbul, leaving three riders to chase down Dombrowski.

Piccoli regained the Hermans group as they approached Park City, while Dombrowski sailed up Main Street to seal the stage win, his first win since 2015 in Utah, and move into third overall.

Behind him, Almeida took second on the stage, followed by Swirbul, Hermans and Piccoli, who saved his overall runner-up spot.

Full results