Cascade Cycling Classic – Men’s Results
Australian cyclist Rory Sutherland won the men's bracket of the BMC Cascade Cycling Classic on Sunday, after taking control of the overall lead in the very first stage. He was joined on the podium in Bend, Oregon by Ben Day and Darren Lill. Both Australians, Lill finished the first stage in third place and won the king-of-the-mountain jersey and Day finished the second stage in second place, and while they struggled to dethrone Sutherland, the top-three remained stable from the second to the fifth and final stage of the 2010 edition of the biggest stage race in America.
Race Recap
The first stage of the 2010 Cascade Cycling Classic took place on Wednesday with a summit finish at the top of Three Creeks’ Snow Park. Sutherland took control of the men’s race with a second-place finish behind Marc de Maar and ahead of Darren Lill. Australian David Tanner finished fourth place behind his countryman after leading the six-man breakaway halfway through the 116km stage.
The escape was caught before the summit, and Lill was the first over the top, winning him the king-of-the-mountain classification. Frank Pipp won the first intermediate sprint and took the sprinter’s jersey. Pipp led a second breakaway, which Tanner used as a launch pad for his solo attack for the finish on the final climb.
The final ascent, at Three Creeks Snow Park was taken from Tanner 300m from the finish line, victim to a tactical battle between De Maar and Sutherland over the overall leadership. De Maar took the stage win, but failed to take the yellow jersey from Sutherland.
The second stage, the 25km Skyliner Road Time Trial, was won by Day, who crossed the finish line 15 seconds ahead of the prologue winner Jesse Sergent and 27 ahead of the overall race leader Sutherland. Day would enter the third stage 16 seconds behind Sutherland, 41 seconds ahead of Lill.
“There were two guys in front of me in the time trial that are known for time trialing and prologues, so to be able to be close to them is good, especially after yesterday,” said Sutherland afterwards. “Once you get the lead you don’t want to let it go.”
The third stage finished with a crash-ridden sprint to the summit finish at the Mount Bachelor Ski Resort. Raymond Kreder sprinted to the finish line ahead of Lill and Sutherland, who finished in second and third respectively. Day crashed in the sprint, but recovered enough that there was still no change in the top three contenders. Tanner fought hard for the win at the stage four criterium in downtown Bend, Oregon. Like in the first stage, the Australian led an early sprint, but this time it worked.
“I had Jay Thomson with me and he was perfect and did everything spot on,” Tanner said. “He took control of the race with a lap to go and all I had to do was finish off the last 200m. Thanks to him I was able to sprint and not have to chase the rest of the guys down.”
The fifth and final stage of the race went to another Trek-Livestrong rider, Alex Dowsett. The young rider crossed the finish line ahead of runner-up Pipp.
“This is really good,” Dowsett said. “The team was going from strength to strength with Jesse [Sergent] winning the prologue and Ben [King] in the young riders jersey. We haven’t had a race that we haven’t done well in so far this year. I’ve got a lot to thank the team for…a h**l of a lot.”
But it was Sutherland who won the Cascade Cycling Classic overall, having held the overall leadership since the first stage. Lill also won the climber’s classification and Frank Pipp won the sprinter’s classification. King was the best young rider, after fighting over the title with two of his Trek-Livestrong teammates Sergent and Timothy Roe.
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