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Tour of Utah - NE
Utah, USA, August 7-12, 2006
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Stage 4 - August 10: Provo - Mt. Nebo., 151 km
Louder moves into Yellow as Moninger takes stage 4
By Steve Medcroft on Mount Nebo, Utah
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Health Net teammates Scott Moninger and Jeff Louder managed a one-two score in the first mountain stage of the Larry H. Miller Tour of Utah presented by Zions Bank on Thursday. Moninger had bridged up to a group that attacked from the very bottom of the twenty-mile climb to Mount Nebo; a pack of riders that contained dangerous Navigators Phil Zajicek and Burke Swindlehurst. When Swindlehurst got away alone, Moninger found his wheel and with teammate Louder chasing, was able to sit on and rest. Moninger won the stage with a vicious kick in the final three kilometers. Louder managed to outsprint Chadwick for second place and a valuable six-second GC time bonus.
Louder was better placed than Moninger on GC at the beginning of the stage and moved into the yellow jersey after current leader Chris Wherry (Toyota United) hesitated to follow the very first mountain attack and quickly found himself stuck over a minute down the mountain from the leaders.
Inside knowledge pays off
As expected, Thursday's stage was defined by it's climb. Even though the race was shortened to 108 kilometers from 151 due to concerns about forcing riders to stay in the 90-degree plus temperatures down in the valley for the extra 1-1/2 hours, Toyota United controlled the pace to the base of the climb as expected. Even though a breakaway group of ten riders was 1:45 up the road from the main pack, the fireworks began when Phil Zajicek (Navigators Insurance) attacked with 30-kilometers of climbing left.
The team of the Yellow jersey seemed to hesitate. "It's so hard when you get to a climb like this," race leader Chris Wherry said at the finish. "It's so long and you don't have a clue what's ahead of you so guys are attacking and there was still 20 miles to go and I'm thinking 'I don't know. I don't know if it levels out or if it gets steeper.'"
Other rides did follow Zajicek's lead though, including teammate Glenn Chadwick. And there were riders in the new attack group who knew the climb very well; hometown favorites Jeff Louder (Health Net Maxxis) and Burke Swindlehurst (Navigators). Health Net's main climbing ace Scott Moninger said he picked up on Wherry's hesitation. "At the bottom of the climb, I sensed a little kink in the armor of Wherry and Baldwin when Navigators went on the first offensive," he said. "I saw Swindlehurst and Chadwick go up the road and I thought if they got together, United might look to us to bring it back so I didn't want to get stuck in a defensive position and I jumped up to them."
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Zajicek came back to Swindlehurst, Louder and Moninger. Swindlehurst took over the lead with an attack and stayed away solo for several miles until Moninger eventually latched on. Behind the pair, Navigator's rider Glenn Chadwick and Louder had come together. With Moninger higher on GC than Swindlehurst, and having a teammate bridging, he knew he could take a passive role in his two-man group. "Burke did an amazing ride. He attacked early, put everyone on the defensive," Louder said. "Once Scott got to Burke though, he was a perfect foil to Burke's best-laid plans."
Chadwick and Louder reached Swindlehurst and Moninger with three kilometers remaining in the stage. "Scott had been able to sit on for quite a long time because he knew I was coming," Louder said.
Moninger immediately jumped. "Our team was between a rock and hard place," Swindlehurst said. "I was just trying to give it everything I could to get to the finish but once Louder and Chadwick rejoined us, Moninger had been waiting and he hit out; which is classic."
"I saw an opportunity to win the stage and went for it," Moninger said humbly.
28 year old Salt Lake City native Louder, who had sat the final kilometers on the wheels of the two Navigators riders, came around Chadwick for the sprint. His finish time, coupled with a six-second bonus for finishing the stage second, moved him into the yellow jersey. Which means Health Net moves into a defensive role for Friday's tough, downtown circuit race. "The circuit race tomorrow has quite a climb up to the capital, Swindlehurst said. "It's going to be very difficult and whoever has the jersey has their work cut out for them."
Louder agrees that the stage will be challenging. "It's huge. It's only going to be an hour and 20 minutes but there could be some serious time gaps. We'll have to play it lap by lap, mile by mile."
Should they successfully defend their GC lead, every rider agreed that the race will be decided on Saturday's epic, 145 kilometer stage, which crosses three alpine-style peaks; the third a 10-mile, 4,500-foot climb to the Snowbird Ski Resort. Wherry says his Toyota United team, not having a jersey to defend, is in good position for that final day. "Tomorrow (Friday's circuit race) is not easy at all but we don't have to defend the jersey so if I can conserve my energy and get some recovery in the next couple of days, I'll be fine. I'm looking forward to Saturday."
