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Boivin the best placed of thirteen Canadians in Stage 1 of the Tour of Utah

American Ty Magner takes the race's opener in Logan

The 13th edition of the Tour of Utah kicked off in Logan on Monday, where Holowesko-Citadel nabbed a tight sprint win to wear first yellow leader’s jersey. Canadian Guillaume Boivin raced to the best place out of 13 Canadians in 6th.
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One more Canuck lined up in Logan for the first stage than last year. Again Silber provided the largest Canadian contingent. Rob Britton, fifth overall last season, headed up Rally’s drive.

The pressure was on BMC to succeed, as it was the only WorldTour team in the mix, after four WT squads last year and three in 2015. BMC’s American Brent Bookwalter was one of the favourites to win the race.

Stage 1 was a 211-km out and back from Logan that traveled into Idaho, around Bear Lake and twice clambered up the Cat. 3 Logan Canyon climb.
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It wasn’t until the first ascent of Logan Canyon that a breakaway was allowed to form. The fugitive bunch kept receiving reinforcements until there were 10 riders. Tyler Williams of Boivin’s Israel Cycling Academy was first over and by the reverse slope the breakaway’s gap was almost 6-minutes. The first intermediate sprint came at the Idaho state line and there Jelly Belly’s Joshua Berry took 3-bonus seconds.


Back in the peloton, BMC, Rally and UnitedHealthcare worked at the front. Berry put himself in a great position by nicking the second intermediate sprint as well. On the second ascent of Logan Canyon, Miguel Angel Benito (Spain/Caja Rural) crested in the lead.

With 43-seconds to go the lead was down to 2:25 and the break was down to five. The last riders to surrender did so with 8-km and two laps of Logan remaining. Jelly Belly, Axeon, Rally and Holowesko all scrapped at the front in the streets.

Magner emerged from a messy sprint to take the big win by the narrowest of margins and now leads runner-up Christopher Lawless (Great Britain/Axeon Hagens Berman) and Berry by four-seconds in the GC.

Tuesday’s stage features a summit finish at Snowbasin Resort.


2017 Tour of Utah Stage 1

1) Ty Magner (USA/Holowesko-Citadel Racing Team) 4:56:49
2) Christopher Lawless (USA/Axeon Hagens Berman) s.t.
3) Travis McCabe (USA/UnitedHealthcare) s.t.
6) Guillaume Boivin (Canada/Israel Cycling Academy) s.t.

2017 Tour of Utah GC

1) Ty Magner (USA/Holowesko-Citadel Racing Team) 4:56:40
2) Christopher Lawless (Great Britain/Axeon Hagens Berman) +0:04
3) Joshua Berry (USA/Jelly Belly) s.t.