Andrew Talansky (Cannondale) proved that he is back on track and ready for a great Vuelta by claiming an impressive stage win in the Tour of Utah queen stage. Having distanced race leader Lachlan Morton (Jelly Belly) halfway up the final climb, he did all the work in the front duo and still had enough left in the tank to beat Darwin Atapuma (BMC) in the sprint at the top. The win allowed him to move into the race lead with a 22-second advantage over Morton.

 

We have gathered a few reactions.

 

Andrew Talansky: It’s been two years since I last had this level

Andrew Talansky climbed to victory on the queen stage of the Larry H. Miller Tour of Utah on Saturday and moved into the leader’s jersey at the same time. 

 

Talansky will toe the start line in Park City for the final stage of the 11th edition of the seven-day tour looking to defend yellow on what promises to be a difficult day.

“I came here to put the final topping on the prep for the Vuelta,” said Talansky. “I didn’t know exactly what result that would yield. Obviously so far, so good. It’s a great feeling to win again. To win the stage was really special. To be sitting here in yellow is great. We have another day of racing to go, but to win the stage was really nice. I think you’d have to look back pretty far to see when I won an actual stage and not the overall race."

 

"It’s definitely been awhile. It’s been two years since I rode my best in the Tour in 2014 before I crashed and had to go home. It’s been a tough couple of years.”

Slipstream Sports CEO Jonathan Vaughters said: “The Pitbull earned his name today. That was a dominating performance by him and a strong performance by all the boys. It’s a good sign going into the Vuelta.”
 
Cannondale-Drapac backed Talansky on the hilly 183-kilometre stage between Snowbasin and Snowbird. The 27-year-old started the day in third overall, nine seconds down on Lachlan Morton (Jelly Belly p/b Maxxis).

Twenty kilometers into the stage, American Ben King, the Tour of Utah stage one fan favorite, forced clear of the bunch as part of the early breakaway. The 13-rider move pocketed a five-minute advantage before Jelly Belly p/b Maxxis lifted the pace. The escape hit the base of the category one Guardsman Pass three minutes ahead of the bunch.
 
The steep slopes of Guardsman Pass did damage. Over the top of the climb, only four riders from the early breakaway remained out front, including King. Back in the bunch, Morton was isolated.
 
Heavy rain fell on the peloton as they powered toward the finishing climb to Snowbird. The bunch had expected a tailwind up the final climb. Instead, they contended with a headwind, making attacks more difficult.

“The wind shifted when the storm blew in,” Talansky said. “A tailwind favors attacking. When the wind changed, that changed the way the race would play out.

“Four kilometers from the finish, I knew we were running out of road,” Talansky added. “I had just decided to attack when Atapuma went. I knew that was my chance.

 

“At the end of the day, we thought the best way was to go head to head with Lachlan. Then whoever had the better day would win. I didn't know how Lachlan would be or how he would respond. This would just be one-on-one.”
 
With his acceleration, Darwin Atapuma (BMC) immediately opened a gap on an elite selection of riders harboring general classification ambitions. Talansky was the first to respond and the only rider able to make it across to the lone leader.

 

“Darwin attacked and I couldn’t go when he went," he said. "He has a great acceleration and is a really good climber. But I thought that if I could get up to him we could maybe work together and get that gap. I was looking for a spot, hoping the wind would shift but it didn’t. So I just said, ‘OK, there’s 4km to go and we have to go now.’ I went, we got the gap to Lachlan and then we drove it all the way to the finish.”

“He was really strong when he jumped,” noted Talansky. “When I fought my way across, I asked him to pull through, to work with me, and he said he was at his limit. I told him I was willing to give him the stage win if he pulled, but he insisted he was at his limit, and I believed him.”
 
In Talansky’s wake, Morton and Adrian Costa (Axeon Hagens Berman) gave chase. The duo was able to limit damages but lacked the legs required to reach the leaders. 
 
Talansky led out the short downhill sprint to the line, holding off Atapuma to take the win.
 
“I’m really happy to pay off the hard work of my teammates,” said Talansky. “The faith my team has put in me despite my difficult spring is humbling.”
 
Talansky will start the final stage of Tour of Utah with a 22-second advantage over Morton and a 56-second advantage over Costa. The race will end with a downhill run into Park City but stage seven is all about the climbs with 2,403 feet of elevation gained over 125 kilometers.
 
Empire Pass, the final climb of the race, tops out at over 8,970 feet in elevation with an average grade of 10 percent and pitches that exceed 20 percent.
 
