Tanner Putt's first professional win will only bolster his nickname. The 24-year-old from Park City, Utah, is often referred to as the "Polar Bear" because of his ability to endure cold weather and challenging conditions. He lived up to the name on Friday at the Tour of Alberta.
On a day when temperatures dipped to 10 degrees Celsius as wind and rain battered the race, Putt spent the majority of the stage off the front in two separate breakaways before outsprinting Alexis Cartier (Canada) for the stage 2 win in Olds.
Putt, who was likely the only rider in the race to where nothing but a skinsuit with no jacket, arm warmers or leg warmers, said when he saw the morning forecasts he knew it would be a good day to go on the attack.
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"It did motivate me," Putt said when asked about the weather. "We have John Murphy here who is a really good sprinter. Me and him work really well in sprints. I lead him out usually, so it was a bit of a risk for me going so aggressively in the break and then getting caught and going again.
"But I just had a really good feeling about going in the break today, especially with the weather being so bad, sometimes the breakaway gets a bit of an advantage, so I really wanted to take my chances in the break."
Putt stubbornly refused to give in after the first move he infiltrated was brought back into the much-reduced peloton. He jumped away again with Cartier with about 75km to go. This time the move stuck, if just barely. But Putt, Cartier and the chasers had to deal with increasingly poor conditions.
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