Rally Cycling caps 2017 Tour of the Gila with GC win

Evan Huffman of Rally Cycling claimed the Tour of the Gila General Classification victory in the five day event, retaining the leader’s jersey on the final day of racing, a stage known as the Gila Monster.

“Today went perfectly,” said Huffman. “We put on a massive display of strength as a team, controlling the race from start to finish. There were some significant attacks from general classification rivals, but I just stayed calm and leaned on my teammates to ride them back. We had a numbers advantage coming into the finish with four out of eight in the lead group. We kept the pace high to discourage attacks, and the result is the biggest win of my career!”

The stage five victory went to Jhonatan Navaez of the Axeon Hagens Berman team, ahead of Serghei Tvetcov of Jelly Belly p/b Maxxis, and Gavin Mannion of UnitedHealthcare.

Canadian Adam De Vos of Rally Cycling crossed in fourth place on the stage just three seconds back from the winners. Huffman finished sixth, and Rob Britton, another Canadian racing for Rally Cycling finished seventh to claim the King of the Mountains jersey overall.

In the women’s race, it was UnitedHealthcare that showcased a strong performance. Tayler Wiles took the leader’s jersey on stage two, and maintained her consistency through the entire event, earning the GC victory at the end of the tour.

On the final day of the tour, UnitedHealthcare locked up the stage podium results, Katharine Hall winning the stage ahead of Wiles, and Ruth Winder taking the third spot.

Lex Albrecht was the fastest Canadian on the day, racing for Tibco – Silicon Valley Bank to a seventh place result. The result bumped Albrecht two spots higher in the GC overall, finishing 12th.

From the first stage of the five day Tour of the Gila, Rally Cycling illustrated the strength of its roster. Huffman took the lear’s jersey on day three with a winning time trial, taking it from teammate and Canadian Matteo Dal-Cin, who won the opening stage and defended the jersey on the second day of racing. A Rally Cycling rider won every stage but the final, and five men placed in the top ten of the General Classification following Sunday’s finale.

The women’s team was also impressive. Canadian Sara Bergen was in the top five over the first two days, but a crash in the time trial on day three resulted in a broken collarbone and retirement from the event. Emma White won the criterium on stage four.

The Tour of the Gila offers insight into potential performances at the Tour of California,May 11-20, 2017.