June 16/13 0:00 am - Tour de Beauce: Stage 6 report and photos
Posted by Editoress on 06/16/13
Brown Wins Aggressive Tour de Beauce
The sixth and final stage of the Tour de Beauce, the very difficult circuit race in St. Georges, lived up to its reputation and delivered one of the most exciting finales in the 28th edition of the event. Nathan Brown (Bontrager) claimed the overall victory when he bridged up to the break with four laps to go in the 107 km stage.
“It's amazing. The team rode great all week and to finish it off is a great feeling.” Brown said of the biggest victory of his career, so far. “Got third at US Pro and second at U23 Liege so it's been a great year so far, I'm glad to top off the first part of the year with this.”
Only three seconds down in the general classification at the start of the stage, Brown along with other contenders Phil Deignan (UnitedHealthcare) and Christian Meier (Canadian National Team) escaped off the front. The move forced an isolated yellow jersey Francisco Mancebo (5-hr Energy) to give chase with Deignan's teammate Ben Day on his wheel.
“Christian attacked and Mancebo had no teammates left and I went across to him. Mancebo had no reaction and I was thinking 'wow this could be it'. We worked great together, everyone was working good. It got close so I knew that the last time up the climb, I had to punch it, I gave it everything I had and it paid off in the end.” Brown said.
Deignan finished second overall at 36 seconds down while Meier was third, at 44 seconds.
“Another hard day, it was a short very aggressive day and we know the circuit quite well from the past racing here.' said Meier who had to defend the yellow jersey of his then Symmetrics teammate Svein Tuft years ago. “5-hr Energy put up a good fight and did the best they could but in the end, I think that there were just too many guys out for GC today and unfortunate for them it was left to Paco in the end, on his own. You can follow so many moves but you can't follow them all and I think that's what happened in the end.”
Brown also added the best young rider title as well as the final points jersey to his victory.
Diego Milan Jimenez (Inteja) won the stage in a sprint from the breakaway ahead of Luis Amaran (Jamis-Hagens Berman). Lucas Euser (UnitedHealthcare) was third.
“The victory is very important for the team, it's a very small team and it's growing so this is a good opportunity for the team to start to grow.” said Jimenez through a translator.
How it unfolded
With only 10 laps around the technical circuit, attacks flew from the start of the race with UnitedHealthcare team leading the charge every time up the climb. The goal was simple, to make Mancebo's 5-Hr Energy team expand a lot of energy to cover the moves. A counter-move on the second lap launched sever riders off the front. The break included Nic Hamilton (Canadian National Team), Jason McCartney and Patrick McCarty (Bissell), Michael Woods (Garneau-Quebecor), Kirk Carlsen (H&R Block), Amaran, Euser and Jimenez
“I started the break, I got caught, I was in the break again, I kept working. I knew that I had to be up there today. I knew that I could present a big threat to 5-hr Energy being semi-close so they have to ride a little bit hard, the whole plan was just to send guys up the road. They were never going to let us go so that's the whole point, that's why this is a team sport, that's why it's so beautiful, it's not the individual.” Euser said.
Woods was the highest-placed overall, at two minutes and 23 seconds down while Euser was a further second down. While the 5-Hr Energy team set the pace at the front of the field, UnitedHealthcare attacked every time up the climb, applying even more pressure. The gap was held at around the one-minute mark for lap after lap, while a few short-lived chase riders emerged until Brown, Meier and Deignan made their move.
“It turned out that the race ended up being quite aggressive through mostly UnitedHealthcare and I was able to benefit from that. Followed a move with (Philip) Deignan and Nathan Brown, we went across to the breakaway and then, I had Nic Hamilton in the breakaway and he rode full gas. Lucas Euser from UHC rolled, all the guys that were going for the GC, Nathan Brown and Philip, everyone committed straight away and it was fantastic.” Meir said.
“Everybody was working well until the three GC guys came across.” explained Amaran on the tactics change.
Hamilton worked for Meier, Euser for Deignan and Brown for himself as they pushed the re-formed break. With three laps to go, the 11-riders had a 55 second lead on Mancebo who was not giving up. The next time up the climb. Mancebo gave a big dig, shattered the field and jumped away to chase solo with Day sitting on his wheel. He was able to reduce the gap down to 20 seconds but he couldn't quite close it and by the bell lap, the gap was back up to 45 seconds.
“When the guys knew that Mancebo was coming with Ben Day. Nate and Christian Meier went hard the last two laps to keep the gap.” Amaran explained.
Brown accelerated up the final time up the climb to seal the yellow jersey, now he only needed to finish safely as the rain started to come down.
