Carpenter seizes Cascade Classic victory on final day

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It was a case of déjà vu at the Cascade Cycling Classic's final stage when Holowesko-Citadel's Robin Carpenter seized the lead on the final day by winning a time bonus at the finish.

Alex Howes (US National Team) took the final stage victory in Bend, Oregon, but Carpenter's second place and six-second time bonus lifted him past overnight leader Gavin Mannion (UnitedHealthcare) in the final general classification. Rally Cycling's Evan Huffman filled out the final podium in third.

"The last day is hard," Carpenter said before the final podium ceremony. "It's a good day to take it, a good day to save your bullets. It was definitely stressful. I have to say I was pretty relieved afterwards, but I'm kind of anxious anyway. When I know I'm coming to a race that I can win, then I'm just a head case. So I'm glad I kept it together long enough to win."

The finish of the Awbrey Butte circuit race was marred by chaos when the men's leaders caught the back of the women's field as they turned onto the final 500-metre climb.

Silber Pro Cycling's Stephen Bassett, who won the same stage last year, jumped away at the bottom of the climb and opened a gap, but he got tangled up with one of the women about 100 metres from the line and hit the deck hard.

"Bassett, really unfortunately for him, was just looking down and just ploughed into her, just a full-on yard sale," Carpenter said. "I was just a little bit behind and managed to get around. He was definitely going to podium and probably going to win, so that's too bad."

With Bassett sprawled out on the tarmac, Carpenter led up the hill ahead of Howes, who was able to come past him at the line for the stage win. Jelly Belly-Maxxis rider Jacob Rathe finished third.

Howes said the key to the win was patience at the bottom of the finishing climb.

"I tried to just wait," Howes said. "It's a pretty long finish, 400 metres or 450 or so. I tried to stay a little more conservative at the bottom and see who is moving and shaking. I knew that I just had to be more or less second wheel just before the final bend with 30 metres to go. Then I just hit it and rode the boat home."

It was a hot and fast day in Bend, with temperatures nearing 100 degrees Fahrenheit, while the men's peloton averaged close to 43 k/ph over five laps and 130.5km on the notoriously difficult Awbrey Butte course.

The stage started with a ballistic pace, but it took more than two laps of the circuit for the first real breakaway to form when seven riders escaped the bunch. The group lasted less than a lap before it reshuffled again, growing to 13 riders as the leaders made their way up the Archie Briggs climb. UHC had placed Daniel Eaton in the move, and just 16 seconds off the GC lead the Pro Continental team was happy to leave the chase to Holowesko, which had missed the move.

The chase paid off as the field caught the move near the end of the penultimate lap. Counter attacks caused the field to split in two, with the lead group gaining significant time on what quickly became a grupetto.

Hangar 15's Chad Beyer jumped away from the front group with Silber Pro Cycling Jean Emile, and the pair built a gap of nearly a minute before Beyer dropped Emile and soldiered on alone. Beyer's gap came down precipitously as the field ramped up for the finale, and the bunch caught the solo rider before the final time up the Archie Briggs climb.

From there, it was game on for the reduced bunch as they closed in on the back of the women's peloton, setting up the chaotic uphill sprint the brought down Bassett, gave Howes his second stage win of the week and launched Carpenter into the race lead.

Carpenter got within feet of the stage win, but Howes swooped in at the line.

"I knew I was going to win the overall, and I wasn't too concerned about the stage win," Carpenter said. "It was a good sprint by Alex, and actually, I'm pretty happy to be that close to Alex in an uphill sprint, because he's got some talent there."

Howes said he and the National team was pleased with their performance over the week, except for Kiel Reijnen's crash in the criterium. Reijnen, who didn't start Sunday's stage, was a bit banged up but generally OK.

"We're pretty happy with the week overall," Howes said. "Peter [Stetina] got a stage and I got two. It was a bit of a bummer having Kiel crash today, but he's going to be alright. He's not too bad, he's just got a fussy baby and a sore face. He'll be OK.

"We really couldn't ask for much more coming out of this week," Howes said. "I haven't won a race since USA Pro Challenge in 2014, so I wanted to come back here and try to figure out how to win again before we head to the Colorado Classic coming up. I'm trying to make a target out of that, and it looks like the legs are going pretty well, so we'll see what we can do there." 

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