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Britton is the King of Utah, Canola wins Salt Lake City circuit stage

Conquering America's Toughest Stage Race is biggest victory of Canadian's career

Rob Britton on the Tour of Utah podium.
August 6, 2017
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What a Sunday it was for Canadian road riders. First William Elliot of Team RaceClean took the Tour de Namur title in Belgium, and then Rob Britton became the first Canadian to win America’s Toughest Stage Race, the Tour of Utah. Rally’s ace defended his yellow jersey on Stage 7’s circuits around Salt Lake City. Marco Canola (Nippo-Vini Fantini) made it two wins in a row for Italian Pro-Continental teams with an late uphill surge.


The route was 11 laps of Salt Lake City, with the start and finish on the capitol’s east side. There were intermediate sprints on Laps 3 and 7 and bonus seconds at the line.
https://twitter.com/BMCProTeam/status/894234114366287872
Action was frantic right from the starting flag. One break failed while another succeeded, receiving reinforcements over a couple of laps. The only non-Canadian on Silber, American Stephen Bassett, and Cylance’s Kyle Murphy were among the escapees.
https://twitter.com/CylanceCycling/status/894283668189048832
Lorenzo Rota (Italy/Bardiani-CSF) took the first intermediate sprint. Travis McCabe and a UnitedHealthcare teammate were in the break to protect McCabe’s points classification lead. He all but secured the white sprinter’s jersey by taking the second intermediate sprint. Only a win by second place Canola would stop McCabe.

The breakaway split and reformed, and chasers became escapees as the peloton kept the leading groups close and the constant climbing and descending took its toll.

Two riders, Murphy and Albanian Redi Halilaj (Amore & Vitale) led into the final lap. Halilaj then dropped Murphy. Manuel Senni (Italy/BMC) was the last rider to make a bid for glory. But all of Rally, Caja Rural and Israel Cycling Academy meant that the race came back together with 2-km to go.


Canola put in an incredible burst in the final 500-km to take the win with time for an exuberant celebration.
https://twitter.com/wcstats/status/894313938535550977
Britton finished two-seconds behind Canola with five others. It’s a huge win for Britton and Rally, a team that aspires to move up to Pro Continental status next season.

Tour of Utah Stage 6
1) Marco Canola (Italy/Nippo-Vini Fantini) 2:40:18
2) Brent Bookwalter (USA/BMC) +0:02
3) Gavin Mannion (USA/UnitedHealthcare) s.t.

Tour of Utah Final GC
1) Rob Britton (Canada/Rally Cycling)
2) Gavin Mannion (USA/UnitedHealthcare) +0:26
3) Serghei Tvetcov (Romania/Jelly Belly) +0:32