“We’ve shown all week that we have a really strong team here in Utah,” said Talansky. “I have no doubt that we have the team to keep the jersey.”

 

Darwin Atapuma focused on final stage after near-miss in Utah

Today's queen stage at the Larry H. Miller Tour of Utah saw the riders tackle the only summit finish of the week. Darwin Atapuma showed strong form and launched a late attack on the way to Snowbird Resort to eventually cross the line second behind stage winner and new race leader, Andrew Talansky (Cannondale - Drapac).

 

As soon as the race hit kilometer zero attacks started to fly off the front of the peloton. BMC Racing Team worked hard to mark every move before a group of ten riders, including Rick Zabel, was able to cement an advantage over the peloton which at one stage reached a maximum of 4 minutes 25 seconds.  

 

The breakaway started to split as they headed over the top of day's first categorized climb, Guardsman Pass, before the race came back together for a decisive final climb. 

 

Eventually only a select group of riders were left to battle it out on the steep slopes up to Snowbird Resort. Taylor [TJ] Eisenhart made a move off the front of the main General Classification group before Darwin Atapuma launched an impressive attack that could only be matched by Talansky. 

 

The duo went under the flamme rouge together before going head to head in a final sprint for the line. 

 

Atapuma's second place finish saw him move up in the General Classification and he now sits in fourth place going into tomorrow's final stage, 1 minute 23 seconds behind Talanksy

 

Joey Rosskopf and TJ Eisenhart were also riding strong on the final climb and crossed the line in seventh and tenth place respectively to remain inside the top ten on the General Classification. 

 

Darwin Atapuma said:

 

“Today was a very tough stage. It was comparable to something you’d see in the Tour de Suisse. I'm grateful for all of the work that the team did. I previewed this climb before the race with TJ and gave it a go at tempo so we knew what was coming up. I have been climbing really well this season, especially at the Giro d'Italia and the Tour de Suisse, so I came in to this race confident in my abilities.

 

"The team did a great job all day to put me in a position where I could attack and get in a good position to go for a podium result. It's just a shame I couldn't get the win. It was definitely not an easy stage especially with the headwind but in the end I was happy with the form I showed and we are still really motivated and focused for tomorrow's final stage." 

 

Sports Director Jackson Stewart added:

 

"We had an idea to try and set up a dangerous move today that could pass the first climb and then help at the front when the race came back together. Again, every single person wanted to be in the breakaway today so it was really hard at the beginning. Rick was able to be part of the successful move and he has shown this week that he is climbing super well which is really interesting. He did such a good job and was able help the team for the final climb.

 

"With Rick in the break we could sit up a bit in the peloton and over the first climb we still had six strong guys up at the front. We were then able to attack on the final climb and really light the race up with Darwin. The only guy who could stay with him was Talansky so that made it a proper duel for the win and to finish in second made it a good day. We lost the race by about a tyre width which is a bit of a shame for Darwin as he is really confident here and everyone is really working well for him. We are just waiting for the elusive stage win. 

 

"The whole team was super active again. Joey was caught behind a moto crash, a situation that is definitely un-called for, but he was able to get back up to the front of the race which was great to see and also be up there in the top ten with TJ." 

 

18-year-old sensation defends third place in Utah queen stage

Adrien Costa of the Axeon Hagens Berman Cycling Team finished third on Saturday's mountain-top finish to keep his grip on third place overall with a day to go at the Larry H. Miller Tour of Utah.

 

The 18-year-old also regained the lead in the "king of the mountain" standings while increasing his advantage in the "best young rider" classification. Heading into Sunday's 125.7-kilometer finale, Costa sits 56 seconds behind new race leader Andrew Talansky (Cannondale-Drapac Pro Cycling), who won Saturday's race in a two-up sprint against Darwin Atapuma (BMC Racing Team). Lachlan Morton (Jelly Belly presented by Maxxis), who led the race for two days, is second overall, 22 seconds behind Talansky.

 

Talansky and Atapuma attacked four kilometers from the finish of the 183.1-kilometer race to the Snowbird Ski Resort. Costa followed Morton, who was left to chase the pair, knowing he was in danger of losing the yellow jersey.

 

"That's not how I usually like to race," Costa said. "I don't like to stay in the wheels and just sprint at the finish line. But after yesterday, my confidence took a little bit of a hit. I really, really wanted to stay within my abilities on the climb because yesterday I just felt so bad and blew up at the end. So I was just focusing on staying on Lachlan and letting him do the work on the climb. Closer to the finish, I started to recover a little bit and actually put in a couple digs and felt pretty good at the end."

