Three years after taking a breakthrough win in the similar stage, Lachlan Morton (Jelly Belly) returned to his best by winning the first big GC stage on the third day of the Tour of Utah. Having instigated the move on the big climb of Mount Nebo, the Australian dropped Adrien Costa (Axeon) and Andrew Talansky (Cannondale) with a well-timed attack inside the final 1500m and soloed across the line to take both the stage victory and the overall lead in America’s toughest race.

 

We have gathered a few reactions.

 

Lachlan Morton: I am confident that we can defend my jersey

Lachlan Morton (Australia) of the Jelly Belly Cycling Team presented by MAXXIS powered away from his two break mates for a thrilling win on Stage 3 presented by America First Credit Union today at the Larry H. Miller Tour of Utah. The victory in downtown Payson put the 24-year-old in the Larry H. Miller Group of Companies race leader jersey. Morton covered the 119-mile course, the longest of the week which began in Richfield, in four hours and 24 minutes.

 

Morton attacked on the steep, lower slopes of Mount Nebo, the southernmost and highest mountain in the Wasatch Range of Utah. He was soon joined by Americans Adrien Costa of Axeon Hagens Berman and Andrew Talansky of Cannondale-Drapac Pro Cycling Team. The trio worked well together to hold off hard-changing chase groups over the only Utah Office of Tourism King of the Mountain climb of the day that crested to 9,300 feet above sea level. An exhilarating 22-mile descent into Payson led to a three-man showdown.

 

“I came here wanting to do a good race. As a domestic rider, this race is as big as it gets. Everyone is really motivated. I won this stage (Richfield to Payson) last time, so I knew it really well. This morning we just said, ‘Let’s go for it’. We hadn’t really planned for it before today. It all worked out pretty much how we wanted it to, which rarely happens,” said Morton about his Jelly Belly Team strategy. Morton soloed to victory on this same stage 3 at the 2013 Tour of Utah.

 

"I felt pretty good, and when it's a small group like that if you hit them hard enough they hesitate for a second and you've got a small gap, and then that can be it. It was also the only time in the last 30km that we didn't have a headwind, so you've got to take advantage of that. If I had left it to a sprint, it usually doesn't end up very well for me.

 

“I worked really hard for this — being on a team like Jelly Belly we get this opportunity twice a year, so you really have to make your days count. To come out and execute what we wanted to do is really sweet.”

 

“The team came here with one big goal, and that was to help me out. So far, my team has ridden above themselves. It’s going to be exciting,” added Morton on the team plans to defend the overall leader’s jersey.

 

"Last time I took the jersey I had an incredible team behind me – a lot of guys who had been top 10 in the Tour de France and that sort of thing. But that didn't really work out for me. Tom Danielson tore my legs off on Guardsman Pass and basically went and raced for himself.

 

"I think it may play into my favour because we've all got one goal here this time. So, yeah, I mean we've already achieved a big goal today, so the race could finish now and we'd be pretty happy.

 

"We raced well at Tour of the Gila this year and we defended the jersey the whole way. It's a different level of competition, for sure, but it's the same principle. Yeah, we're going to try and do it, but it won't be the end of the world if we don't win now.

 

"But I'm confident in the guys and we came here with one big goal: to help me out. And so far everyone has ridden above themselves, and they always do. It should be exciting."

 

18-year-old Adrien Costa beats the stars in Utah mountains

Adrien Costa climbed his way into second overall with a runner-up finish on Stage 3 Wednesday at the Larry H. Miller Tour of Utah while his Axeon Hagens Bergman teammate Greg Daniel, the U.S. national road champion, broke his right collarbone in a crash.

Costa finished three seconds behind stage winner and new race leader Lachlan Morton (Jelly Belly presented by Maxxis). Costa, Morton and a third rider, Andrew Talansky (Cannondale-Drapac Pro Cycling), worked together on the second half of the decisive climb of the day, the ascent of Mt. Nebo.

The trio eventually gained nearly a 90-second advantage over a small group of chasers before Morton attacked in the last kilometer of a long downhill run-in to the finish in the town of Payson. It was more than one minute and 20 seconds before another rider crossed the line.

Afterwards, Costa - the youngest rider in the race who is two weeks from his 19th birthday - said he surpassed his own expectations.

"I wasn't expecting to be climbing with these guys," Costa said. "I think that kind of helps though, because you get pretty excited and the suffering kind of eases up a little bit. It was really fun. I might have done a little bit too much work at the beginning, because at the end I suffered a bit. For me, every day, I am learning and hopefully getting stronger. It is amazing to have the opportunity to race at this level.

