UnitedHealthcare wasn't able to put a rider on the top step of the podium at the Tour of Utah this week, but Gavin Mannion's second-place finish to Rob Britton (Rally Cycling) and Travis McCabe's sprint jersey will give the team a boost of Confidence heading into the Colorado Classic, which starts Thursday.
Mannion took up the GC responsibilities after Daniel Jaramillo and Janier Acevedo fell ill, limiting their abilities in the hilly, hot, seven-day 2.HC race. The 25-year-old climbed into the runner-up position during the stage 3 time trial and then held on through four more stages.
"I think we had a really good week," Mannion said. "We came in here with a few guys targeting GC and Travis looking for stages. So to come away with a stage win, a podium overall and the sprinter's jersey, I think it was very successful. Everyone on the team is happy, and we all rode really well together, so I think it's good moving into Colorado."
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McCabe took the team's win during stage 5 in Bountiful, holding off Nippo-Vini Fantini's Marco Canola and Axeon Hagens Berman's Logan Owen. He took the sprint jersey on the stage, and then held onto it through the queen stage on Saturday and again during Sunday's final hilly circuit in Salt Lake City, with it's punchy uphill finish.
McCabe jumped into a breakaway during the stage and won five points at the intermediate sprint, but when the breakaway failed he set his sights on the stage win. This time, however, Canola had his number an earned 15 points for the stage win. McCabe finished seventh on the stage and earned four points, enough to keep him in the jersey by three points over his Italian rival.
"That was so hard," McCabe told Cyclingnews in the finishing straight. "I took a chance going into that breakaway bridging across and spent a few too many bullets probably doing that, but it had the potential to stick, so I took a chance. I got those points.
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