Hermans Takes Dramatic Stage 3; Extends Tour of Utah Lead

By Lyne Lamoureux – NORTH SALT LAKE, Utah (August 15, 2019) – Using the final kilometer as a launch pad, Ben Hermans of Israel Cycling Academy accelerated away from his main competitors for a masterful solo victory on Stage 3 presented by BYUtv Thursday at the Larry H. Miller Tour of Utah. The Belgian claimed his second stage victory in two days in a time of 3 hours and 20 seconds, and increased his overall lead in the seven-day event, known as “America’s Toughest Stage Race.”

Photo Galleries:

• 2019 Tour of Utah Stages 2 & 3 Gallery by Steven Sheffield
• 2019 Tour of Utah Photo Essay by Cathy Fegan-Kim
• 2019 Tour of Utah Stage 3 Gallery by Dave Richards

Biding his time on the tough 85.9-mile (138.3 kilometer) course, Hermans used the steep incline on the third and final finishing circuit in North Salt Lake to launch his attack. He quickly caught and passed the final two riders up the road, Kyle Murphy of Rally UHC Cycling and Lawson Craddock of EF Education First, to continue alone to the finish line.

“Our team was under pressure, but we never lost control of the race. Our team was really strong and I didn’t have to do much until the last kilometer. On the last kilometer, I made a good attack for 30 seconds and I could make a gap. This was enough for a stage win,” Hermans said. “I only was thinking about the win in the last kilometer. (In) the last two kilometers, I saw that all the guys were pretty empty and I still had really powerful legs.”

Murphy held on for second place, crossing the line seven seconds back. Niklas Eg of Trek-Segafredo was third, eight seconds behind Hermans.

“I wanted to win so bad, but Hermans is just a machine. I’m happy,” said Murphy, who was awarded the Larry H. Miller Dealerships Most Aggressive Rider jersey for his efforts.

The fourth day of racing provided bright sunshine with unrelenting high temperatures and 5,895 feet of elevation gain. Stage 3 presented by BYUtv started at Antelope Island State Park, which sits on the largest island in the Great Salt Lake. Fast and furious racing marked the first half of the race with non-stop attacking. No group was able to establish a gap more than 15 seconds before being reeled back in by the field. Then an hour into the race, a massive group of 20 riders managed to escape and quickly grew their gap to 40 seconds. Immediately, Israel Cycling Academy massed at the front of the field to control the move.

“You always have to think that if you are in this situation, in a front group with 20 riders, what would happen? I was many times there with 20 riders and nobody wants to pull. Everybody is looking at each other so you know that they’re going to slow down. If we just chase, they’re going to come back,” Hermans said. “And suddenly we got help from the team of Piccoli because they wanted bonus seconds for the win. From this moment, I knew that it was easier to control. For sure, my team mates had to do a lot of work there, it’s not easy to chase a group of 20.”

With the help of Elevate-KHS Pro Cycling, the dangerous was re-absorbed five miles later. Counter-attacks flew off the front immediately led by the Rally UHC Cycling team. Finally at the halfway mark, the break was established. The move included Alex Howes (EF Education First), Lorenzo Fortunato (Neri Sottoli-Selle Italia-KTM), Nigel Ellsay (Rally UHC Cycling), Travis McCabe (Worthy Pro Cycling) and Marco Canola (NIPPO-Vini Fantini-Faizanè). A few miles later, Hayden McCormick (Team BridgeLane) bridged across to make it six riders up the road

Happy with the combination, Israel Cycling Academy settled in at the front of the field and let the break go. The gap went up to two minutes with 32 miles to go bringing Elevate-KHS Pro Cycling back to the front. Hermans and his team were happy to let them do the hard work of setting tempo.

The gap hovered around the two minute mark as the break entered the first of three very difficult finishing circuits. Every time around the circuit which included the punishing Eagle Ridge climb, the high pace set by Piccoli and his team dispatched more riders off the back. Hermans was happy to sit on Piccoli’s wheel and watch.

Inside of 15 kilometers to go, the gap to the break was down to 25 seconds. Craddock made the first decisive attack from the shattered peloton, bringing Murphy with him. Not long after, the pair caught the three remaining riders in the break.

Piccoli set a fast pace the final time up Eagle Ridge climb but was not able to drop Hermans. It was Hermans who launched the final attack to drop his closest challenger in the General Classification, James Piccoli (CAN) of Elevate-KHS Pro Cycling, then catch and pass Craddock and Murphy for the win.

“I didn’t know this rider before but from my teammates I heard that he is very punchy, explosive so when he went and the first minute he could not drop me, I was pretty confident that he couldn’t drop me afterwards,” Hermans said of Piccoli’s acceleration. “So in the second part of the climb, I just waited my moment and I attacked him to gap him again and to get a little bit more advantage in the general classification.”

