Heraldmailmedia.com • Aaron Lighter • June 18, 2017
WILLIAMSPORT — On the second day of the Tour of Washington County, the Boonsboro time trial on Sunday morning was crucial to deciding the cycling event’s overall winner.
After finishing second in the first stage, Noah Granigan, 21, of Cape May Court House, N.J., capitalized on a strong showing by finishing second in the 16-kilometer time trial to open up a roughly 15-second lead heading into Williamsport Criterium, the final stage.
The cushion proved to be enough for Granigan, who finished fourth (46:47.6) in the criterium, to be crowned the general classification winner based on combined time of three stages. Scott McGill (46:47.2) edged out Mathew Mackay (46:47.3) for the stage win.
“Going into the crit, I knew I was leading the GC, so all I had to do was make sure no one got away and make sure no one else got the time bonuses,” said Granigan. “It’s always fun to do well. It means the legs are doing well.”
“In order to win this event, the person has to have a great deal of endurance and a good time trial,” said Tour director Joe Jefferson. “(Granigan) knew he had a good time trial in him and he was second by a decisive mark over Scott McGill who was leading heading into it.”
After losing to McGill by three-tenths of a second in the first stage, Granigan knew the time trial would be crucial in the overall race.
“I can ride a pretty good time trial,” said Granigan. “Knowing there weren’t major gaps in the (Smithsburg) road race and more often than not a criterium comes down to a sprint, so going into the time trial you know that’s where most of the GC was gonna happen.
“I definitely put a lot of emphasis on the time trial because of the distance you can put over others in the GC.”
For Granigan, the win will be a boost for some big races in the future.
“With Pro Nationals next weekend and U23 Nationals the weekend after that, so it’s a good opportunity to race,” said Granigan. “This is a beautiful area, some really good courses. It’s challenging so it was a fun weekend and it’s always good to do well here.”
Despite a rough time trial, McGill was pleased to bounce back and pick up his second stage win of the weekend.
“It was a good weekend for me,” said McGill. “I was able to get two wins and we won as a team on Friday night.”
The criterium came down to a five-man sprint, with McGill holding off Mackay to claim the victory.
“I didn’t know until the finish line that I won,” said McGill. “I could tell I had someone to my left, but I just kept my head down through the line.”
Overall, Jefferson was pleased with how the Tour went.
“We had a really good year and we’re looking forward to next year,” said Jefferson. “Next year, we have bigger fish to fry because the Amateur National championships are coming to Washington County.
“So we’re really excited for that, but at the same time we’re looking to bigger and better things with the Tour of Washington County as long as we can gain the support of our sponsors like Meritus Health, SRAM and a lot of the other local vendors that help us every year.”
NOAH GRANIGAN 