Swindlehurst is more cautious. "Saturday is going to make today look like a walk in the park."
Photography
For a thumbnail gallery of these images, click here
Images by Steve Medcroft/Cyclingnews.com
- Jesse Anthony (Kodakgallery.com/Sierra Nevada) wore the KOM jersey at the beginning of the first mountain stage of the Tour of Utah
- Seregy Lagutin (Navigators) in the Sprint leader's jersey
- Chris Wherry (Toyota United) in the yellow leader's jersey
- Jeff Louder (Health Net/Maxxis), all smiles at the beginning. He'd be smiling at the finish too after overtaking Wherry for the race leadership
- Burke Swindlehurst (Navigators) would be the main instigator on Thursday; leading for part of the 20-mile climb
- Scott Moninger (Health Net/Maxxis) would sprint away from a final lead pack containing Swindlehurst, Louder and Glenn Chadwick (Navigators) to win the stage
- An early break of ten riders stayed away until the climbing started. Then the wheels came off
- Mountains ho!
- Mountain victims fell off the lead group quickly
- Michael Creed (TIAA Cref) was sent back to help teammate Thomas Peterson reconnect with the leaders
- Phil Zajicek (Navigators) was first to attack on the climb
- Zajicek looks ahead
- Utah's version of the Tour de France's Devil. Not exactly sure what the theme was?
- Burke Swindlehurst on his own off the front of the race
- Moninger attacked to join Swindlehurst up the road
- Glenn Chadwick went next
- Phil Zajicek spent some time alone
- Louder came after Chadwick. Louder's chase allowed Moninger to sit on Swindlehurst and stay fresh for the finish
- Louder caught Chadwick with about 5k to go
- The four jerseys waiting for their new owners
- Moninger kicks and gets 100-meters separation for the stage win
- Moninger shows off his no-handing balancing skills
- Louder outsprinted Chadwick to grab a six-second bonus and move into the yellow jersey
- Swindlehurst shows the effort of his epic ride
- Chadwick is congratulated for his third place finish
- Jeff Louder is still smiling as you read this
- Louder in yellow - the jersey he will wear in front of his home town crowd in Friday's downtown Salt Lake City circuit race
Results
1 Scott Moninger (USA) Health Net Presented By Maxxis 2.38.32 2 Jeff Louder (USA) Health Net Presented By Maxxis 0.19 3 Glen Chadwick (Aus) Navigators Insurance 4 Burke Swindlehurst (USA) Navigators Insurance 0.32 5 Cesar Grajales (Col) Navigators Insurance 1.35 6 Jonathan Garcia (USA) Team Einstein's Cycling 7 David Rodriguez (USA) BMC Racing 1.40 8 Phil Zajicek (USA) Navigators Insurance 9 Chris Wherry (USA) Toyota United 10 Dominique Perras (Can) Kodakgallery.Com/Sierra Nevada 1.47 11 Blake Caldwell (USA) Team Tiaa-Cref 2.19 12 Sergey Lagutin (Uzb) Navigators Insurance 2.35 13 Nathan Miller (USA) BMC Racing 2.40 14 Scott Nydam (USA) BMC Racing 2.43 15 Thomas Peterson (USA) Team Tiaa-Cref 2.46 16 Tom Zirbel (USA) Priority Health 3.49 17 Chris Lieto (USA) California Giant Strawberries 5.06 18 Jesse Anthony (USA) Kodakgallery.Com/Sierra Nevada 19 Mitchell Moreman (USA) Vitamin Cottage 20 Cory Collier (USA) Team Einstein's Cycling 21 Valeriy Kobzarenko (Ukr) Navigators Insurance 22 Brian Sheedy (USA) Priority Health 23 Michael Creed (USA) Team Tiaa-Cref 24 Neil Shirley (USA) KJZZ - Pro Composite Team 5.39 25 Ryan Yee (USA) Team Successful Living 5.53 26 Stefano Barberi (Bra) Toyota United 6.07 27 Jason Donald (USA) Team Einstein's