Tyler Stites (Project Echelon Racing) won stage 1 of the 2023 Walmart Joe Martin Stage Race and took the first leader’s jersey for pro men. He made his move around the final sweeping corner on the uphill finish, leaving Eder Frayer (L39ion of Los Angeles) in second place and Óscar Sevilla (Team Medellín-EPM) in third.
A breakaway of 10 riders stayed away for 111km on the Arkansas Tourism Devil’s Den Road Race, and nine of them remained intact to battle in Fayetteville for the first leader’s jersey of the four-day stage race. Along with the victory, Stites took 10 bonus seconds at the line to pad a GC lead on the opening day.
Kyle Murphy (L39ion of Los Angeles) attacked with a long-range sprint with just under 800 metres to go, but was outkicked at the end by the seven other riders in the group, Stites leading the way for the victory.
“Yeah, there were a couple of attacks [at the end]. Sergio Henao closed one down and I just followed. It all came back together in the last few hundred metres. It was time to sprint right in a headwind, downhill, so I came from behind and had a good sprint,” Stites said at the finish.
“It was tough on some of the climbs but when we were just rolling it wasn't too bad. Just nice and steady and yeah, pretty hard day overall, but it was fun. It's gonna be tough to defend tomorrow, but we'll give it our all and hopefully, take the yellow all the way.”
Stites will wear the yellow leader’s jersey for men on stage 2’s road race Friday, the 148.4km Mount Sequoyah Road Race. The nine riders to survive Thursday’s breakaway are the only riders within a minute of Stites, Frayer six seconds back in second overall, Sevilla eight seconds back in third and then López at nine seconds.
The field remained together through the opening 35km, with Denver Disruptors and Team Medellín-EPM setting the pace. Attacks soon followed, and 10 riders were allowed to escape, including four Medellín riders, Sevilla, Brayan Sánchez, Walter Vargas and Miguel Ángel López. Also in the pack were the L39ION of Los Angeles duo of Frayre and Murphy, Stites, Caleb Classen (Kelly Benefit Strategies) and Sergio Henao and Riley Sheehan of Denver Disruptors.
López took the three points across the intermediate sprint point of the day, 75km to go, followed by Stites and Sanchez. The leaders maintained a gap of 2:40 on the chasers behind.
Inroads to the leaders were made by a group of four riders - Will Cooper (CS Velo Racing), Noah Granigan (Denver Disruptors), Colby Lange (Project Echelon Racing), Kaler Marshall (Expediters Elite), who worked to form a serious chase with under 30km, but the gap held at 1:30.
The breakaway then pushed away for another 1:15 seconds as they edged closer to the finish back in Fayetteville. A few riders took a wrong turn with 25km to go, but managed to re-route and reorganise at the front, their advantage slipping to 2:10 with just under 15km to go.
Murphy and López were the first to animate the attacks in the closing kilometres, but Stites saved something for the push across the line.
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