How hard was today’s stage? “Hard, hot, fast, disgusting, steep,” Murphy replied. “We rode awesome. Everyone was all over this bike race. We had Nigel in the break. Gavin [Mannion] crashed and he was still an MVP teammate. We had ice and water when no one else did. We rocked it”

Hermans increased his lead in the General Classification (G.C.) to 44 seconds over Piccoli, and 1 minute and 6 seconds on Eg. Murphy moved up two spots to fourth overall, 1 minute and 46 seconds down. Finishing 10th on the stage, João Almeida (POR) of Hagens Berman Axeon, remained in seventh overall, and retained the WCF Insurance Best Young Rider jersey.

“It’s not in the pocket, there are three stages to go. You can always have bad luck or a bad moment,” Hermans stated. “For the moment, it looks really good. I never underestimate my contenders. I will still have to look at Piccoli.”

Howes chased and captured all three KOM of the day to claim the Utah Office of Tourism King of the Mountain jersey.

“It was pretty flat the first part of the stage. It was super fast. We were coming off the island just ripping along. You could tell that a lot of people wanted to be in the breakaway,” said Howes, who was wearing the Stars-and-Stripes jersey for the first time this summer as U.S. Pro Road Race National Champion. “Our team in particular, we wanted to put a little bit of pressure on Israel Cycling Academy and make sure that Ben was really up to snuff to hold the jersey, and he certainly seems to be.”

Finishing sixth on the stage, Craddock claimed the Utah Sports Commission Sprint leader jersey. The American was hunting for his first pro stage win, and his team is trying to get him to the top of the podium.

“We’re really trying to get that here,” Craddock’s team mate Howes explained. “We tried hard the first stage, we tried today. But we’ve been knocking on that door, he’s been second, he’s been fifth. First is right around the corner, we’re just looking for the corner.”

A four-time stage winner in Utah, Travis McCabe (USA) of Worthy Pro Cycling, was voted the America First Credit Union Fan Favorite in the Best Sprinter category.

Stage 4 presented by America First Credit Union returns to downtown Salt Lake City for the 12th time in Tour history on Friday. The traditional circuit course is back for a third time with the start/finish line on East Capitol Boulevard next to the Utah State Capitol. The peloton will make eight circuits on Friday, beginning at 5:55 p.m. MT.

RESULTS AND STANDINGS

 Stage 3 p/b BYUtv – Top 10

1. HERMANS Ben (BEL) ISRAEL CYCLING ACADEMY 3:20:27
2. MURPHY Kyle (USA) RALLY UHC CYCLING 3:20:34 +0:00:07
3. EG Niklas (DEN) TREK-SEGAFREDO 3:20:35 +0:00:08
4. SWIRBUL Keegan (USA) WORTHY PRO CYCLING 3:20:35 +0:00:08
5. PICCOLI James (CAN) ELEVATE-KHS PRO CYCLING 3:20:35 +0:00:08
6. CRADDOCK Lawson (USA) EF EDUCATION FIRST 3:20:38 +0:00:11
7. DOMBROWSKI Joseph Lloyd (USA) EF EDUCATION FIRST 3:20:48 +0:00:21
8. BADILATTI Matteo (SUI) ISRAEL CYCLING ACADEMY 3:21:03 +0:00:36
9. BOWDEN Scott (AUS) TEAM BRIDGELANE 3:21:03 +0:00:08
10. ALMEIDA João (POR) HAGENS BERMAN AXEON 3:21:09 +0:00:42

GENERAL CLASSIFICATION (After Stage 3)

1. HERMANS Ben (BEL) ISRAEL CYCLING ACADEMY 10:30:24
2. PICCOLI James (CAN) ELEVATE-KHS PRO CYCLING 10:31:08 +0:00:44
3. EG Niklas (DEN) TREK-SEGAFREDO 10:31:30 +0:01:06
4. MURPHY Kyle (USA) RALLY UHC CYCLING 10:32:10 +0:01:46
5. STETINA Peter (USA) TREK-SEGAFREDO 10:32:26 +0:02:02
6. DOMBROWSKI Joseph Lloyd (USA) EF EDUCATION FIRST 10:32:28 +0:02:04
7. ALMEIDA João (POR) HAGENS BERMAN AXEON 10:33:02 +0:02:38
8. BRITTON Robert (CAN) RALLY UHC CYCLING 10:33:36 +0:03:12
9. CRADDOCK Lawson (USA) EF EDUCATION FIRST 10:33:41 +0:03:17
10. BADILATTI Matteo (SUI) ISRAEL CYCLING ACADEMY 10:34:08 +0:03:44

AWARD JERSEYS

• Larry H. Miller Group of Companies Overall leader – Ben Hermans (BEL) of Israel Cycling Academy
• Utah Sports Commission Sprint leader – Lawson Craddock (USA), EF Education First
• Utah Office of Tourism King of the Mountain- Alex Howes (USA), EF Education First
• WCF Insurance Best Young Rider – João Almeida (POR) of Hagens Berman Axeon
• Larry H. Miller Dealerships Most Aggressive Rider – Kyle Murphy (USA), Rally UHC Cycling
• America First Credit Union Fan Favorite – Travis McCabe (USA), Worthy Pro Cycling

2019 Larry H. Miller Tour of Utah Stage 3 – Antelope Island to North Salt Lake – presented by BYU TV & BYU Radio