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2015 Tour of Utah Stage 6: Dombrowski triumphs on Snowbird to seize yellow

August 8, 2015
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American rider Joe Dombrowski, about to race his first Grand Tour for Cannondale-Garmin at the Vuelta a España, won on Saturday’s first mountain summit finish of the 2015 Tour of Utah. Dombrowski’s herculean effort on the climb to Snowbird Ski and Summer Resort earned him the yellow jersey with one stage left.

Three riders started up the early climb, the Cat. 4 Little Mountain, in the lead. Canadian Rob Britton (SmartStop) was part of the trio, as was climber’s jersey holder Greg Daniel (USA/Axeon), who rolled over the crest first. A chase bolstered the breakaway to 12-riders, but Daniel still held off challengers and took the maximum KOM points on the Cat. 3 Big Mountain.

With 71-km to go the dozen raiders held 3:55 over the Airgas-Safeway and Drapac-led peloton. There were two big climbs to go: Cat. 1 Guardsman Pass and the 13.7-km HC haul up Snowbird. Escapee Sonny Colbrelli (Italy/Bardiani-CSF) took his second intermediate sprint of the day before the race headed up the Guardsman proper.

Once the grade bit, the breakaway started to crumble. UnitedHealthcare and Jelly Belly put themselves in charge of pace-making in the peloton. Jelly Belly’s pace streamlined the peloton, before Colombia took control. Up ahead, the escape kept losing numbers. With the Guardsman peak around 1.5-km away, BMC fugitive Joey Rosskopf’s pace shelled out more breakmates. Roffkopf summitted with Britton on his wheel and the peloton 50-seconds away.

The duo became a trio on the long, gradual downhill leading to the foot of the Snowbird climb, as Ben King (USA/Cannondale-Garmin) got on level terms. Colombia’s labours had brought the gap down to 35-seconds at the beginning of the final grind.

With 8-km to go Joe Dombrowski (USA/Cannondale-Garmin) bridged to teammate Ben King. Frank Schleck (Luxembourg/Trek), Rob Squire (USA/Hincapie) and race leader Michael Woods (Canada/Optum) grabbed onto the green argyles. Schleck was the last man that Dombrowski dropped with 7-km to go. Runner-up over the past two seasons, Chris Horner (USA/Airgas) bridged to the chase persuing Dombrowski.

With 4-km remaining, the Cannondale-Garmin rider was 40-seconds ahead of Woods, giving the American the yellow jersey on the road. Dombrowski kept increasing his gap and “Rusty” Woods came in runner-up 1:16 behind the day’s winner. Woods sits second by 50-seconds.

Sunday is the conclusion of the Tour of Utah. The brutal HC Empire Pass climb peaks 6-km from the finish line in Park City.

2015 Tour of Utah Stage 6
1) Joe Dombrowski (USA/Cannondale-Garmin)
2) Michael Woods (Canada/Optum) +1:16
3) Natnael Berhane (Eritrea/MTN-Qhubeka) s.t.

2015 Tour of Utah GC
1) Joe Dombrowski (USA/Cannondale-Garmin) 24:51:36
2) Michael Woods (Canada/Optum) +0:50
3) Frank Schleck (Luxembourg/Trek) +1:07