Lachlan Morton by a Tire on Tour of Utah Stage 5

Australian Lachlan Morton of EF Education First outsprinted his breakaway companion at the line to win Stage 5 presented by University of Utah Health in a thrilling photo finish at Canyons Village at Park City Mountain. Morton, who won the 2016 Tour of Utah, scored his fourth career stage win in Utah Saturday in a time of 3 hours and 5 minutes.

Photo Galleries:

• 2019 Tour of Utah Stage 5 Photo Essay by Cathy Fegan-Kim
• 2019 Tour of Utah Stage 5 Gallery by Dave Richards

Morton made his way into the 11-rider breakaway, which escaped early in the 85.1-mile (137-kilometer) stage. The steep slopes of Olympic Parkway at Utah Olympic Park are where Morton and Hayden McCormick (NZL) of Team BridgeLane launched their attack and blazed a trail to the finish line together.

“I’m not normally one to look at the finish, but I had a feeling. So five minutes before the start, I went and rode the last 300 meters,” Morton said about scoping out the uphill finish at Canyons Village at Park City Mountain. “The only chance to come around is in the last 50 (meters). Very perfect timing for me, which I’d love to say that I planned, but sometimes luck falls that way and you get the win.”

In a hard-fought sprint, McCormick took second place by a tire-width difference. The battle for third place was taken by Simone Velasco (NIPPO-Vini Fantini-Faizanè), who outmaneuvered the chase group which included Stage 4 winner and teammate Marco Canola and Evan Huffman (Rally UHC Cycling). Velasco crossed the line 18 seconds behind the winner.

“Today I wanted to try and get the KOM jersey, which was the main goal of the day. Obviously, I tried to win the stage. It was a good day, nice to redeem myself a little bit after yesterday,” said McCormick, who was leading Stage 4 in Salt Lake City on Friday and posted one lap early to fall four minutes behind the eventual winner. On Saturday, he claimed the Utah Office of Tourism King of the Mountain jersey.

Belgian Ben Hermans of Israel Cycling Academy retained his Larry H. Miller Group of Companies Leader’s yellow jersey by finishing safely in 16th place. With little change in the overall standings, Hermans holds a 46-second lead over James Piccoli (Elevate-KHS Pro Cycling), and a 1 minute, 10 second margin over Niklas Eg (Trek-Segafredo). Finishing in 14th place, João Almeida (Hagens Berman Axeon) moved up one spot in sixth overall and retained the WCF Insurance Best Young Rider jersey. Morton’s teammate and 2015 Tour of Utah champion Joe Dombrowski moved up from sixth to fifth in the G.C.

Stage 5 presented by University of Utah Health started and finished in Canyons Village at Park City Mountain. The breakaway escaped early from the 101-rider field and pushed the gap to over four minutes as they raced pass Rockport Reservoir. The move included Morton, Velasco, Canola, Huffman, Bernat Font Mas (303 Project), Matt Zimmer (DC Bank Pro Cycling Team), Michael Rice (Hagens Berman Axeon), Travis McCabe (Worthy Pro Cycling), and two Team BridgeLane riders, McCormick and Dylan Sunderland. The last rider to join the move, Sam Boardman (Wildlife Generation Pro Cycling) has to chase a 90-second deficit before connecting after the second KOM.

With McCormick the highest-placed rider on G.C. at 13 minutes and 59 seconds down, the Israel Cycling Academy was quite happy to let the break go up the road.

“I wasn’t feeling very good the first few days of this race,” Morton said. “But then last night, all of a sudden it just clicked and all of a sudden I was thinking I feel really good. So in the team meeting, [team director] Fabrizio said I could try for the breakaway so I just went with everything. We didn’t just roll away, we kept a really hard pace for 15 k[ilometers] or so, until they just gave up on us. We were left with 10. I just felt really good all day. When you get into breakaway situations, sometimes when you feel pretty good is when you make mistakes because you try to do too much. So I thought I’ll go one time on the hill, pick my moment, just get me to the top. I’m not super punchy but I can sustain a decent pace,.”

Having missed the move, Brendan Rhim (Arapahoe l Hincapie) gave chase but never made much headway before sitting up to rejoin the field.

With 20 kilometers to go, the gap was still holding at over four minutes but the cooperation stared to disintegrate. With 13 kilometers to go, Sunderland attacked the break and grew his gap to 20 sec in four kilometers. Behind him, no one was willing to give chase. Then, with 8 kilometers to go, Morton attacked on the left side of the road, riding in the dirt. McCormick, McCade and Canola jumped on his wheel. So Morton hit it again and this time, only McCormick was able to cover his acceleration.

“The BridgeLane guys played it really smart, and as I would expect from an Australian team, they’re always pretty cagey. So my only play was to try to get rid of one of them before the top, and just take one to the line. That’s how it played out,” added Morton.

Not long after, Morton with McCormick on his wheel caught and passed Sunderland. Behind them, after a look of looking at each other, Huffman started to give chase. He was joined by Velasco and Canola but the trio never closed the gap.

