American Huffman wins first stage of Tour of Alberta, Canada’s Burke fifth

Evan Huffman at the 2016 Tour of Alberta (Photo by Connor Mah, Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0)

JASPER, Alta. — American Evan Huffman broke away from the lead group on Friday to win the first stage of the Tour of Alberta.

It’s the sixth stage win of the year for Huffman, who finished in 3 hours 48 minutes 46 seconds. Huffman, of Rally Cycling, finished third in the Alberta race last year.

Rally Cycling teammate and fellow American Sepp Kuss was second at 3:49.01. Tom-Jelte Slagter of the Netherlands, riding for Cannondale-Drapac, finished third, 27 seconds behind Huffman.

Jack Burke of Squamish, B.C., was the top Canadian. The Aevolo rider was fifth in 3:49.18.

The first stage began in Jasper with three laps through Jasper National Park.