Sagan takes two at Tour of Alberta
Peter Sagan (Cannondale) secured his second consecutive win at the Tour of Alberta during the first stage, which finished in a bunch sprint in Camrose. He outpaced Eric Young (Optum presented by Kelly Benefit Strategies), Moreno Hofland (Belkin) and Canada’s Ryan Anderson (Optum presented by Kelly Benefit Strategies).
“My team did a very good job,” Sagan said. “We were on the front all day right from the start. I remained alone for the sprint but my team did the work. Eric [Young] started too early and I saw that, but I knew it was better for me.”
Sagan maintained his lead in the overall classification ahead of Rohan Dennis (Garmin-Sharp) and Tobias Ludvigsson (Argos-Shimano).
Sagan is also leading the sprint and best young rider competitions; Tom Jelte Slagter (Belkin) is leading the king of the mountain competition; Ryder Hesjedal (Garmin-Sharp) is leading the best Canadian rider competition; and Jeremy Powers (Jelly Belly presented by Kenda) earned the day’s most aggressive rider jersey.
The first stage of the Tour of Alberta kicked off in Strathcona County, northeast of Edmonton. The men raced for 158 km that include two intermediate sprints in Fort Saskatchewan at 27 km into the stage and in Ardrossan at 60 km into the race, before finishing on circuits in Camrose.
Simon Geschke (Argos-Shimano) won the first sprint. Shortly after, a four-man move got off the front of the field that included Powers, Jeremy Vennell (Bissell), Marc Goos (Belkin) and William Clarke (Argos-Shimano). They held a two-minute gap over the main field. Clarke picked up first-place points in the second intermediate sprint of the day.
“It was a hard day with four guys out front,” Powers said. “There was wind all day. We were leaking oil, so to speak, taking on lots of fluids. It was really nice to be out front all day. I spent last week with our mechanic and I told him I would lead every breakaway this week.”
The four riders started losing time as the race got closer to the finishing circuits. Sagan’s Cannondale teammates led the field for much of the race, but attacks coming from the field during the closing kilometres helped reel in the breakaway.
Clarke attacked his breakaway companions as they entered the finishing circuits. Goos followed but they were all caught with a lap and a half to go. “It was a hard effort out there alone,” Clarke said. “We worked really well together and kept it smooth but only four guys ahead of the whole peloton is a hard task. Peter [Sagan] is so strong. He can time trial and sprint, and we all have to race aggressively.”
Ryder Hesjedal attacked the field heading toward the finish line and raised his arms in the air, mistakenly thinking that he had won the race. Unfortunately there was still one lap to go.
Sagan tucked into the front end of the field through the final lap. Young started the sprint out of the last corner and over the hill toward the finish, however, Sagan passed him at the line.
Stage results:
- Peter Sagan (Cannondale)
- Eric Young (Optum presented by Kelly Benefit Strategies)
- Moreno Hofland (Belkin)
Overall results:
- Peter Sagan (Cannondale)
- Rohan Dennis (Garmin-Sharp) +0:00:23
- Tobias Ludvigsson (Argos-Shimano) +0:00:24