 

"When I saw Morton]go early I kind of figured that he knew what he was doing, considering that he had done a very similar move three years ago. I just told myself not to panic, just ride my own tempo. I was kind of keying off the BMC train, because Atapuma showed that he's one of the best climbers in the world.

 

“I looked over and saw that Atapuma was suffering, which gave me motivation. I was really surprised to see Atapuma couldn't follow, and that gave me the extra motivation I needed to finish closing the gap.”

Earlier this season, Costa turned heads by becoming the first American to win the Tour de Bretagne in the French race's 50-year history. He flashed signs of his strength Wednesday by bridging a 20-second gap in about two kilometers to join Morton - who won the Tour of the Gila this year - and Talansky, who won a WorldTour race, the Critérium du Dauphiné, in 2014.

"Coming in, I knew we had four or five guys who could really ride for GC (general classification)," Costa said. "This is my first race after a pretty good mid-season break, so I wasn't sure personally how I would be going. I was really focused on helping the team. I was feeling really good on the climb. Unfortunately, our two other GC riders lost a little ground on the climb. So I was just focusing on my pace and was able to catch Morton and Talansky."

Costa moved into the lead in both the "king of the mountain" and "best young rider" classifications. In the overall standings, he is seven seconds behind Morton and two seconds ahead of Talansky. The next four riders are between 1:32 and 1:34 back of Morton. Two other Axeon Hagens Berman riders, Neilson Powless and Tao Geoghegan Hart, are ninth and 10th overall, both 4:07 off the lead with four days to go.

"This stage result is huge for the team, but I think we have a good team full of climbers who we can depend on," Costa said. "These guys have the endurance and experience to be in these races."

Axeon Hagens Berman General Manager Axel Merckx said Costa "produced an impressive ride."

"This was beyond my expectations, for sure," Merckx said. "We were not here with him to be the guy for us and there is still a long ways to go. But we are in a good position with him for sure. We also have a couple other guys like Tao and Neilson who are not far away and in contention. So it will be another team performance."

 

American Champion crashes out of the Tour of Utah
Costa’s Axeon Hagens Bergman teammate Greg Daniel, the U.S. national road champion, broke his right collarbone in a crash. The crash that led to Daniel's broken collarbone happened at the base of Mt. Nebo with about 54 kilometers to go in the 192-kilometer race. It also involved teammate Colin Joyce, who was wearing the "best young rider" jersey. Joyce only had scrapes and bruises and was able to finish. Daniel, meanwhile, also initially thought he might be able to keep going.

"We were just fighting for position going into the climb and some guys slammed on their brakes," Daniel said. "A guy right in front of me went down and there was nowhere I could go. It seemed like a relatively straight-forward crash at the time. But when I felt my collarbone, it felt kind of strange. It wasn't painful though, so I tried to ride a bit. But it didn't feel right. I knew there was no point in trying to finish because I would not be able to start the next day."

Daniel was competing in his first race in the United States as the reigning national road champion. After earning the title in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, at the end of May, he won the Tour de Beauce in Canada in June.

"This is definitely hard," the 21-year-old Denver resident said. "I shed some tears in the rescue squad. But everything happens for a reason. When I broke my collarbone last time, I was on my bike two days later. For me, a broken collarbone is almost better than getting sick. The Tour of Alberta might still be on the agenda and hopefully I will still be able to go to the world championships."

Last year at the Tour of Utah, Daniel won the "king of the mountains" title on his way to a 60th-place finish. Entering Wednesday's stage, he was sitting 31st overall and among a group of nearly 70 riders who were 2:23 off the lead.

Manager Axel Merckx said continuing on without Daniel will be hard for everyone on the team.

"It is just bad luck," he said. "Greg being in the national champion jersey in the U.S. and crashing after three stages and breaking his collarbone is too bad for him and a huge loss for us. I am really looking forward to getting him back on the bike. I don't know when, but hopefully at some point."

 

Andrew Talansky: Morton was the strongest

 

"Coming in to that last kilometre, kilometre and a half, I mean you think somebody might attack," Andrew Talansky said at the post-stage press conference. "I was suffering a little bit in the heat and I was hoping I could pull off a little bit of a sprint in the end. Lachlan made a big move and obviously neither myself or Adrien could close it. He 100 per cent deserved the win. Up the climb early on I think he was the strongest one, and it's fitting that he got the stage."

 

"Obviously we came in with a plan for me to support Joe [Dombrowski] But plan B, we still want to win stages of this race and we still want to win the race overall, so I do think that will shift the focus a bit. That said, I have no doubt that Joe can win one of the stages coming this weekend. He's the defending champion and he's an incredible rider. Honestly, on his day, and I've said this before, I don't think there's anybody, especially at altitude, when he's at his absolute best who can climb with him."