Cycling 28 Eric Wohlberg (Can) Symmetrics Cycling 6.34 29 Brandon Crichton (Can) Symmetrics Cycling 6.42 30 John Hunt (USA) California Giant Strawberries 7.24 31 Steven Cozza (USA) Team Tiaa-Cref 7.47 32 Mark Santurbane (USA) Broadmark 7.52 33 Kevin Rowe (USA) California Giant Strawberries 8.01 34 Jacob Erker (Can) Symmetrics Cycling 9.07 35 Jared Berger (USA) Vitamin Cottage 10.04 36 Calvin Allen (USA) Broadmark 10.09 37 Jacob Rosenbarger (USA) BMC Racing 10.21 38 Owen Laine (USA) BMC Racing 39 Michael Sayers (USA) Health Net Presented By Maxxis 10.47 40 Michael Friedman (USA) Team Tiaa-Cref 11.30 41 Sandy Perrins (USA) Sienna Dev/Goble Knee Clinic 42 Eric Pardyjak (USA) Team 101.9 The End 11.56 43 Bryson Perry (USA) Team Successful Living 44 David Robinson (USA) Kodakgallery.Com/Sierra Nevada 12.11 45 Mike Dietrich (USA) Kodakgallery.Com/Sierra Nevada 12.39 46 Ian Ayers (USA) KJZZ - Pro Composite Team 13.13 47 Matt Cooke (USA) KJZZ - Pro Composite Team 13.47 48 Andrew Bajadali (USA) KJZZ - Pro Composite Team 13.56 49 Mike Telega (USA) California Giant Strawberries 14.40 50 Daniel Wilson (USA) Sienna Dev/Goble Knee Clinic 51 Max Jenkins (USA) California Giant Strawberries 52 Douglas Ollerenshaw (USA) Health Net Presented By Maxxis 14.56 53 Timmy Duggan (USA) Team Tiaa-Cref 54 Dave Harward (USA) Team 101.9 The End 15.26 55 Jacob Rytlewski (USA) Priority Health 15.52 56 Cameron Evans (Can) Symmetrics Cycling 16.22 57 James Mattis (USA) California Giant Strawberries 19.14 58 Chris Baldwin (USA) Toyota United 59 Christopher Jones (USA) KJZZ - Pro Composite Team 20.28 60 Jesse Gordon (USA) Team 101.9 The End 61 Omar Kem (USA) Priority Health 62 Chris Brennan (USA) Vitamin Cottage 63 Justin England (USA) Toyota United 64 Chris Stockburger (USA) Toyota United 65 Zachary Grabowski (USA) KJZZ - Pro Composite Team 66 Scott Zwizanski (USA) Kodakgallery.Com/Sierra Nevada 67 Ryan Hamity (USA) Team Einstein's Cycling 22.37 68 Clayton Barrows (USA) Team Einstein's Cycling 69 Joshua Thornton (USA) Toyota United 70 Daniel Ramsey (USA) Team Successful Living 71 Glen Mitchell (NZl) Priority Health 72 Kirk O'Bee (USA) Health Net Presented By Maxxis 73 Ken Hanson (USA) BMC Racing 24.02 74 Andrew Randell (Can) Symmetrics Cycling 26.17 75 Ryan Barrett (USA) Sienna Dev/Goble Knee Clinic 27.13 76 Curtis Gunn (USA) Team Successful Living 77 Adam Curry (USA) Broadmark 78 Andrew Pinfold (Can) Symmetrics Cycling 79 Alexi Martinez (USA) Team Successful Living 80 Craig Mccartney (USA) Vitamin Cottage 81 Charles Coyle (USA) Vitamin Cottage 82 Kirk Eck (USA) Sienna Dev/Goble Knee Clinic 83 Skyler Bingham (USA) Team 101.9 The End 84 Joby Siciliano (USA) Team Einstein's Cycling 27.21 Teams 1 Navigators 7.58.02 2 BMC Racing 4.37 3 TIAA CREF 7.45 4 Health Net 8.40 5 Team Einstein's Cycling 10.22 6 Kodakgallery.com/Sierra N evada 16.38 7 CA Giant/Village Peddler 18.05 8 Symmetrics Cycling 19.57 9 Priority Health 22.21 10 Toyota United 24.35 11 KJZZ - Composite Team 30.13 12 Vitamin Cottage 33.12 13 Successfulliving.com 38.00 14 Broadmark/Hagens-Berman 42.48 15 Team End (Utah Allstars) 45.24 16 Sienna Dev't/Goble Knee 50.57 General classification after stage four 1 Jeff Louder (USA) Health Net Presented By Maxxis 10.08.34 2 Scott Moninger (USA) Health Net Presented By Maxxis 0.02 3 Glen Chadwick (Aus) Navigators Insurance 0.23 4 Burke Swindlehurst (USA) Navigators Insurance 0.52 5 Chris Wherry (USA) Toyota United 