DARYL IMPEY TAKES 2014 TOUR OF ALBERTA TITLE BY A MERE ONE SECOND
Tour of Alberta comes to an end on a rainy day in Edmonton
(Edmonton, AB – September 7, 2014) Daryl Impey of Orica-GreenEDGE is the 2014 Tour of Alberta winner, taking home the yellow jersey by just one second, thanks to a bunch sprint stage win on Sunday.
Over the last six days, cyclists from around the world raced over 700km in southern and central Alberta, starting in Calgary and ending in Edmonton. The race came to an end on Sunday with a 124.3km stage disputed on an 11.3km urban circuit.
On a cold and rainy day, the field dwindled down to a small leading peloton of about 40 riders entering the two final laps. The stage ultimately ended in a bunch sprint that included all major general classification riders. With everyone in the main group allocated the same time, only two riders became eligible to dethrone Tom Dumoulin as the race leader: either Daryl Impey of Orica-GreenEDGE or Ruben Zepuntke of Bissell Development could win the race by taking the stage win. And it happened.
During a furious last three kilometers, fueled by his raging teammates, Daryl Impey perfectly positioned himself for the finish and launched the sprint with about 200m to go. Impey, with Canadian Ryan Anderson of Optum-Kelly Benefits and Ramunas Navardauskas of Garmin-Sharp just behind him, kept the lead in the sprint and crossed the finish line first. With the stage win, Impey benefited from the 10-second time bonus to dislodge Dumoulin as the overall leader, winning the yellow jersey by just one second.
Anderson took the second place in the stage while Navardauskas finished third.
Impey’s journey to the top was greatly due to time bonuses gained throughout the week. Impey, eleventh of the prologue with a 23-second deficit, gained five seconds on Stage 2, three seconds on Stage 3, six seconds on Stage 4, and finally 10 seconds on Stage 5.
Despite losing the yellow jersey on the final day, Tom Dumoulin of Giant-Shimano won the best young rider jersey. The Dutch rider won the prologue in Calgary on Tuesday and led the race through the following four stages only to lose it on the last stage.
Canada’s Ryan Anderson took the red jersey as the top Canadian on the first stage in Lethbridge, thanks to a third place in the sprint, and kept the jersey throughout the rest of the race. With two stage podiums, Anderson finished in fifth place of the overall standing, 11 seconds behind the winning time of Daryl Impey.
Among the Canadian National Team, Hugo Houle was the top rider, finishing the race in 22nd place of the general classification. Houle finished 14th on Saturday and 17th on the last stage.
Team director Gord Fraser is happy with the outcome for the Cycling Canada Tour of Alberta project. “For the Canadian Team, it was a great week for the development of our young riders. Hugo Houle got some much-needed race time to prepare for the finish of the season. Garrett McCloed continues to improve and has narrowed the gap to being a top professional. Ben Perry got a taste of elite level racing, and our U23 National Champ held himself well in the company. Jean-Sebastien Perron continues to battle and provide good help to his teammates. He has piloted some Para tandems this year and hopefully he continues to help Canada gain medals in this important discipline. Stuart Wight is a savvy rider and is also progressing at a nice rate. For Adam, Jordan and Cody, they will take home with them great lessons and hopefully apply them to their training and racing going forward in the future.”
“We’d sincerely like to thank race organizers Medalist Sports, the Province of Alberta and ATB Financial for supporting the event as well as the staff and volunteers who made it a safe race for all. Thanks also to Global Relay for supporting our National Team. Hopefully, we’ll be back again next year to help our athletes achieve their goals,” added Gord Fraser.
Following the race, Tour of Alberta Executive Director Duane Vienneau announced that the 2015 Tour of Alberta will start in Grande Prairie with the Prologue and Stage 1. The 2015 race will feature six days of racing, including a prologue. Dates have yet to be announced, but will be around the same time timeframe.
2014 TOUR OF ALBERTA
RESULTS – STAGE 5 (Edmonton Urban Circuit)
1. IMPEY Daryl ORICA-GREENEDGE 2:46:22
2. ANDERSON Ryan # OPTUM pb KELLY BENEFIT STRATEGIES (ST)
3. NAVARDAUSKAS Ramunas Team GARMIN-SHARP (ST)
4. VANMARCKE Sep BELKIN Pro Cycling (ST)
5. REIJNEN Kiel UNITEDHEALTHCARE Pro Cycling (ST)
6. VAN DER LIJKE Nicky * BELKIN Pro Cycling (ST)
7. TVETCOV Serghei JELLY BELLY pb MAXXIS (ST)
8. SUMMERHILL Daniel UNITEDHEALTHCARE Pro Cycling (ST)
9. SMITH Dion * HINCAPIE SPORTSWEAR DEVELOPMENT (ST)
10. HOWARD Leigh ORICA-GREENEDGE OGE (ST)
=====
17. HOULE Hugo * # CANADIAN NATIONAL Team (ST)
24. MCLEOD Garrett # CANADIAN NATIONAL Team (ST)
70. PERRY Benjamin * # CANADIAN NATIONAL Team + 5:56
DNF. CHEYNE Jordan * # CANADIAN NATIONAL Team
DNF. PERRON Jean-Sebastian # CANADIAN NATIONAL Team
DNF. WIGHT Stuart * # CANADIAN NATIONAL Team
RESULTS – FINAL GENERAL CLASSIFICATION
1. IMPEY Daryl ORICA-GREENEDGE 16:07:56
2. DUMOULIN Tom * Team GIANT-SHIMANO +0:01
3. ZEPUNTKE Ruben * BISSELL DEVELOPMENT +0:09
4. NAVARDAUSKAS Ramunas Team GARMIN-SHARP +0:10
5. ANDERSON Ryan # OPTUM pb KELLY BENEFIT STRATEGIES +0:11
6. TVETCOV Serghei JELLY BELLY pb MAXXIS +0:15
7. HOWARD Leigh ORICA-GREENEDGE +0:16
8. SUMMERHILL Daniel UNITEDHEALTHCARE Pro Cycling +0:19
9. VANMARCKE Sep BELKIN Pro Cycling +0:31
10. ORAM James * BISSELL DEVELOPMENT +0:31
=====
22. HOULE Hugo * # CANADIAN NATIONAL Team +1:37
27. MCLEOD Garrett # CANADIAN NATIONAL Team +2:44
65. PERRY Benjamin * # CANADIAN NATIONAL Team +14:15
JERSEYS WINNERS
Yellow Jersey (Race Winner): IMPEY Daryl (ORICA-GreenEDGE)
Green Jersey (Top Sprinter): NAVARDAUSKAS Ramunas (Team GARMIN-SHARP)
Polka Dot Jersey (Best Climber): YATES Simon (ORICA-GREENEDGE)
White Jersey (Best Young): DUMOULIN Tom (Team GIANT-SHIMANO)
Red Jersey (Top Canadian): ANDERSON Ryan (OPTUM pb KELLY BENEFIT STRATEGIES)
Blue Jersey (Stage Most Aggressive Rider): KRUIJSWIJK Steven (BELKIN Pro Cycling)