 

“This race is grown a lot since 2009,” said Talansky about the first time he raced at the Tour of Utah. Since then, he has raced in seven Grand Tours. “It has been fun being out here with Adrien and Lachlan. Moves like today so far from the finish rarely work. In a race like this, it actually can. It was fun.”

 

Defending champion Dombrowski will now ride as a support rider for Talansky and go for stage wins.

 

“The GC is probably out of reach at this point,” Dombrowski told Velonews.

 

Strong BMC trio come up short in Utah mountains

Three BMC Racing Team riders finished inside the top ten on Larry H. Miller Tour of Utah Stage 3 after a fast and rolling descent into Payson saw Lachlan Morton (Jelly Belly p/b Maxxis) take victory and the overall lead of the race.

 

As the day’s early breakaway was caught at the beginning of the Category 1 climb up Mt. Nebo, the pace of the peloton picked up and attacks quickly followed.

 

With three riders working together at the front of the race, BMC Racing Team found themselves spread out across the road with Darwin Atapuma and Rob Britton (Rally Cycling) the second group of the road being chased by Taylor Eisenhart and Joey Rosskopf.

 

Eventually Eisenhart and Rosskopf were able to bridge the gap to Atapuma and the group worked together on the final descent to try to bring the gap down as much as possible to the leading trio.

 

It was Rosskopf who crossed the line first to finish fourth, 1 minutes and 22 seconds behind Morton, while Atapuma and Eisenhart were sixth and seventh respectively.

 

All three riders now sit inside the top ten on the General Classification with Atapuma sitting fourth followed by Rosskopf in fifth, both 1 minute 32 seconds behind Morton, and Eisenhart seventh, 1 minute 34 seconds back.

 

Joey Rosskopf said:

 

"On a 10 kilometer steep section in the middle of the climb, I was riding at my own pace behind and I could see TJ drop pretty much everyone apart from five riders in that lead group and it wasn't until they started attacking that he dropped back and I could catch him. He was pretty incredible today. We knew the time checks to Darwin as we chased together and when the climb opened up as we reached the KOM, we could see them ahead of us and could work out where we were on the road in comparison.

 

“It was good to be together rather than spread out along the road as the last 5km to KOM were rolling and it didn’t descend right away so you benefit from having someone to work with on a section like this. He could help me over the climbs then I could add some power on the flatter sections to reach Atapuma and help minimize our losses. Everyone is still riding strong here so there is a lot of confidence and motivation within the team.”

 

Taylor Eisenhart added:

 

"This is my first preview of life with the pros and so far it’s been incredible. Especially to be racing in my home state and past my home town.

 

“All day today we had Fabian [Lienhard], Rick [Zabel] and [Tom] Bohli working really hard on the front to control the breakaway and then we set a good pace going onto the climb. When Morton attacked, Darwin told me to stay calm and keep my own pace which I was able to do until the attack from Costa which he followed.

 

“At that point I thought I was done and I looked back and saw that I had dropped some main GC riders. Joey was then catching up to me so I sat up and allowed us to come back together so we could bridge the gap over to Atapuma.

 

“In training before the race I spent a lot of time on the climbs with Atapuma. He is a really experienced rider and it’s amazing to be able to race with him and work for him. I said before the race that I wanted to do the best I can to support the other riders and that I wanted to be one of the last guys on the climbs for Atapuma. I think I proved that I can do that today which is amazing.”

 

Sports Director Jackson Stewart said:

 

“As we got to Mt. Nebo, Jelly Belly we setting a good pace on the climb and we were working at the front as well but almost immediately Morton attacked followed by Talansky and then Costa and Darwin made a move but Atapuma found himself stuck in between two groups with the other rider. Joey and TJ were left setting the pace and were dropping riders from their group, they weren’t really attacking, it was just the pace that they were setting was too high for some guys.

 

“I knew that we needed to catch Darwin as there was still 35 kilometers to go over the top of Mt. Nebo and eventually with 22 kilometers to go we had Atapuma wait for them. From then they chased as much as they could and brought the gap down to around 1 minute 20 seconds. It was a really hard day of climbing today and some strong time triallists went up the road and weren’t able to bring them back. The guys gave it everything today and we were able control the group for a good portion of the stage.”

 

Rob Britton confirms potential in Utah mountains

Rally had Rob Britton in fifth place.

 

“When Morton put his team on the front we knew what was coming,” he told Velonews. “When he went, the entire field had a gun in their mouth.”

 

Disappointed Peter Stetina drops out of GC contention in Utah

The first big mountain climb of the Tour of Utah made a huge impression on the overall classification as three riders rode away and reached the line to fight out the win and yellow jersey. The trio was followed by a four-man chase group well over a minute later, and a third group – with three Trek-Segafredo teammates – that arrived four minutes in arrears.

