Tour of Pennsylvania: Veilleux captures Stage 5
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Cyclists come off the Hot Metal Bridge on the South Side yesterday during Stage 5 of the Tour of Pennsylvania. -
Cyclists race down Hot Metal Street on the South Side yesterday in the Tour of Pennsylvania. Canadian David Veilleux crossed the finish line first to win Stage 5 of the 420-mile race, which ends Downtown today.
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After the two Canadian cyclists had endured 90 grueling miles on the road course from Ligonier to the South Side and sprinted into the lead on the final lap, Keven Lacombe stepped aside to allow teammate David Veilleux to cross the finish line first to win Stage 5 of the inaugural American Eagle Outfitters Tour of Pennsylvania yesterday.
Their time was 3 hours, 28 minute, 3 seconds and earned Veilleux the bright yellow jersey as the overall leader heading into the final stage of the 420-mile event, which concludes today with a 50-mile finale of 33 laps through the streets of Downtown.
The race starts at 5 p.m. and will begin and end at Stanwix Street and the Boulevard of the Allies.
The pack is bunched with at least a dozen riders still within range of finishing first in the $150,000 event, which is limited to cyclists between the ages of 18 and 24.
Veilleux, 23, a native of Quebec who trailed Christoff Van Heerden by one second after Stage 4, will take a five-second lead over runner-up Van Heerden into Stage 6. Stefano Barberi is third, 11 seconds back.
Lacombe's gesture to let Veilleux win Stage 5 illustrated the camaraderie of teammates.
It had no bearing on the race because bonus seconds were not subtracted from the time of a stage winner as is often the case in these events.
"I could only achieve that [winning] with help from my teammates," Veilleux said. "All these guys deserve to wear this [yellow] jersey."
Veilleux and Lacombe trailed by two minutes with time running short in the race when they mounted their furious comeback with less than one lap remaining around the South Side.
The cyclists crossed the Hot Metal Bridge and then circled the 3.1-mile lap three times to the finish line.
With police escorts blaring sirens, motorcycles honking and flashing lights to signal the arrival of the cyclists, Steve Van Vooren was in the lead followed by Dylan Newell and Travis Allen as they entered the South Side finish.
"It was kind of a dangerous move for us," Veilleux said. "But we did exactly what the plan was. Once we got within 50 seconds, there was no problem."
Added Lacombe, "We were pretty sure we could get it [the yellow jersey.]"
Their strategy worked to perfection.
First Published June 29, 2008 12:00 am
