THIS WEEK IN PRO CYCLING
Colex surprises at Tour de Beauce
Mexico's Bernardo Colex Tepoz (Tecos Trek UAG) took the biggest win of his career when a mid-race breakaway resulted in a solo victory and the yellow jersey in the opening stage of the 23rd Tour de Beauce on Tuesday.
The classic Canadian stage race kicked of with the traditional 165-kilometer Lac Etchemin road race stage, contested on one long loop that encompasses typical Beauce terrain ─ lots of climbing and rough roads.
The heat wave that hit last weekend’s Philadelphia International Championship affected Canada as well with Tuesday’s temperatures reaching into the 90s and humidity levels to match that. The heavy, damp air was not conducive to breakaway efforts, plus most of the peloton was either coming off Philly Week or Coupe Des Nations Ville De Saguenay for U23 riders. Conditions, coupled with tired legs, did not make for extremely aggressive racing.
Two riders did finally manage to break free of the bunch at close to the halfway mark ─ Jay Robert Thomson (South African U23 Team) and Martyn Irvine (Pezula Racing). By the second KoM at the 100 kilometer mark the pair had two minutes on Colex (who had jumped away from the peloton at the base of the KoM) and 3:22 on the field.
"It had been pretty aggressive for a while, and then everyone sort of sat up, so that was the time to go," explained Thomson. "But it was a long time for two to be out there; we were hoping more would come across."
Colex went across quickly, and with the extra power the trio took the gap to over five minutes by the 125 kilometer point. The gap finally proved to be too much for the Symmetrics and German Sparkasse teams, both of which moved to the front to reduce the deficit.
With 25 kilometers to go the gap was down to 3:30, and that was when Colex began to consider his winning move. The young Mexican rode his two companions off his wheel on a short, steep climb a few kilometers later and quickly took 45 seconds out of the fading duo. While the Tecos rider plowed ahead on his own, Thomson and Irvine were eventually reabsorbed by the peloton on the final climb back into Lac Etchemin, just a few kilometers from the finish. Colex, however, had timed his move to perfection, leaving just enough time to cross the line on his own.
Behind, the effort of the top teams shattered the field, with the first chase group of 17 coming in between 16 and 20 seconds adrift of Colex. Amore E Vita's Swedish sprinter Michael Stevenson led the group home to take second, followed by Eric Baumann (Sparkasse). Also in the group were three Symmetrics riders (Svein Tuft, Christian Meier and Cam Evans), Glen Chadwick (Team Type 1) and Miguel Martinez (Amore E Vita), the former mountain bike Olympic and world champion. After time bonuses are factored in, Colex leads Stevenson by 20 seconds, with 17 other riders within 30 seconds.
For Symmetrics, it was an almost perfect scenario, explained manager Kevin Fields. "We wanted to break it up a bit, but not have someone with too big a gap in the lead. This works really well for, because we have three guys up there, and Tecos will do the work of protecting the jersey."
The 24-year-old Colex was clearly stunned with his unexpected win, vibrating with energy as he waited for the awards ceremony.
"This is the greatest result of my career," he confirmed with a smile. "I have never been the leader in a big international event like this."
Like Thomson and Irvine, he picked his moment to attack.
"It was very slow at the time, and my team captain [Gregorio Ladino Vega] told me to make a move,” he recounted. “I had no doubt that I could catch the break, and I went up to them quickly. After I saw that I had dropped them, it was up to me on my own."
With a 20-second lead on GC, will Tecos Trek defend the jersey?
"Si" said both Colex and his manager simultaneously.
Race Notes
• The Tour de Beauce lost two teams even before it started. Slipstream Chipotle is wracked with injuries, and would have been unable to send even a partial team of five riders (instead of eight), while the French Aix en Provence squad had flight problems and couldn't make the start.
• The peloton had shed more a dozen riders by the 100 kilometer mark, and three eventually finished outside the time limit, while 13 ─ riders from Slipstream and French Aix en Provence ─ did not start.
