Travis McCabe impressed yet again on the roads of downtown Salt Lake City, finishing second in a photo finish to Jasper Philipsen (Axeon). The two powerhouses ended up in a drag race to the line, with Philipsen nabbing the win by less than inches against a gaining McCabe.
McCabe continues to lead the Utah Sports Commission sprint competition by 55 points, 28 ahead of Philipsen. GC hopeful Gavin Mannion sits seventh overall, 38 seconds back on overall leader, Sepp Kuss (Lotto NL Jumbo).
“Jasper (Philipsen) got me on the line, it came down to a bike throw. I think it was pretty exciting for everyone to watch when you race for 115 kilometers and it comes down to 15 millimeters. That’s how it is. I’m happy with second,” McCabe said.
At 114 kilometres, today’s circuit race was a lumpy fast affair through the down town area of Salt Lake City. For the second day in a row, Jonny Clarke got into the break of the day, along with Serghei Tvetcov. Clarke’s effort in the breakaway was awarded by being named the most aggressive rider, which means he’ll wear the red jersey on tomorrow’s queen stage to Snowbird.
“Today the break never got too much of a gap, hovered around a minute,” Clarke said. “Serghei had better legs and would be better on that finish, so I tried to set him up with an attack at one and a half to go. Serghei ended up getting caught by the field anyway and Travis ran second. It was nice to get up on the podium and get the most aggressive, two hard days to come.”
Stage 5 of the Tour of Utah will be the GC decider, as it takes in three climbs and 3,058 meters of total climb, culminating in the iconic climb to Snowbird resort.
Photos: Jonathan Devich