“Coming into the final 3 kilometres, it started to sprinkle and all I was thinking about was stay safe, don't crash, don't crash so the guys hit at 500 to go and I just rode it in because I knew that I had enough time and I wasn't going to lose it.” Brown said with a smile.
The others in the break focused on the final sprint for the victory.
“The last lap, it was kind of easy for me because I let the responsibility for the GC guys. Nate did a very good job on the last climb and kept a very high pace. I knew that I had chances and finally I was lucky enough to get the victory.” Jimenez said.
McCarty won the King of the Mountain classification while the UnitedHealthcare squad took the overall team classification.
Euser concluded, “Third on final stage, we put a lot of guys on the podium this week, took the team classification and second overall, I think we have to be happy. You always want that win but I think that we have to be happy with this.”
Strong Canadian showing bodes well for Canadian National Championships
Canadians overall had a great showing at the Tour de Beauce, a stage win and a second place for Guillaume Boivin of the Canadian National Team, a second place for Antoine Duchesne (Bontrager) and two riders in the top 10 overall with Meier and Michael Woods (Garneau-Quebecor) in ninth overall.
The Canadian National Team raced aggressively throughout the stages, going for broke in Quebec City following Meier's flat in the time trial. For Meier and his teammates, it was fun to race with friends.
“A lot of these guys, Marsh, I used to race with him on Symmetrics, Nic Hamilton and Rob Britton are all from BC and we all raced together in the BC series and Superweek. It was kind of racing with a bunch of buddies this week which is pretty cool and everyone did a fantastic job and was really committed and it was really nice. Unfortunately we suffered some bad luck in the time trial, it was pretty cool to be able to ride back onto the podium in the last couple of stages, it was teammork that did it.”
“It will be an interesting national championships also because with the demise of Spidertech, you won't have 16 guys from one team lining up so it will be interesting. I haven't seen the new course yet this year, but I'm sure it will be challenging, Personally I think my pick would probably be Guillaume to be the guy to watch for the Championships.”
Report by Lyne Lamoureux
Results
| Stage 6: Saint-Georges circuit, 107 km | |
| 1 Diego M. Jimenez (Dom) Inteja, Dominican Cycling Team | 2:35:29 |
| 2 Luis Romero Amaran (Cub) Jamis Hagens Berman | |
| 3 Lucas Euser (USA) Unitedhealthcare Pro Cycling Team | |
| 4 Michael Woods (Can) Garneau-Quebecor | |
| 5 Jason Mccartney (USA) Bissel Pro Cycling | |
| 6 Philip Deignan (Irl) Unitedhealthcare Pro Cycling Team | |
| 7 Christian Meier (Can) Canadian National Team | |
| 8 Nathan Brown (USA) Bontrager Cycling Team | |
| 9 Kirk Carlsen (USA) H&R Block | all s.t. |
| 10 Joseph Lewis (Aus) Hincapie Sportswear Development Cycling Team | 1:26 |
| 11 Tyler Magner (USA) Hincapie Sportswear Development Cycling Team | |
| 12 Joseph Rosskopf (USA) Hincapie Sportswear Development Cycling Team | |
| 13 Ryan Eastman (USA) Bontrager Cycling Team | |
| 14 Benjamin Day (Aus) Unitedhealthcare Pro Cycling Team | |
| 15 Jonathan Clark (Aus) Unitedhealthcare Pro Cycling Team | |
| 16 Jasper Stuyven (Bel) Bontrager Cycling Team | |
| 17 Francisco Mancebo Perez (Esp) 5 Hour Energy | |
| 18 Oscar Clark (USA) Hincapie Sportswear Development Cycling Team | |
| 19 Chris Butler (USA) Champion System Pro Cycling Team | |
| 20 Ignacio Sarabia Diaz (Mex) Inteja, Dominican Cycling Team | |
| 21 Matthew Cooke (USA) Century Road Club Association | |
| 22 Jaroslaw Dabrowski (Pol) Amore Vita -Amo | |
| 23 Chris Baldwin (USA) Bissel Pro Cycling | |
| 24 Phillip Lavery (Irl) H&R Block | |
| 25 Benjamin Jacques Maynes (USA) Jamis Hagens Berman | |
| 26 Davide Frattini (Ita) Unitedhealthcare Pro Cycling Team | |
| 27 Nic Hamilton (Can) Canadian National Team | all s.t. |
| 28 Javier Megias Leal (Esp) Team Novo Nordisk | 1:35 |
| 29 Marc de Maar (AHO) Unitedhealthcare Pro Cycling Team | |
| 30 Julian Kyer (USA) Bissel Pro Cycling | |
| 31 Bruno Langlois (Can) Garneau-Quebecor | |
| 32 Craig Lewis (USA) Champion System Pro Cycling Team | all s.t. |
| 33 Marsh Cooper (Can) Canadian National Team | 1:39 |
| 34 James Driscoll (USA) Jamis Hagens Berman | 1:42 |
| 35 Jonathan McCarty (USA) Bissel Pro Cycling | 1:44 |
| 36 David Lozano Riba (Esp) Team Novo Nordisk | 2:49 |
| 37 Nathan English (USA) 5 Hour Energy | 4:22 |
| 38 Robin Carpenter (USA) Hincapie Sportswear Development Cycling Team | |
| 39 Fabio Calabria (Aus) Team Novo Nordisk | |
| 40 Matthias Friedemann (Ger) Champion System Pro Cycling Team | |
| 41 Coultan Hartrich (USA) Astellas Oncology Cycling Team | |
| 42 Gregor Gazvoda (Slo) Champion System Pro Cycling Team | |
| 43 Pierrick Naud (Can) Garneau-Quebecor | |
| 44 Garrett McLeod (Can) H&R Block | |
| 45 Robert Britton (Can) Canadian National Team | |
| 46 Tyler Wren (USA) Jamis Hagens Berman | all s.t. |
| 47 Jean-Michel Lachance (Can) Inteja, Dominican Cycling Team | 5:37 |
| 48 Chad Beyer (USA) Champion System Pro Cycling Team | 5:39 |
| 49 Viesruts Luksevics (Lat) Amore Vita -Amo | |
| 50 Conor Mullervy (USA) Century Road Club Association | both s.t. |
| 51 Maxim Jenkins (USA) 5 Hour Energy | 12:48 |
| 52 James Stemper (USA) 5 Hour Energy | s.t. |
| 53 James Piccoli (Can) Team Medique p/b Silber Investments | 13:29 |
| DNF Guillaume Boivin (Can) Canadian National Team | |
| DNF Dominique Rollin (Can) Canadian National Team | |
| DNF Ryan Roth (Can) Champion System Pro Cycling Team | |
| DNF Clinton Avery (NZl) Champion System Pro Cycling Team | |
| DNF Andrea Peron (Ita) Team Novo Nordisk | |
| DNF Kiel J. Reijnen (USA) Unitedhealthcare Pro Cycling Team | |
| DNF Shawn Milne (USA) 5 Hour Energy | |
| DNF Christian Parrett (USA) 5 Hour Energy | |
| DNF Jeremy Vennell (NZl) Bissel Pro Cycling | |
| DNF David Boily (Can) Amore Vita -Amo | |
| DNF Daniel Holloway (USA) Amore Vita -Amo | |
| DNF Volodymyr Starchyk (Ukr) Amore Vita -Amo | |
| DNF Anton Mikhailov (Isr) Amore Vita -Amo | |
| DNF Antoine Duchesne (Can) Bontrager Cycling Team | |
| DNF Micheal Midlarsky (USA) Ekoï/Devinci | |
| DNF Juan Miguel Perez Garcia (Esp) Ekoï/Devinci | |
| DNF François Chabot (Can) Ekoï/Devinci | |
| DNF Rémi Pelletier Roy (Can) Garneau-Quebecor | |
| DNF Adam Farabaugh (USA) Garneau-Quebecor | |
| DNF Alexander Cataford (Can) Garneau-Quebecor | |
| DNF Benjamin Zawacki (USA) Hincapie Sportswear Development Cycling Team | |
| DNF Carson Miller (USA) Jamis Hagens Berman | |
| DNF Federico Marchiori (Ita) H&R Block | |
| DNF Kyle Buckosky (Can) H&R Block | |
| DNF Cortlan Brown (USA) Astellas Oncology Cycling Team | |
| DNF Mark Korus (USA) Astellas Oncology Cycling Team | |
| DNF Chris Gruber (Can) Century Road Club Association | |
| DNF Daniel Chabanov (USA) Century Road Club Association | |
| DNF Jorge Perez Pena (Dom) Inteja, Dominican Cycling Team | |
| DNF Étienne Samson (Can) Norco Bicycles/Premier Tech | |
| DNF Guillaume Fiset (Can) Norco Bicycles/Premier Tech | |
| DNF William Blackburn (Can) Team Medique p/b Silber Investments | |
| DNF Robert Ralph (Can) Team Medique p/b Silber Investments | |
| DNF Olivier Delaney (Can) Team Medique p/b Silber Investments | |
| Final GC | |
| 1 Nathan Brown (USA) Bontrager Cycling Team | 18:12:08 |
| 2 Philip Deignan (Irl) Unitedhealthcare Pro Cycling Team | at 0:36 |
| 3 Christian Meier (Can) Canadian National Team | 0:44 |
| 4 Francisco Mancebo Perez (Esp) 5 Hour Energy | 1:23 |
| 5 Matthew Cooke (USA) Century Road Club Association | 1:31 |
| 6 Benjamin Day (Aus) Unitedhealthcare Pro Cycling Team | 1:40 |
| 7 Kirk Carlsen (USA) H&R Block | 2:13 |
| 8 Lucas Euser (USA) Unitedhealthcare Pro Cycling Team | 2:15 |
| 9 Michael Woods (Can) Garneau-Quebecor | 2:19 |
| 10 Chris Butler (USA) Champion System Pro Cycling Team | 2:56 |
| 11 Joseph Rosskopf (USA) Hincapie Sportswear Development Cycling Team | 3:09 |
| 12 Oscar Clark (USA) Hincapie Sportswear Development Cycling Team | 3:27 |
| 13 Chris Baldwin (USA) Bissel Pro Cycling | 3:46 |
| 14 Jaroslaw Dabrowski (Pol) Amore Vita -Amo | 4:34 |
| 15 Luis Romero Amaran (Cub) Jamis Hagens Berman | 4:55 |
| 16 Benjamin Jacques Maynes (USA) Jamis Hagens Berman | 5:20 |
| 17 Ignacio Sarabia Diaz (Mex) Inteja, Dominican Cycling Team | 6:27 |
| 18 Diego M. Jimenez (Dom) Inteja, Dominican Cycling Team | 7:06 |
| 19 Tyler Wren (USA) Jamis Hagens Berman | 7:07 |
| 20 Nathan English (USA) 5 Hour Energy | 7:46 |
| 21 Joseph Lewis (Aus) Hincapie Sportswear Development Cycling Team | 8:09 |
| 22 Phillip Lavery (Irl) H&R Block | 8:34 |
| 23 David Lozano Riba (Esp) Team Novo Nordisk | 8:45 |
| 24 Robin Carpenter (USA) Hincapie Sportswear Development Cycling Team | 9:19 |
| 25 Robert Britton (Can) Canadian National Team | 9:47 |
| 26 Chad Beyer (USA) Champion System Pro Cycling Team | 10:09 |
| 27 Marc de Maar (AHO) Unitedhealthcare Pro Cycling Team | 10:50 |
| 28 Craig Lewis (USA) Champion System Pro Cycling Team | 11:59 |
| 29 Matthias Friedemann (Ger) Champion System Pro Cycling Team | 12:34 |
| 30 Fabio Calabria (Aus) Team Novo Nordisk | 12:37 |
| 31 Jasper Stuyven (Bel) Bontrager Cycling Team | 12:44 |
| 32 James Driscoll (USA) Jamis Hagens Berman | 13:55 |
| 33 Tyler Magner (USA) Hincapie Sportswear Development Cycling Team | 15:10 |
| 34 Marsh Cooper (Can) Canadian National Team | 16:04 |
| 35 Jonathan McCarty (USA) Bissel Pro Cycling | 17:22 |
| 36 Julian Kyer (USA) Bissel Pro Cycling | 17:53 |
| 37 Javier Megias Leal (Esp) Team Novo Nordisk | 18:23 |
| 38 Maxim Jenkins (USA) 5 Hour Energy | 18:25 |
| 39 Nic Hamilton (Can) Canadian National Team | 18:58 |
| 40 Jason Mccartney (USA) Bissel Pro Cycling | 19:47 |
| 41 Conor Mullervy (USA) Century Road Club Association | 20:10 |
| 42 Pierrick Naud (Can) Garneau-Quebecor | 21:10 |
| 43 Jean-Michel Lachance (Can) Inteja, Dominican Cycling Team | 23:04 |
| 44 Jonathan Clark (Aus) Unitedhealthcare Pro Cycling Team | 23:11 |
| 45 Ryan Eastman (USA) Bontrager Cycling Team | 23:23 |
| 46 Davide Frattini (Ita) Unitedhealthcare Pro Cycling Team | 23:53 |
| 47 Coultan Hartrich (USA) Astellas Oncology Cycling Team | 25:57 |
| 48 Gregor Gazvoda (Slo) Champion System Pro Cycling Team | 26:29 |
| 49 Bruno Langlois (Can) Garneau-Quebecor | 29:28 |
| 50 James Stemper (USA) 5 Hour Energy | 35:16 |
| 51 Viesruts Luksevics (Lat) Amore Vita -Amo | 40:37 |
| 52 Garrett McLeod (Can) H&R Block | 40:38 |
| 53 James Piccoli (Can) Team Medique p/b Silber Investments | 54:00 |
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