Meanwhile, under pressure by the Rally UHC Cycling team, the peloton shattered on the steep slopes of the final KOM. Kyle Murphy (Rally UHC Cycling) upped the pace with Piccoli and Hermans on his wheel. Then,Keegan Swirbul and his Worthy teammate Serghei Tvetcov followed Almeida attacked before cresting, looking to gain a few seconds in the G.C. which they did. Showing complete control, Hermans managed to get a few seconds on Piccoli and Eg.

McCormick is planning another day in the break to defend his KOM jersey, though he admits it will be difficult “It will be hard to be honest,” he said. “I have to loop at the points but it wouldn’t surprise me if Ben [Hermans] took it. I’ll try my best to keep and I’ll probably have to go in the breakaway.”

In his third day in a breakaway, McCabe collected top points in the two intermediate sprints and finished 10th on the stage to solidify his lead in the Utah Sports Commission Sprint jersey competition. Kevin Vermaerke (USA) of Hagens Berman Axeon was voted the America First Credit Union Fan Favorite, in the category of Most Promising Rookie.

Morton Wins the Sprint – Video by Bill Johnson:

Stage 6 presented by Utah Sports Commission brings back the overall finish to Park City on Sunday, Aug. 18. It is the 10th year Park City has served as a host city, and seventh time it will host the final stage of the Tour. The 78.2-mile (125.9-kilometer) route will pass through Kamas and Midway before the final attacks on the unrelenting asphalt of Empire Pass, encountering road pitches of 10 to 20 percent. The hors categorie (above category) summit of Empire Pass is the final KOM and the highest point of the race for the week, at 9,700 feet above sea level. A blistering descent down Marsac Avenue leads to the finish in front of historically massive crowds along Upper Main Street in Park City.

RESULTS AND STANDINGS

 Stage 5 presented by University of Utah Health- Top 10

1. MORTON Lachlan (AUS) EF EDUCATION FIRST 3:05:54
2. MCCORMICK Hayden (NZL) TEAM BRIDGELANE 3:05:54 +0:00:00
3. VELASCO Simone (ITA) NERI SOTTOLI SELLE ITALIA KTM 3:06:12 +0:00:18
4. CANOLA Marco (ITA) NIPPO-VINI FANTINI-FAIZANE’ 3:06:12 +0:00:18
5. HUFFMAN Evan (USA) RALLY UHC CYCLING 3:06:12 +0:00:18
6. SUNDERLAND Dylan (AUS) TEAM BRIDGELANE 3:06:20 +0:00:26
7. RICE Michael (AUS) HAGENS BERMAN AXEON 3:06:23 +0:00:29
8. BOARDMAN Samuel (USA) WILDLIFE GENERATION PRO CYCLING P/B MAXXIS 3:06:23 +0:00:29
9. ZIMMER Matthew (USA) DC BANK PRO CYCLING TEAM 3:06:25 +0:00:31
10. FONT MAS Bernat (ESP) 3O3 PROJECT 3:06:43 +0:00:49

GENERAL CLASSIFICATION (After Stage 5)

1. HERMANS Ben (BEL) ISRAEL CYCLING ACADEMY 15:34:34
2. PICCOLI James (CAN) ELEVATE-KHS PRO CYCLING 15:35:20 +0:00:46
3. EG Niklas (DEN) TREK-SEGAFREDO 15:35:44 +0:01:10
4. MURPHY Kyle (USA) RALLY UHC CYCLING 15:36:22 +0:01:48
5. DOMBROWSKI Joseph Lloyd (USA) EF EDUCATION FIRST 15:36:42 +0:02:08
6. ALMEIDA João (POR) HAGENS BERMAN AXEON 15:37:08 +0:02:34
7. STETINA Peter (USA) TREK-SEGAFREDO 15:37:21 +0:02:47
8. CRADDOCK Lawson (USA) EF EDUCATION FIRST 15:37:44 +0:03:10
9. BRITTON Robert (CAN) RALLY UHC CYCLING 15:38:27 +0:03:53
10. BADILATTI Matteo (SUI) ISRAEL CYCLING ACADEMY 15:38:49 +0:04:15

AWARD JERSEYS

• Larry H. Miller Group of Companies Overall leader – Ben Hermans (BEL) of Israel Cycling Academy
• Utah Sports Commission Sprint leader – Travis McCabe (USA) of Worthy Pro Cycling
• Utah Office of Tourism King of the Mountain – Hayden McCormick (NZL) of Team BridgeLane
• WCF Insurance Best Young Rider – João Almeida (POR) of Hagens Berman Axeon
• Larry H. Miller Dealerships Most Aggressive Rider – Lachlan Morton (AUS) of EF Education First
• America First Credit Union Fan Favorite – Kevin Vermaerke (USA) of Hagens Berman Axeon

FULL RESULTS
2019 Larry H. Miller Tour of Utah Stage 5 – Canyons Village at Park City Mountain – presented by University of Utah Healthcare