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The final stage has been run and won, and today, it was Australian Lachlan Norris from Drapac who took a fabulous win in a two-up sprint with BMC’s Brent Bookwalter.
On today’s course, the riders left Park City early in the day, with their thoughts squarely towards getting over the final major test of the tour, Empire Pass. Before that point though, the riders had a few other obstacles to contend with.
An early breakaway got away as the race neutral ended. The breakaway consisted of Rob Britton (Team Smartstop), Luca Charito (Bardiani-CSF), Carson Miller (Jamis-Hagens Bernman), Angus Morton (Jelly Belly), Jack Bobridge (Budget Forklifts), Taylor Phinney (BMC), Edwin Avila (Colombia), Griffin Easter (Airgas Safeway), Songezo Jim (MTN Qhubeka), Tanner Putt (UnitedHealthcare), Ty Magner (Hincapie Racing) and Sam Spokes (Drapac).
The first of those obstacles was an intermediate sprint after 30 kilometres in the town of Kamas. It was not contested by the break, with Angus Morton coming across the line in first, with Edwin Avila in second, and Taylor Phinney in third.
The second of those obstacles was the short, but steep climb of Wolf Creek Ranch. The category two climb averaged at over 9 per cent for 4 kilometres, and offered some real attacking racing, with Janez Brajkovic (UnitedHealthcare) and Camilo Castilblanco (Colombia) trying to breakaway to reach the front 12 riders, but they were reeled back a few kilometres after the summit.
Over the top of the climb first was Sam Spokes, with Tanner Putt in second, and Carson Miller in third. The time gap at this point was two minutes between the break and the content peloton.
On the descent of the climb though, it was Tanner Putt who attacked and was given a gap by his fellow breakaway riders, and at the final intermediate sprint point at Midway, he had 3 minutes to the peloton. Second at the sprint was Carson Miller, and third was Songezo Jim.
At the early slopes of the climb, Putt had a lead of over three minutes on the peloton, and one minute over the chasing Songezo Jim and Jack Bobridge, who had also attacked out of the breakaway. However, it was Rob Britton from the breakaway who stayed out in front the longest, as he was able to move past Putt before the half way point on the climb.
Britton climbed well, but the general classification riders kept him in check, and the gap was 30 seconds at 14 kilometres to go, and still 5 kilometres of climbing to the summit of Empire Pass.
The major omission from the chasing group was Chris Horner, who was dropped early on the final climb. However, with a couple of kilometres to go on the climb, he rejoined, with Lachlan Morton. At this point, Rob Britton was caught.
Over the top of the climb, there were many attacks, with Bookwalter and Norris getting away, and holding off the peloton to sprint for the win, where it was Norris who had to much energy in reserve over the BMC rider, who took a massive win for Drapac.
Back in the chasing group, Michael Woods clipped Martinez, which sent Woods to the ground, but as it happened within the final kilometre, he was given the same time as the Berhane, who finished the podium places on the stage in third place.
The happiest rider though of the day Joe Dombrowski, who claimed the overall Tour of Utah general classification, after a sensational stage win yesterday.
The final stage of the 2015 Tour of Utah travels to Park City, which has been a mainstay of the race for a while now, for what should be an exciting stage finish. Join The Roar’s live coverage of the Stage 7 of the 2015 Tour of Utah from 5:30am AEST.
After the Queen stage of the tour yesterday, today’s stage is much shorter and much less difficult. Having said this, it will still be extremely difficult, with one final category one climb to get over, and after seven days of tough racing, fatigue may show on the top riders.
The riders will start and finish in Park City, with 126 kilometres of heavy racing on the menu.
Included in those kilometres are two intermediate sprint points (at Kamas after 33 kilometres, and Midway after 100 kilometres), whilst there is also two King of the Mountains before the final climb.
The first of those two King of the Mountains sprints is Wolf Creek Ranch, which is ranked as a category two climb which summits after 58 kilometres to the race. The climb has been described by the race’s official website as being , “a short but steep climb that offers just a tiny taste of what is to come.”
The final decisive climb of the Tour is of the hors category climb of Empire Pass, which is summited with only 14 kilometres left. “Empire Pass is a legend, a name spoken in hushed whispers throughout the cycling world. This 10-kilometre climb averages a 10 per cent gradient, with several pitches over 20 per cent.”
If time gaps are not made on the ascent, time can be made on the technical descent, as Cadel Evans showed last year. Cadel crested Empire Pass 20 seconds behind a group including Chris Horner, and was able to descend across and take the sprint finish.
Today’s stage offers many different scenarios for the riders to play out.
The form man of the race has to be impressive young American Joe Dombrowski, who dominated up Snowbird yesterday. He and his Cannondale Garmin teammates should be able to protect the leader’s jersey, and potentially launch Dombrowski to another stage win in Park City.
Another rider who impressed greatly yesterday was Michael Woods, who held the stage lead going into yesterday’s stage. It was thought by many that he would lose the jersey, which he did, but to still stay second on the overall is a great achievement. He will be looking to keep his podium place today.
Other riders to watch on this stage include Chris Horner, Frank Schleck, Nathanel Berhane, Brent Bookwalter, Daniel Martinez and Lachlan Norris.
Watch out for the battle in both the Points and King of the Mountains classifications, as both jerseys are still up for grabs.
In terms of the points jersey, Kiel Reijnen leads by only three points over Dion Smith and four points over Sonny Colbrelli, who was in the breakaway yesterday looking to gain on his rivals.
In terms of the King of the Mountains jersey, Greg Daniel has a 10 point lead over Joey Rosskopf. Daniel needs to be in the break tomorrow to secure this jersey.
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