Michael Woods has embarked on what may be his last hurrah with Optum Pro Cycling p/b Kelly Benefit Strategies at the Tour of Alberta before he moves up to the WorldTour ranks with Cannondale-Garmin in 2016. The Canadian climber is hoping to thank his team for their support with a stage 4 victory atop Marmot Basin Ski Area, the second and final summit finish in Jasper National Park.
“I’m hoping that today is my day,” Woods told Cyclingnews at the start of stage 4 in Jasper. "Optum has been such a great team and their support has been crazy.”
Woods emerged out of a dwindled peloton on the first summit finish during the previous day’s stage 3 climb to Miette Hot Springs. His attack in the final kilometre was strong but short-lived, caught and passed by stage winner Tom-Jelte Slagter (Cannondale-Garmin), Bauke Mollema (Trek Factory Racing), Adam Yates (Orica-GreenEdge) and Sergey Lagutin (Katusha), but he managed to hang on for fifth place.
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He arrived at the Tour of Alberta as one of the underdog favourites to win one of the two mountain stages and do well in the overall classification, especially after his recent success at last month's Tour of Utah, where he place second overall. His goal in making that final attack on Miette Road on Friday was to try and win the stage, but more importantly, to show that his newly inked contract with Cannondale-Garmin wasn’t based on luck.
“You have to take risks sometimes if you want to win, and I rolled the dice,” Woods told Cyclingnews. “I just signed a contract to go to the WorldTour and I want to prove that I belong there, and that it’s not just a fluke because of having a good race in Utah. I want to keep that momentum going.
“Not to discredit Utah, but from a GC perspective, Alberta is a tougher race. There are some real heavy-hitters. I want to race against the best guys in the world. That’s my goal in cycling. I want to see how I stack up against better climbers in the world.”
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