The Holowesko Partners U23 development team notched an impressive UCI win with Caleb Fairly soloing away from the entire field to win the Tour of the Battenkill — a race that travels over a variety of terrain, including wet dirt roads. Fairly’s teammate, Alex Howes, also had a good race finishing seventh.
Fairly had partnered with Floyd Landis in a breakaway, with the two attacking with around 30km to go out of the remnants of the field.
Then Fairly rolled off the front and went solo for the finale.
“I thought that earlier break was going to be the winning move,” Fairly said to VeloNews. “So I was worried I might be too tired after it fell apart and came back together.”
“It wasn’t really an attack, I was just going,” Fairly told Cyclingnews. “When I came over the top of the climb I got 30 seconds pretty quick and I knew I’d probably win.”
“If you look at all the results I’ve had it’s always in races like this: a race of attrition, really long, with short, punchy climbs. Last year I got second in the queen stage of the Olympia’s Tour [in the Netherlands] which is kind of like a mini-Amstel Gold so this is definitely my style of racing.
“This race is definitely one of the coolest races in the country,” he added. “America needs more races like this with the Classics feel and the long distance.”
Fairly with his prize, chocolate milk
More photos from the Three Days of De Panne:
