Tour de Gastown: Pinfold wins, Beijing-Bound Tuft Impresses

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Tour de Gastown: Pinfold wins, Beijing Bound Tuft Impresses

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Tour de Gastown: Pinfold wins, Tuft Impresses

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Andrew Pinfold of Symmetrics won a bunch sprint in the most exciting Tour de Gastown in recent history.

The Tour de Gastown is now part of the 11-race USA Crits Series which helped draw some big names to the race. Present at the start were local favorite and Beijing-bound Canadian Olympian Svein Tuft, as well as American cycling legend Chris Horner of the Astana team, who finished 15th overall in last year's Tour de France. The race also featured another Canadian headed to the Olympics: Zach Bell. Last year's winner Hilton Clarke and US criterium champion Kirk O'Bee were also in the mix.

Unlike last year the roads were dry and the weather perfect for a fast and aggressive race. Like most years the pace caused an early attrition rate as the professional riders separated the field from most of the local amateur racers.

Once the race settled it was the battle between two top class professional cyclists which animated the race. The main players were Svein Tuft, launching multiple solo breaks off the front of the peleton, while the determined American cycling legend Chris Horner continuously pulled the entire peleton back to Tuft over the course of dozens of laps of the winding cicuit. With one lap to go it looked like Tuft might stay away as the crowd cheered him around the course. In the end he fell short, Horner received the help he needed from the Jittery Joe's team and Tuft was brought back before the last corner. Tuft though had done his job though and the resulting bunch sprint was set up nicely for his Symmetrics teammates. The local Symmetrics team had been in nearly every break on the night and plan B was in full effect when they were able to set up Pinfold to sprint for the victory in front of thousands of cheering fans.

Earlier in the evening two other Olympians impressed as well, with Gina Grain winning the women's event and Erinne Willock being prominent in the race.

Full results .