 

Laurent Didier, Peter Stetina, and Kiel Reijnen climbed together over the long Mt. Nebo ascent with nine other men and came to the finish to contest eighth place behind stage winner Lachlan Morton (Jelly-Belly), who won the Mt. Nebo stage for a second time.

 

Reijnen easily out-kicked the rest of his group, a remarkable achievement since climbing is listed far down his list of strengths. While Reijnen rode outside himself to conquer the 16.6-kilometer mountain climb, it was a sub-par performance for Peter Stetina, fresh off a strong ride at the Tour de France in support of Bauke Mollema - all thanks to the high-altitude.

 

"I struggled today," said Stetina, pulling no punches. "I was hoping for a bit more of a controlled day because I knew I needed more days to get used to the altitude, but with the big explosion on the bottom, I just went into the red a little too early. I needed a steadier race until the weekend, and that didn't happen.

 

"But Kiel was having the best climb that I have ever seen him do, and he wasn't too far behind so I eased off the gas and tried to bring him back, and we made a big chase with UnitedHealthcare, but we couldn't close it in the end. It's a little unfortunate, but the guys in the front were really strong. You can see with this first big climb in the heat, and the altitude, that a lot of guys who were favorites were dropped, and others who no one talked about, did really well."

 

Stage three was the longest stage of the weeklong race at 191.8 kilometers, and the first big climbing test. A six-man breakaway was given little room to wander and at the bottom of the lengthy Mt. Nebo climb the last relic had been swept aside under attacks that quickly sorted the strongest.

 

"I didn't want our guys to pull today, I know that they wanted us to work with Cannondale and BMC, but I know we did not train in altitude before to be ready for this race," pointed out director Alain Gallopin. "Pete came from the Tour de France, and Kiel is not a pure climber – he did well today, but he is not a real climber, and his focus is on the sprint.

 

"This kind of race is made for some specialists who make a specific training for this race, and I think we showed our limit today. I am happy to see three of our guys together in the third group working together, and it was great to see Laurent good like this, but the problem we have today is the altitude. Maybe we can be better for the weekend."

 

Aggressive Simon Pellaud excels in Utah mountains

Simon Pellaud (IAM) was the final rider from the early break to be caught.

 

"Cycling is not an exact science,” he said. “Once you get into the break, you have to give everything in order to try and go for the win at the finish.”

 

"A squirrel hopped across the road, and very nearly caused us to crash in the second part of the race,” Simon Pellaud recounted. “He panicked when he saw us coming, but luckily no one went down.”

 

Though the young Swiss rider did not manage to raise his arms in victory, Pellaud did earn a trip to the podium to receive the red jersey of the most aggressive rider for the stage.

 

“We flew halfway across the world to come to this race in the US, so I don’t intend to spend my days in the bunch. Striking out in an escape group is the only way for me to distinguish myself. That’s why I tried my luck again today. When the peloton caught me, there was no question of my being able to increase my pace. I have a strong character. Once I am in a break and at the front, I want to go as far as possible. I just love being on the bike, and that’s how I enjoy myself. Now it’s time for recovery, but I am not excluding the possibility of going on the attack again before the end of the Tour of Utah.”

 

Sports director Lionel Marie said:

 

“He is a valiant racer. He still has many good years ahead of him, and a good margin for progress. He’s always a positive person, always able to move forward. And what’s more, he will continue to improve year upon year. So there’s no need for it to stop here.”

 

Crash takes ONE captain out of contention in Utah

A fast and furious start to the stage as a group of five peeled off the front of the bunch after only 10km. For ONE, Kiwi Hayden McCormick attempted to bridge across but was chased back by Cannondale and United Healthcare.

 

Entering the bottom of Mount Nebo Dion Smith, James Oram and Richard Handley worked to position Hayden McCormick before the start of the gruelling 17km climb. However, a touch of wheels in the group brought McCormick to the floor, forcing him out of position in the main group and struggling to regain contact.

 

Richard Handley sacrificed his own race as he worked hard to tow McCormick back to the group but they were just out of reach.

 

Despite his crash, Hayden McCormick didn’t falter on his way to the finish, dedicating all his strength and power to regain position and make up as much time as possible.

 

Novo Nordisk riders suffer in Utah heat

All three of Team Novo Nordisk’s riders finished in the gruppetto.

 

“The altitude is no longer a problem; today was all about the climbing and the heat,” Team Novo Nordisk’s Gerd de Keijzer said. “I’m not someone who climbs well and that climb was killer even without the heat. I went through 17 bottles today.”