July 26/10 11:57 am - Cascade Classic: Men Stage 5 results and final GC

Posted by Editoress on 07/26/10
 

Strong teamwork brings Cascade overall title home for Sutherland

For the second consecutive month, Rory Sutherland of the UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling Team Presented by Maxxis has won the overall title of a major U.S. stage race. Last month, Sutherland won the Nature Valley Grand Prix in dramatic fashion, with his teammates launching him to a final-stage, final-lap attack that earned the win. This week, Sutherland took the lead of the Cascade Classic on the second day of the six-day race, and again benefited from tremendous teamwork to hold it until the final stage today.

“The guys did a great job of defending the lead for five days,” Sutherland said. “Today was a really fast day. It was raced hard by a lot of other teams. When you see your teammates working so hard, it pushes you that extra bit to finish things off and pay off their hard work. I’m really proud to be a part of this team. We’ve come to expect this kind of work from these guys, but today they really went above and beyond.”

The Team definitely had their work cut out for them today. Holding only a 0:20 lead on V Australia’s Ben Day, and just 0:55 on Day’s teammate, Darren Lill, the race was by no means over with a hot and hilly Aubrey Butte Circuit Race on tap to close out this edition of the Classic. Both Lill and Day were active all day, but it was Bissell’s Rob Britton, sitting 1:40 down, who ended up posing the biggest threat to Sutherland’s title.

“The Team did a great job of keeping things together early until we could get a break going that had the right mix so we could let it go,” said Team Directeur Sportif Gord Fraser. “A break of five guys with the closest guy five minutes down got off the front and we gave them a bit of leash. But we maybe didn’t give them enough because Britton was able to get across to it with two other guys.”

This boosted the break to eight, with two riders each from Bissell and V Australia, and Brad White representing UnitedHealthcare Presented by Maxxis. With White sitting on, the break extended it’s lead out to 2:40, putting Britton in the virtual race lead.

“There were definitely a few sticky moments out there when the gap got out a bit,” Sutherland said. “But we stayed calm and got the job done.”

Behind, Andrew Pinfold, Morgan Schmitt, Matt Crane, Chris Baldwin and Max Jenkins were riding tempo, slowly reeling in the move.

“Our plan was to bring the break back by the base of the final climb, which came with about six or seven kilometers to go,” Fraser said. “But the 100-degree heat was taking its toll on the guys, so when Britton got up to the break, we had Brad drop back to the bunch to help out with the chase. All the guys definitely paid the price because of the heat.”

But their efforts weren’t wasted. By the base of the final climb, the break was back in the fold. And though Sutherland was left without teammates at that point, he was still fresh from having been able to sit in for most of the stage. But Lill and Day weren’t going down without a fight. Lill attacked on the final climb and crested with a 0:15 advantage with about 5 km to go to the finish. Sutherland didn’t panic. He kept an eye on Day – a more immediate threat – and let the still sizable pack take care of Lill, with other riders upping the tempo to have a crack at the stage win.

A group of 20 came into the final kilometer to contest the win. With 1 km to go, Alex Dowsett (Trek Livestrong) put in an attack that turned out to be the winner. With the overall title pretty well sealed up, Sutherland opted not to mix it up in a potentially dicey sprint. He came across the line safely in the group and victory was his.

“We couldn’t have asked for any more from the guys today,” Fraser added. “Everyone was 100 percent committed to defending the jersey. It was an exceptional team win, and the first time this team has won the Classic in five years. So we’re going to celebrate a little with our host families, the Beards and the Salls, and enjoy this one.”

UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling Team Presented by Maxxis press release