Kyle Macdermaid takes the Vuelta, while Vanias, Kickbush and Kennedy give a glimpse of next week’s Worlds. The Finale went of Thursday with racer leader Jason Lowetz lost somewhere in the Upper Peninsula, surviving on a diet of microwavable macaroni and cheese supplemented with Go-Gurt. It left the door open for Macdermaid, who took the overall win with a comfortable gap over Cody Sovis in second place.

Sean Kickbush, Ryan Kennedy, Keegan Myers and Alex Vanias scuttled away over the Vasa CC Climb, but it was the monstrously over-geared SSer Macdermaid who dug deep to take the KOM and sweep the KOM Competition in the process. The effort took it out of him, and he faded back into the chase group. Ahead, the leaders rode the Power Section to a virtual stand still, albeit a standstill at over 20mph.

The chase group saw a thoroughly diseased Cody Sovis tapping out something like a tempo with Austin Johnson, Kaitlyn Patterson, Rob Goepfrich, Austin Johnson and others queued up behind. The group stayed together for nearly half the course, until a crash saw Austin Johnson on the ground and Goepfrich and Sovis waiting to make sure he was alright. Sovis was able to put in enough effort going into the Sprint point to defend his Sprint Competition victory and the 10 WorldTour points that come with it.

Kickbush and Vanias were the class of the day, with Vanias putting in some accelerations to shake off Myers and Kennedy, while Kaitlyn Patterson rolled in with a great result as well in what will be her last SOL of the year. Alex and Kaitlyn have decided to skip Worlds to be ready for the Cheq 40. Indeed, it should be a wide open race next Thursday.

With the win, Macdermaid ends the Einstein Racing streak of winning a Grand Tour each season, but they have successfully kept their perfect record in the Team Competition.

No women’s or Best Old Riders completed the three stages of the race, while Kyle Macdermaid is the only SS to complete it. Kyle wins a total of three competitions (General Classification, KOM and SS), which has him tied with Alex Vanias for most competitions won in a single Grand Tour.

By finishing, it looks like Sovis has wrapped up his second straight WorldTour points title, with Vanias needing some help to keep Macdermaid out of the rainbow jersey and the points that could overtake him in second overall. Kaitlyn Patterson has already assured herself as the highest placing women’s rider of all time, it’ll just depend where exactly she ends up.

You can see the final Vuelta Standings here.

Stage Four Results