I don't think the clouds checked the weather forecast today. There was supposed to be a 20% chance of showers, but instead it was a steady rain through much of the morning. Rather than make the riders stay in the rain any longer than necessary, Andrea and I were happy to forego autographs and wander through the buses.
The race officials didn't have a complete second set of race numbers so a few riders had to settle for modified numbers.
Crowds weren't exactly overwhelming for the sign on, but people did show up throughout the afternoon.
Riders headed to the start while fans milled about the buses.
Ruben Zepuntke en route to the corrals.
One of the main reasons I came to the Tour of Alberta was to see the Continental teams, in particular SmartStop. They've had one hell of a season, much of it due to Mike Creed, a retired racer and first year DS. I first met Mike yesterday when I walked through the buses after the stage finish. We got to talking and he offered to let me spend today's final stage in the passenger seat of the team car. I was floored at the thought.
So this was my view of the race start today!
The 120+ kilometer course featured 11 circuits of Edmonton with a couple of decent climbs thrown in, on top of it being a cold, rainy day.
I tried not to be too much of a tourist in the car so I put my camera away and just took it all in. Mike drove, while Chris, the mechanic, sat in the back with the wheels at the ready, leaving me to ride shotgun.
The race started out calmly enough. The peloton played nice and SmartStop's Zach Bell attacked from the word go, sitting just a handful of seconds ahead of the field. Before long, he was absorbed back into the peloton, and the same thing happened to the next few escapees.
One SmartStop rider was riding near the back so we caught him and Mike asked what was going on. He said there was too much air pressure in his tires causing him to slide on the turns but that he'd stopped to let some air out. He then jumped in our slipstream and we paced him partway back to the peloton. If you've never looked out of the side view mirror and seen a cyclist riding so closely he's practically hugging the rear bumper, I can assure you it's a bit nerve wracking! A bike versus a car is no contest and it made me nervous even though Mike's driving was just fine. This happened all afternoon, a rider from nearly every team would find himself in the cars and would dodge and weave his way through the caravan to rejoin the field. For me the worst was watching a rider tuck in behind the car in front of us. He'd inevitably hunch down and pedal for dear life, occasionally stretching his neck like a giraffe to check if a turn was coming or if he could move up to the next car. There were inevitably slick manhole covers that the car and rider would suddenly fly over with no warning whatsoever. I'd hold my breath and hope to not see any wobbling from the rider.
For one lap, the team's local soigneur took my seat and I jumped out in the feed zone. Soigneurs hung out in the feed zone between laps and would snap to attention when the first of the cars began to pass, indicating the approaching riders.
The break.
The peloton.
Daryl Impey signaled to the Orica soigneur ahead that he'd take a bottle.
With riders going around 40kph, sometimes a hand off won't go smoothly. This Bissell rider was none too pleased when he dropped the bottle and used precisely four letters to vocalize his displeasure.
With six of the eleven laps done, a sizable break finally gained an advantage. Zach Bell was in it and when race radio eventually said that any team with a rider in the break could move up out of the caravan to the go support their rider, Mike had floored it before she was even done talking. With ten teams represented in the eleven man break, suddenly ten cars were all vying for the same limited road space. The race commissaire would hold each car back until it was deemed safe to pass the peloton. As we waited for the go ahead from the commissaire, Chris got fresh bottles ready to pass to Bell. In the blink of an eye, we accelerated past the strung out peloton and reached the break where the riders were taking advantage of the wide Canadian roads. This meant it was tricky to pull up alongside Bell as Mike had to keep an eye on both sides of the car for wandering riders.
The break never gained more than probably ninety seconds and when Garmin came to front of the peloton and caused the gap to tumble, all of the team cars were pulled from the break. Without a word, Mike pulled over and he and Chris lept from the car, bottles in hand, ready for thirsty SmartStop riders. I had precisely enough time to retrieve my camera from my feet and take two pictures before they were back and we were off.
As the laps went by, the rain fell on and off, ensuring the roads were constantly slippery. It's not surprising then that there were a few crashes in the later laps. At one spot, there was a descent which became a flat bend in the road and it was here were the cars in the caravan all suddenly braked. There'd been a pile up of riders. Bobby Sweeting of 5 Hour Energy sat in the middle of the road, his bike a distant thought behind him, his muddy face a grimace of pain as he cradled an elbow. We passed a bloody Christian Meier as he was gingerly helped back to his feet on the curb. Zach Bell had been caught up in the crash but in the chaos, it was impossible to tell from the car whether he'd actually gone down or if he'd just been held up, so Chris sprang from the back seat with wheels in hand. There were so many team cars and mechanics and riders around that I had no idea where Chris had gone, but I saw Bell riding off and just as I spotted Thierry Hupond preparing to get on his bike, ripped shorts and all, Chris had slammed the back door and we were off. We caught up to Bell where Mike checked in with him. Luckily the Canadian rider was in good shape and was able to rejoin the peloton. Below: Hupond tweeted a photo of himself with Meier after the crash as they chased the peloton.
But the race approached the finish line and the final sprint turned out to be a close one with Impey taking the win along with 10 bonus seconds. He had been nine seconds behind Dumoulin in GC but with the bonus, he leapfrogged the Dutchman to take the overall win. This was especially impressive considering the South African hadn't raced in two months while he waited for a decision regarding an adverse finding in his urine sample. He was cleared of the charges just days before the start of the Tour of Alberta and was a last minute substitution to the Orica squad.
We parked next to the team bus and I thanked Mike again for letting me tag along. As I made my way to the podium, the peloton slowly returned to the buses. Below: Post race Simon Geschke was ticked off that his team had lost the race so narrowly after holding the lead the entire week.
Nick Van Der Lijke's face covered in muck.
Pieter Weening.
Impey put on the yellow jersey for the first and only time in the 2014 Tour of Alberta.
Ramunas Navardauskas won the points jersey ahead of Impey.
Simon Yates as the KOM.
He's never been a natural smiler on the podium, but Dumoulin looked absolutely miserable as he received the white jersey for best young rider.
The most combative award went to Steven Kruijswijk.
Ryan Anderson held the best Canadian jersey all the week.
The jerseys.
The stage podium: 1st Impey, 2nd Anderson, 3rd Navardauskas.
Garmin won the team classification and were presented with a single jar of Canadian pavé, which is a fancy way of saying dirt. Navardauskas and Steele Von Hoff looked happy with the mason jar of dirt but Phil Gaimon had more pressing matters.
Here's Phil's photo of the spectators. Did you see me waving there in the middle?
Everyone was friends until the champagne bottles came out.
Within a few seconds, anyone within ten meters of the stage was covered in cheap champagne.
Teamwork.
The overall GC: 1st Impey, 2nd Dumoulin, 3rd Zepuntke. I don't know what Impey said, but he managed to get a big smile out of Dumoulin. Zepuntke was of course smiling ear to ear as usual.
They were considerate enough to contain their spray mostly to each other.
I think Zepuntke appreciated my support throughout the week since he threw me his flowers!
On any other day, having a rider throw me his bouquet would be enough to send me over the moon, but riding in a team car for a stage really was an eye opening experience. It was quite likely the most impressive moment in my race spectating season. Thanks, Mike. It really meant a lot to me.