Every day at the SRAM Tour of the Gila, the California Giant Berry Farms/Specialized team put at least one rider in the top 20 and they did it again on the final stage, with three riders finishing in the top 22. Evan Huffman, Robin Eckmann and Nate Wilson finished 16th, 17th and 22nd respectively on the Queen Stage.
With his stage win in the time trial, Huffman was the highest-placed overall, claiming 14th in the UCI stage race and Wilson finished 17th overall. Huffman finished third in the best young rider competition.
“I think it was a really good week for us, especially considering Evan’s time trial win which is obviously spectacular.” Wilson said after the stage.
An early attack after the first intermediate sprint point led to a large breakaway group early on in the 103.5 miles with 9,131 feet of climbing and 8252 feet of descending. Eckmann made the move once again.
“It was starting out pretty confusing actually because all of a sudden there were 30 other guys riding with you.” Eckmann said. “I was like hanging in there and not working at all because I was the only guy and Competitive Cyclist had three and Kenda/5-hr Energy had three so there was definitely a greater interest from them to keep the breakaway alive.”
“It was definitely a new situation that I had to work with, and somehow power through.“ continued Eckmann who settled in as the gap went up to over five minutes.
Huffman, Wilson, Stephen Leece, James Mattis, Torey Philipp and Chris Stastny stayed in the pack controlled by the red jersey team’s UnitedHealthcare, as they went up and down the first two climbs of the day.
“I think that the team as a whole got a little bit more respect in the peloton. We were riding really close to the front for the first two hours of the race. “ Huffman replied when asked if the peloton was treating the team differently on the final day after the team’s showing in the past days.
“It was actually pretty good, the cat 2 was pretty easy. Everyone helped me and Evan into the cat 1, and then we were both pretty good up the cat 1. It went pretty hard but not super hard, there were maybe 10 or 15 guys at the top and then down the descent into the Sapillo climb, a lot of guys went off the front and then James came up and rode really hard mid-way down the descent and into the Sapillo climb. And then it pretty much exploded as soon as we hit that” Wilson explained.
Huffman found the stage a bit easier and slower than last year. “We went pretty mellow up the first cat 2, and then went hard from the bottom of the cat 1 but it wasn’t a real hard setting pace, it was a lot of attacking and then sitting up, attacking and sitting up.”
Meanwhile at the front, Eckmann lost touch with the break at the top of the category 1 climb, the third climb of the day.
“At the category 1 climb I felt pretty good at the bottom, I sort of ran out of energy over the top and I had to gap off the breakaway then.” said Eckmann who then rode with another break rider.
The riders battling for the general classification made their moves on the Sapillo climb, the fourth climb of the day.
“Up the Sapillo climb, it was really hard from there to the finish, everyone was just flat out I think.” said Wilson who was riding with Huffman.
“Rory (Sutherland) and (Chris) Baldwin were a little bit ahead of us and I was riding really hard and it was kind of a bummer, me and Evan, we were probably 10 seconds behind them at the top of the climb but we couldn’t quite close it and then we were just riding on our own until the finish. I think we caught some guys from the break and (Cesar) Grajales with maybe five kilometers to go and then we finished with that group.”
Lawson Craddock (Bontrager-Livestrong) won the stage while Rory Sutherland (UnitedHealthcare) claimed the overall victory.
“I’m definitely satisfied with what I did.” Eckmann said of the past five days of racing. “I was two times in a breakaway, I can’t really say anything with my and my team’s performance. Definitely we’re happy with what Evan did in the time-trial and how it all played out on the first day with Nate being up there in the top 20. I can only get stronger from here on, and maybe getting two riders next time in the top 10.”
Both Huffman and Wilson expressed a bit of frustration.
“I’m fairly happy. I was a little bit frustrated from today, mainly because I think that Evan and I were probably top 10 out of the field but I think that we actually lost more spots on GC just because such a big break got so far up the road. It’s kind of frustrating because we rode super good all week, and then weren’t quite as high as maybe we should have been but I guess that’s part of racing.” Wilson commented.
“I think it was kind of mix.” Huffman agreed. “Obviously I’m really that I won the stage but I thought that I was going to be able to finish up a little higher on GC but overall it’s still a pretty solid week. I’m happy with it.”
All the seven Berries finished the 26th annual SRAM Tour of the Gila. Mattis was 49th, youngest rider in the field Philipp, 60th, Leece, 70th and Stastny, 97th.
