2018 Tour of Utah Stage 1 Results & Recap
Stage 1 of the 2018 Tour of Utah is in the books. The final results and standings are below, followed by our recap of how the race unfolded.
Race Recap
McCabe wins stage 1 of the Tour of Utah\nBy Clara Beard
Travis McCabe (UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling) took his third career win at the Tour of Utah out of a frenetic sprint into Cedar City. The former US criterium champion handily took victory ahead of Ulises Castillo (Jelly Belly Maxxis) and Edwin Avila (Israel Cycling Academy).
Brent Bookwalter (BMC) finished fourth and Kiel Reijnen (Trek Segafredo took fifth place.
McCabe’s victory bumped him up to second overall, behind race leader Tejay van Garderen (BMC) by two seconds. Joey Rosskopf (BMC) is sitting third at four seconds.
A hot and challenging 168.3 km of racing awaited the riders in Cedar City, with most teams looking to be a part of the break of the day. That eagerness caused the breakaway to form after about 20 kilometres, with Evan Huffman (Rally) instigating a move that saw Daan Olivier (LottoNL-Jumbo), George Simpson (Elevate-KHS) and Lionel Mawditt (Jelly Belly-Maxxis) bridge up to join the two time stage winner of the Tour of California.
Aevolo and mobius BridgeLane were disappointed about missing the move, and continued to drive the peloton, but it was too late. BMC amassed at the front and followed every move.
On the first categorized climb, the Cat. 1 Cedar Breaks ascent which brought the riders to the highest summit of the tour, the gap had extended to more than five minutes. Mawditt won the maximum points, followed by Olivier.
The four escapees continued on together, their advantage slowly dropping thanks to BMC and Trek Segafredo. When the break hit the second climb to Bristlecone, Olivier dropped his breakaway companions and forged ahead alone.
With about 15 kilometres remaining and the gap down to just 20 seconds, Luis Lemus (Israel Cycling Academy) attacked out of the peloton, passed Olivier but was eventually caught by the time the peloton hit the final three circuits in Cedar City.
From there, the race was on for the sprinters. Despite a disorganized run in to the finish, McCabe was just too strong for his rivals and won the race by a bike length.
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