Young Riders Perservere on Tour of Utah Queen Stage

07 August 2016

Race: Tour of Utah, Stage 6

Start/Finish: Snowbasin Resort /Snowbird Ski & Summer Resort, Utah

Distance: 183.1 kilometers

Snowbird Ski & Summer Resort, Utah — Saturday’s penultimate stage of the Tour of Utah was the race’s Queen stage. The 183.1-km stage began in Snowbasin Resort and featured more than 3,400 meters of climbing.

The day’s main break didn’t get away until nearly an hour into the day. The 13-man break started to splinter heading up the 11-km Guardsmans Pass with a summit of nearly 3,000 meters. As the escapees hit the top, Chad Beyer (Lupus Racing Team) attacked and only Ben King (Cannondale-Drapac Pro Cycling Team), Daniel Eaton (UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling Team) and Neilson Powless (Axeon Hagens Berman) were able to chase. On the final climb up Little Cottonwood Canyon, a reduced front group caught the escapees. In the final kilometers, the elite 10-man group started attacking one another with Darwin Atapuma (BMC Racing Team) making the most decisive move. When he attacked, only Andrew Talansky (Cannondale-Drapac Pro Cycling Team) was able to grab his wheel. The duo fought until the summit finish at Snowbird Ski & Summer Resort with Talansky taking the win. Talansky’s win moved him into the overall race lead.

“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.”

Team Novo Nordisk, the world’s first all diabetes pro cycling team, finishes racing at the Tour of Utah on Sunday with Stage 7. The 125.5-km race features the monstrous Empire Pass with an average gradient of 10 percent, pitches of more than 20 percent and a summit of nearly 2,745 meters. This climb is known as one of the toughest raced in the entire United States. Following Empire Pass, the race finishes with a technical descent through Deer Valley and into downtown Park City.

Results: