Orica GreenEDGE’s Matthews takes second win with uphill sprint at Stage Four of 2013 Tour of Utah

SALT LAKE CITY, August 9, 2013 – The 2013 Larry H. Miller Tour of Utah’s dealt out a fast and furious circuit race Friday at the state’s capitol with Orica GreenEDGE’s Michael Matthews surging past all challengers for a convincing win in Stage Four presented by University of Utah Health Care.

Matthews (Australia) flew up the final climb, passing BMC Racing Team’s Greg Van Avermaet (Belgium) with about 50 meters to go. Van Avermaet lead out the peloton with an attack with 600 meters to go, but Matthews stuck to his wheel and didn’t let him go.

Garmin-Sharp’s Lachlan Morton finished safely in the bunch to retain his Larry H. Miller Dealership’s overall leader’s jersey with a 26 second lead over Van Avermaet.

“We pretty much had to commit from the start because nobody else was going to help us,” Matthews said of his strategy as a non-GC threat but a favorite to win the stage. “Our goal was to make sure I was in the best position into the climb, which was on Greg’s wheel… because he was obviously the favorite on today’s stage.”

Morton and his Garmin-Sharp team rode a competitive but safe race, trying to avoid crashes and losing time to BMC’s Van Avermaet.

“It was unreal,” Morton said of riding as the race leader. “To have (the team) riding for me on the front is like a dream. They’re so experienced that it makes what’s supposed to be a stressful job for me sort of easy.”

Friday night, a break of five riders dangled off the front for a couple of laps before Champion System’s Pro Cycling’s Craig Lewis (USA) attacked after leaving City Creek Canyon on the final lap. He soloed away only to get caught by the peloton on South Temple street where the sprinters began lining up to the final brutal climb up State Street to the Utah State Capitol.

Though he finished second in the stage and took a six second time bonus, Van Avermaet lost four seconds in the overall standings because of a 10-second penalty for pushing off a team car during the first lap.

“I gave everything on this climb and I looked back and he was still on my wheel,” Van Avermaet said. “I gave everything on the sprint so I was unable to catch him so this was kind of a disappointment…. If he’s in the wheel, it’s hard to beat him. I couldn’t do any better.”

With little change in the overall standings, Morton is still the leader in the Subaru Best Young Rider race while MTN Qhubeka’s Tsgabu Gebremaryam Grmay (Ethiopia) will wear the pale blue jersey for another day.

The XO Communications Sprint jersey is retained by BMC’s Van Avermaet and with no KOM points in Stage Four, the Bissell Pro Cycling’s Michael Torckler is still the Ski Utah King of the Mountain.

Lewis’ brave effort on the last lap was rewarded with the Vivint Most Aggressive Rider jersey.

Saturday brings Stage Five presented by Utah Sports Commission. The Larry H. Miller Tour of Utah’s queen stage is a little different than in year’s past. With 113 miles and 10,611 feet of vertical gain, Stage Five starts at Snowbasin Ski Resort in the Ogden Valley, the peloton travels through Morgan, East Canyon and into Park City before climbing over Guardsman’s Pass and down Big Cottonwood Canyon into the Salt Lake Valley before turning back up Little Cottonwood Canyon and finishing at Snowbird Ski and Summer Resort. Huge, and sometimes insane, crowds are expected in Little Cottonwood Canyon. Stage Five presented by the Utah Sports Commission will begin at 10:50 a.m. MT, and finish at approximately 3:45 p.m. MT.

Results:

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