 

Axeon Hagens Berman was well-represented throughout the race, with USA Pro Road Tour leader Neilson Powless featuring in the initial breakaway and Irish national time trial champion Eddie Dunbar, Tao Geoghegan Hart and Costa eventually joining him.

 

Geoghegan Hart, the runner-up on Friday's stage, was the second Axeon Hagens Berman rider to reach the summit. He arrived in 17th, 2:44 behind the stage winner. The 21-year-old British Under 23 national road champion was one of several riders held up by the crash of a TV motorcycle about four kilometers from the finish.

 

Axeon Hagens Berman General Manager Axel Merckx, who did not see the incident, said no matter what caused it, it was a shame that it happened.

 

"Tao has been riding better and better here each day," Merckx said. "So to have something like this happen - where it is not his fault - is disappointing. He really deserved better after all the hard work he did to prepare for this race, which is his last one for us after three great seasons."

 

Aggressive Kiel Reijnen secures sprints jersey in Utah queen stage

Fresh off his victory in yesterday's stage five, where he also grabbed the lead in the sprint competition, Kiel Reijnen continued to ride the wave of momentum by jumping into the day's breakaway in the queen stage six Saturday and gobbled up enough points to lock up the white jersey.

 

"Now for sure we keep the white jersey for the stage race," said Reijnen. "I am really happy; it's nice to be on the podium for the last two days. It was not so easy to keep it today, but when I saw Robin (Carpenter) go for the break, I was on his wheel, so I just followed. In the end, it was a good strong break, but the field did not give us a lot of time. I just keep rotating until the second sprint and then took it easier until the finish."

 

While Reijnen dropped from the breakaway and settled into a more civilized pace, Laurent Didier, and Riccardo Zoidl found back some climbing form that had dissolved with Utah's high elevations and climbed with the GC leaders until the final kilometers. When the GC rivals attacks disintegrated the group for good, Zoidl recovered to finish in 8th place while Didier arrived with a select group moments later to grab 9th. 

 

"After we had lost four minutes in stage three we knew it was going to be difficult today to even try for the podium," explained director Alain Gallopin. "I think the focus was maybe top five for Pete if he was good, and also to keep the white jersey on Kiel. Kiel did everything well, he was in the first break with Carpenter who was a danger, and now he has enough points to keep the jersey no matter what happens tomorrow. On the last climb, Pete suffered from his wrist after he had crashed earlier, and we need to check him tonight, but he was not able to make the effort on the last climb."

 

In a moment of lapse, an unexpected crash near the front of the peloton took down Eugenio Alafaci, Peter Stetina, and stagiaire Jacopo Mosca. Stetina was up quickly and Mosca pushed him back into action, but Alafaci hit his head hard and was slow to get moving. Alafaci did remount and eventually chase back to the peloton, but was forced to pull out a short time later.

 

"Unfortunately, we had a crash that involved Peter, Jacopo, and Eugenio," continued Gallopin. "It was a moment when I was following the break, but they were in the front and crashed behind a Jelly Belly rider. Eugenio was the first to go down, and when he came back, we had to change his helmet as he had hit his head very hard. He didn't remember exactly the crash, and we decided to stop him immediately. The team doctor went with him to check everything, and he appears to be okay. He is back at the hotel, but with the head, we do not take any chances."

 

Laurent Didier moved into 10th place overall (+5'35") with one mountainous stage to go tomorrow. 

 

Gallopin was philosphical about the team's performance in the overall classification: "We knew from the beginning that one guy was ready and focused for this race and that was Kiel. For Pete, it was unknown how he would fare after the Tour, and now he had a bad crash today and we hope everything is okay for him. But overall, I am happy with our race, and what we have achieved."

 

Young Novo Nordisk riders persevere in Utah

“Today reminded me of just how incredibly difficult pro racing is. It was truly inspiring to watch our two younger riders, Stephen [Clancy] and Gerd [de Keijzer], push themselves past limits I don’t even think they believed were possible,” Team Novo Nordisk’s Sport Director Pavel Cherkasov said. “This is the most difficult race they’ve ever done and they’ve given it their all every single day. Tomorrow is the final day and we are going all in for Javi [Megias]. He has had great form and hopefully he will have the legs in the morning to have a strong day.”