Team Novo Nordisk Closes out Tour of Utah

Race: Tour of Utah, Stage 7

Start/Finish: Park City/Park City, Utah

Distance: 125.5 kilometers

Park City, Utah — Sunday’s 125.5-kilometer final stage of the Tour of Utah was aggressive from the start with the overall race still up for grabs. Various attacks and counterattacks were seen heading out of Park City. A 10-man breakaway formed as the race headed towards the monstrous Empire Pass, which had an average gradient of 10 percent, pitches of more than 20 percent and a summit of nearly 2,745 meters.

As the race descended from Wolf Creek Ranch, the breakaway splintered with Tao Geoghegan Hart (Axeon Hagens Berman), Robin Carpenter (Holowesko-Citadel), Bryan Lewis (Lupus Racing) and Larry Warbasse (IAM Cycling) dropping their fellow escapees. As the quartet reached the bottom slopes of Empire Pass, Lachlan Morton (Jelly Belly presented by Maxxis), who began the day second overall, attacked from the peloton. He reached the escapees, quickly passed them and put in a gallant effort over Empire Pass and on the technical descent through Deer Valley and into downtown Park City. Morton soloed to the stage win with enough time to take the overall race win.

“The race had it all today; it poured, it hailed, it got hot and there were incredibly strong crosswinds. We had hoped for a better day for Javi but the weather and intensity proved to be too much,” Team Novo Nordisk Sport Director Pavel Cherkasov said. “I’m so proud of our riders and how they fought all week, especially Gerd and Stephen.” 

Team Novo Nordisk, the world’s first all diabetes pro cycling team, returns to racing on August 11^th at the four-day Czech Cycling Tour.

Results: 

• 1^st: Lachlan Morton (Jelly Belly presented by Maxxis): 3:08:07
• 2^nd: Adrien Costa (Axeon Hagens Berman): 0:31 behind Morton
• 3^rd: Darwin Atapuma (BMC Racing Team): 0:50 behind Morton

Overall Race:

• 1^st: Lachlan Morton (Jelly Belly presented by Maxxis): 27:12:49
• 2^nd: Adrien Costa (Axeon Hagens Berman): 1:09 behind Morton
• 3^rd: Andrew Talansky (Cannondale-Drapac Pro Cycling Team): 1:39 behind Morton

Team Novo Nordisk Stage 7 Results: 

• Javier Megias: 31^st: 10:08 behind Morton
• Stephen Clancy: 81^st: 25:45 behind Morton
• Gerd de Keijzer: 84^th: 26:09 behind Morton

Team Novo Nordisk Overall Results: 

• Javier Megias: 37^th: 44:35 behind Morton
• Stephen Clancy: 88^th: 1:55:35 behind Morton
• Gerd de Keijzer: 91^st: 2:02:05 behind Morton

(Photo: ©VeloImages)