Let's take a moment to appreciate the official race vehicles.
A couple of days ago, the photographers and race crew started to recognize Andrea and I. Since we were at the sign on with plenty of time (and there was hardly a soul there who wasn't working for the race), the announcer Dave Towle and one of the podium girls, Amber, came over to chat with us and share some of their behind-the-scenes input.
At the prologue in Calgary, a volunteer randomly gave Andrea a cowboy hat so she put it to good use today for autograph collecting. Below: Yesterday's stage winner, Sep Vanmarcke.
Ted King wasn't afraid to admire the hat a little more intimately.
Steele Von Hoff.
Tom Dumoulin has worn the race leader's yellow jersey the entire week but today's was in camouflage after yesterday's military appreciation day. I would say I have mixed feelings about this, but I am quite sure they're not mixed at all. Hermano had the bright idea of letting Canadian fashion icon Don Cherry design a jersey or two. His style is undeniably eye catching. (Dear non-Canadian readers, please take a moment to do an image search online for Don Cherry and you'll see what I'm talking about. Go ahead, I'll wait.)
Borrowing the white jersey from Dumoulin, Ruben Zepuntke sat at the start line and was either daydreaming or dead asleep behind his sunglasses.
Jelly Belly has got to be one of the more appreciated sponsors in cycling. Who doesn't want to work for a team that'll give you an endless supply of jellybeans? Bissell would be another handy sponsor–who wouldn't want to save on a vacuum?
Dave Towle called the special jerseys and the stage winners up to the line and social butterfly Ramunas Navardauskas struck up animated conversations with Dumoulin and Zepuntke.
Matteo Dal-Cin was the most aggressive rider on stage 3, Zepuntke, Navardauskas, Dumoulin, Yates, and Anderson.
Canadians Anderson and Zach Bell.
Little Germans, big laughs: Simon Geschke and Fabian Wegmann.
The neutral start was underway.
Stage 4 was something of a Canadian version of Paris-Roubaix meets Ronde Van Vlaanderen. The way the course would allow us to watch the peloton race three times before we would move on to the finish! And as for Paris-Roubaix? Today featured a few sections of “Canadian pavé.” The cobbles (pavé) in the Hell of the North are legendary: they're tricky to ride and the weather conditions are hugely influential on the race results. In Alberta, there aren't a ton of cobbles roads I'm guessing, so Canadian pavé is just a fancy way of saying “dirt road.”
All my life I've associated Edmonton with one thing…
It was a straightforward drive to wait for the peloton at the first pavé section. It was rural, I'll say that!
This made me think of the Shel Silverstein Classic, “Where the Sidewalk Ends.”
With the dry conditions, the dust was sure to be flying.
An 8 man break hit the pavé first.
The peloton was around a minute behind.
We had to dash to the car to catch them at the next spot only a few kilometers away. I spotted a Bissell water bottle and snagged it. My first discarded water bottle, wahoo!
Thanks to our rushing, we made it with time to spare to the next place. It helped that we weren't exactly fighting for parking.
Thr RCMP officer was obviously enjoying his assignment today.
It didn't take long for the break to whizz around the corner.
And the peloton was still in the neighborhood of sixty seconds behind.
Once more to the car where we followed the race for a few Ks.
Our final mid-race viewing location was about two thirds through the course. We pulled up to a mostly gravel road with some serious holes. This one tried to eat my cowbell.
The same eight riders rounded the corner and, reports said the break had north of 4 minutes at one point, the gap continued to hover around a minute when we saw them.
The peloton was densely packed. There had been a crash earlier, causing both Adam De Vos of the Canadian team and William Goodfellow of Silber to abandon the race.
Just because Alberta is landlocked, doesn't mean nautical threats don't exist here.
For our final drive, it was off to the finish line. I still get such a kick out of crossing under the 1k banner!
It was still an hour until the race was expected to start its three circuits but already the barriers were filling up fast. At any race in Europe, I'd expect nothing less than the barriers to be two rows deep with a couple of hours to go, but the Tour of Alberta is much more causal. Much more.
The break was predictably on the verge of destruction.
With Belkin driving the pace for their sprinter Theo Bos, the gap was under a minute and consistently falling. With three laps of the 2 or 3 kilometer circuit remaining, Belkin had timed it just right to catch the break.
Two laps to go and the break had shattered. A few riders hung on and tried to attack but the peloton was no more than fifteen seconds away and closing fast.
Again, Belkin at the front.
On the bell lap, the peloton looked like a pitchfork with Belkin, Orica, and Optum all lining up their trains.
Teamwork from Garneau-Quebecor’s Jake Kauffmann and Simon-Pierre Gauthier.
Janvier Hadi and Aurélien Passeron had spent the day in the break and had now been passed by the peloton.
Another former member of the break, Nic Hamilton found a moment to give his water bottle to a pair of kids who could barely see over the barriers.
Anxiously awaiting the sprint finish.
With all the work they'd done to sit on the front for much if the day, it was no surprise that Theo Bos easily took the win ahead of Daryl Impey and Jure Kocjan.
A tired peloton rolled in.
Top three in the stage: Theo Bos in first, Daryl Impey in second, and Jure Kocjan in third.
The leaders' jerseys: Simon Yates, KOM; Ramunas Navardauskas, sprinter; Tom Dumoulin, GC; Ryan Anderson, best Canadian; and Janvier Hadi, most aggressive.
Today's 24 autographs came from: 1 Tom Danielson, 21 Jonas Ahlstrand, 26 Daan Olivier, 31 Matt Goss, 36 Daryl Impey, 44 Matej Mohoric, 55 Marc De Maar, 56 Davide Frattini, 61 Ryan Anderson, 62 Alex Candelario, 63 Brad Huff, 75 Nic Hamilton, 77 Jacob Rathe, 78 Fred Rodriguez, 86 Bobby Sweeting, 87 David Williams, 94 William Goodfellow, 101 Joey Rosskopf, 113 Kris Dahl, 115 Jure Kocjan, 122 Nicolai Brochner, 131 Hugo Houle, 136 Jean-Sebastian Perron, and 145 Janvier Hadi.
Just one more stage to go!