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2016 Tour of Alberta Stage 5: Robin Carpenter wins 4th edition

Francisco Mancebo takes final stage victory

Robin Carpenter
September 5, 2016
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Robin Carpenter
In the final stage of the 2016 Tour of Alberta, Robin Carpenter (USA/Holowesko-Citadel) held on to win the stage race. Photo credit: Oran Kelly

Robin Carpenter (USA/Holowesko-Citadel) held onto his one second lead over 2015 champion Bauke Mollema to earn the biggest stage race victory of his career. Carpenter, who has had stage wins in the Tour of Utah and USA Pro Challenge, finished eighth on the day, while eight-time Grand Tour top-10 placer Francisco Mancebo (Spain/Skydive Dubai) took the stage triumph in Edmonton.

The final day of the fourth Tour of Alberta consisted of 11-laps of the 11.9-km downtown Edmonton circuit.


Straight away a break of 14-riders, including two Canadians from Silber, pulled away from the pack on Lap 1. The first of three KOM points was situated at the top of Bellamy Hill on Lap 3. There, polka dot jersey holder Danilo Celano (Italy/Vita Selle) increased his lead over Mattieu Jeannes (France/Lupus Racing) with the fugitives 1:40 ahead of the Trek-Segafredo-led peloton. Travis McCabe (USA/Holowesko-Citadel) was the fastest through the first intermediate sprint at the end of Lap 4.


Lap 6 was the setting for the second KOM, once more with Celano outclimbing Jeannes and nailing down the competiiton. Holowesko-Citadel began to whittle away at the fugitives’ lead. With laps remaining a trio tried to bridge over. McCabe also took the second intermediate sprint.

Meanwhile, there was plenty of slicing and dicing in the field, even before the catch. Ryder Hesjedal and a teammate attacked on the last KOM climb of Bellamy Hill. The breakaway crumbled, with former Grand Tour-threat Mancebo and David Drouin (Canada/Silber) scooting away. They received a reinforcement with 21-km to go.

Leading into the final lap, the trio held only 20-seconds over the rampaging peloton. A bridging move made a quintet heading onto the last ascent of Bellamy Hill. Mancebo made his move in the final kilometre and held off a crash-scattered peloton to take his first win since 2013.

Fourth place made H&R Block’s Peter Disera the best Canadian on Monday’s stage, while Alexander Cataford retained the red jersey for best Canadian on GC in fifth. There were three Canadians in the final top-10.

Carpenter is the first non-WorldTour rider to win the Tour of Alberta.


2016 Tour of Alberta Stage 5
1) Francisco Mancebo (Spain/Skydive Dubai) 2:46:01
2) Kristoffer Skjerping (Norway/Cannondale-Drapac) +0:04
3) Colin Joyce (USA/Axeon Hagen Bermans) s.t.
4) Peter Disera (Canada/H&R Block) s.t.

2016 Tour of Alberta Final GC
1) Robin Carpenter (USA/Holowesko-Citadel) 13:35:30
2) Bauke Mollema (The Netherlands/Trek-Segafredo) +0:01
3) Evan Huffman (USA/Rally) +0:07
5) Alexander Cataford (Canada/Silber) +0:32