Colorado Classic: UHC goes one-two in Vail TT

With Gavin Mannion posting the fastest time and Serghei Tvetcov finishing second, the UnitedHealthcare team delivered on Friday in stage 2 of the Colorado Classic. Hugh Carthy (EF Education First-Drapac) was third.

“For me personally, this is huge,” said Mannion. “I’ve never won a race at this level before. Gila was my first professional victory earlier this year so to continue that trend and finish the season strong is awesome for me. It just kind of goes to show that I’m continuing to develop. Hopefully, I can continue this for the next few years and take a few more victories.”

Mannion’s victory was exactly what his team needed after failing to pull back solo breakaway Gage Hecht (Aevolo) in stage 1, settling for second with sprinter Travis McCabe. Plus, the search continues for the team to find a new title sponsor for 2019.

The team also celebrated a win with Katie Hall in the women’s race earlier on Friday on the same time trial course.

“This feels really special and a little bit bittersweet as a team because our team is maybe folding, looking for sponsors,” Hall said. “To go one-two in both the men’s and women’s race, we’ve really got a special thing going.”

Mannion rode the 15.88km climb up Vail Pass in 25:41. Tvetcov, who was second overall in the race last year, was 11 seconds slower. Carthy was 21 seconds back.

“Racing Utah and Colorado, it’s not a lot of time to rest,” said Tvetcov. “It’s pretty hard because you need to be really recovered well. Recovering at altitude is slower than at sea level. So that helps us who live at altitude to be better at everyone else.”

The day’s leader Hecht rode to a solid 17th place result, but finishing 1:12 behind, he ceded the overall lead to Mannion.

The 26-year-old American will now have to defend his lead on Saturday’s queen stage, a 161.9km stage 3 starting and finishing in Denver with three categorized climbs along the way.