Tuft wins solo in Tour de Beauce finale

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Svein Tuft (SpiderTech p/b C10) won the sixth and final stage of the Tour de Beauce on the streets of Saint-Georges in Quebec on Sunday. The Canadian time trial champion won the race by 18 seconds ahead of a chase group sprint won by Andrew Pinfold (UnitedHealthcare) who placed second on the day with Brett Tivers (Garneau Club Chassures) rounding out the top three.

"We really wanted to break it apart today and see what we could do and we put everything into the first half," Tuft said. "In the end I just had to think about how I was going to win the stage. I'm happy with this week, we had high hopes to take the overall but, hey, it doesn't always pan out."

Francisco Mancebo (RealCyclist.com) won the overall title after a suspenseful finale in Saint-Georges. The Spaniard finished the race 25 seconds ahead of Bernardo Colex (Amore & Vita) in second while Tuft moved into the third spot on the podium ahead of Alex Howes (Chipotle Development), who placed fourth.

"I'm happy to have this win today," Mancebo said. "The team always had faith in me and they worked for me this whole race. This is sort of like a gift to them."

Mancebo also won the Points classification, Howes rode away with the event's Best Young Rider jersey and Scott Lyttle (PureBlack Racing) secured the King of the Mountains jersey. SpiderTech p/b C10 won the Best Overall Team competition.

Saint-Georges circuits offer exciting finale

The riders lined up for the sixth and final stage of the Tour de Beauce under cooler temperatures and overcast cloud cover. The field contested 10 laps of a 12.5km circuit for a total of 125km.

Mancebo started the day in the race lead with a 25-second advantage on Colex and 1:11 to Howes. One team that was prepared to risk it all to win the overall classification was SpiderTech p/b C10 who had three riders in the top ten with Tuft in sixth, Francois Parisien in ninth and Pat McCarty in tenth.

Howes earned a second place in the first intermediate time bonus and moved himself two seconds closer to the overall race lead. After several highly active opening laps, a breakaway emerged on the fourth lap. The move included Howes along with Tuft, Bernard Sulzberger (V Australia) and Philip Mamos (Amore & Vita).

"We really thought that we were going to crack ‘em," Tuft said. "We had Bernard riding really well and we were fully committed because it was our last crack at the race and the overall. We set out to put pressure on the race and that was a good move because if you can have other guys that are as motivated as you are..."

Howes won the second intermediate sprint and earned an additional three seconds toward the overall classification. Sulzberger placed second and earned two seconds and Tuft placed third for one second.

Mid-race, Howes became the virtual leader on the road when the four-man breakaway gained over one minute on the peloton that included Mancebo.

"The time bonuses were an extra bonus today, just in case," Howes said. "I wanted to win the overall. I was leader on the road for a while and I put everything out there. In the end I lost one place in the overall, to Svein, but if you don't try then you don't win. I figured Mancebo's team would turn it on eventually and I didn't have the legs that I needed to. Svein Tuft was really awesome today."

Back in the field, Mancebo's teammates did the bulk of the work in a desperate attempt to manage the time gap. However, on the sixth lap he only had one teammate left, Thomas Rabou, who helped him chase at the front of the field.

"Thomas was so impressive today," Mancebo said. "I'm sure that I could not have won this race today without him. He did so much work for me today, the whole team did, but he was really incredible today."

Mancebo and Rabou brought the time margin to the breakaway down to 50 seconds over the next two laps. Mancebo orbited the circuits with a fast-paced tempo to keep the breakaway in check. He further reduced the margin down to a mere 10 seconds on the circuit's climb with two and half laps to go.

Mancebo attacked at the top of the ascent and was followed by Bernardo Colex (Amore & Vita), Chris Jones (UnitedHealthcare), Phil Gaimon (Kenda/5-hour Energy) and the riders bridged across to Howes, Tuft, Mamos and Sulzberger.

The diminished peloton was all back together, however, at the start of the ninth lap. Howes won the third intermediate sprint for time bonuses and gained an additional three seconds, for a total of eight seconds during the stage. He reduced his time in the overall to 1:03 minutes behind Mancebo.

The field still remained together with one lap to go with Rabou burying himself on the front of the field through the flat start-finish and onto the base of the ascent. Mancebo set a quick tempo over the climb and was followed by Colex and Arnaud Papillon (Garneau Club Chaussures).

The trio were then joined on the descent by Brett Tivers (Garneau Club Chaussures), Danny Summerhill (Chipotle Development), Taylor Sheldon (V Australia), Chris Jones and Andrew Pinfold (UnitedHealthcare), Mike Northey (PureBlack Racing) Svein Tuft (SpiderTech p/b C10) and Liam Holohan (Raleigh).

Tuft attacked the group on the descent and gained a sizeable lead, winning the stage by nearly 20 seconds ahead of the chase group. Pinfold won the group sprint for second place ahead of Tivers in third.

"I know the top section of the course suited be and if there was any opportunity to attack it was there," Tuft said. "I jumped after the feedzone and I knew that if I hit them there and got a gap, it was downhill the rest of the way."