0.57 6 Cesar Grajales (Col) Navigators Insurance 1.52 7 Sergey Lagutin (Uzb) Navigators Insurance 2.06 8 Dominique Perras (Can) Kodakgallery.Com/Sierra Nevada 2.46 9 David Rodriguez (USA) BMC Racing 10 Jonathan Garcia (USA) Team Einstein's Cycling 2.49 11 Blake Caldwell (USA) Team Tiaa-Cref 3.02 12 Scott Nydam (USA) BMC Racing 3.19 13 Thomas Peterson (USA) Team Tiaa-Cref 3.34 14 Tom Zirbel (USA) Priority Health 3.47 15 Brian Sheedy (USA) Priority Health 5.46 16 Jesse Anthony (USA) Kodakgallery.Com/Sierra Nevada 6.02 17 Chris Lieto (USA) California Giant Strawberries 6.25 18 Neil Shirley (USA) KJZZ - Pro Composite Team 6.31 19 Stefano Barberi (Bra) Toyota United 6.43 20 Eric Wohlberg (Can) Symmetrics Cycling 7.03 21 Jason Donald (USA) Team Einstein's Cycling 7.14 22 Valeriy Kobzarenko (Ukr) Navigators Insurance 7.21 23 Phil Zajicek (USA) Navigators Insurance 7.24 24 Cory Collier (USA) Team Einstein's Cycling 7.38 25 Michael Creed (USA) Team Tiaa-Cref 7.44 26 Ryan Yee (USA) Team Successful Living 7.54 27 John Hunt (USA) California Giant Strawberries 8.14 28 Brandon Crichton (Can) Symmetrics Cycling 8.39 29 Steven Cozza (USA) Team Tiaa-Cref 8.44 30 Kevin Rowe (USA) California Giant Strawberries 9.13 31 Jacob Erker (Can) Symmetrics Cycling 10.00 32 Jacob Rosenbarger (USA) BMC Racing 11.09 33 Owen Laine (USA) BMC Racing 11.36 34 Mark Santurbane (USA) Broadmark 11.45 35 Michael Friedman (USA) Team Tiaa-Cref 11.48 36 Calvin Allen (USA) Broadmark 12.36 37 Sandy Perrins (USA) Sienna Dev/Goble Knee Clinic 12.49 38 Michael Sayers (USA) Health Net Presented By Maxxis 12.57 39 Nathan Miller (USA) BMC Racing 14.39 40 Andrew Bajadali (USA) KJZZ - Pro Composite Team 14.58 41 Timmy Duggan (USA) Team Tiaa-Cref 15.26 42 Mike Telega (USA) California Giant Strawberries 15.43 43 Eric Pardyjak (USA) Team 101.9 The End 16.01 44 Daniel Wilson (USA) Sienna Dev/Goble Knee Clinic 16.22 45 Mike Dietrich (USA) Kodakgallery.Com/Sierra Nevada 16.51 46 Jacob Rytlewski (USA) Priority Health 16.52 47 Douglas Ollerenshaw (USA) Health Net Presented By Maxxis 17.24 48 Jared Berger (USA) Vitamin Cottage 17.47 49 Dave Harward (USA) Team 101.9 The End 17.53 50 Cameron Evans (Can) Symmetrics Cycling 18.00 51 Bryson Perry (USA) Team Successful Living 18.01 52 Chris Baldwin (USA) Toyota United 18.57 53 Mitchell Moreman (USA) Vitamin Cottage 19.46 54 Ian Ayers (USA) KJZZ - Pro Composite Team 55 James Mattis (USA) California Giant Strawberries 20.18 56 David Robinson (USA) Kodakgallery.Com/Sierra Nevada 20.39 57 Max Jenkins (USA) California Giant Strawberries 20.57 58 Matt Cooke (USA) KJZZ - Pro Composite Team 21.17 59 Justin England (USA) Toyota United 21.23 60 Chris Stockburger (USA) Toyota United 21.44 61 Christopher Jones (USA) KJZZ - Pro Composite Team 22.05 62 Scott Zwizanski (USA) Kodakgallery.Com/Sierra Nevada 22.46 63 Clayton Barrows (USA) Team Einstein's Cycling 23.35 64 Zachary Grabowski (USA) KJZZ - Pro Composite Team 65 Joshua Thornton (USA) Toyota United 23.38 66 Jesse Gordon (USA) Team 101.9 The End 24.49 67 Ken Hanson (USA) BMC Racing 25.34 68 Ryan Hamity (USA) Team Einstein's Cycling 26.14 69 Kirk O'Bee (USA) Health Net Presented By Maxxis 27.01 70 Omar Kem (USA) Priority Health 27.42 71 Daniel Ramsey (USA) Team Successful Living 27.52 72 Andrew Pinfold (Can) Symmetrics Cycling 27.58 73 Chris Brennan (USA) Vitamin Cottage 28.02 74 Curtis Gunn (USA) Team Successful Living 28.07 75 Craig Mccartney (USA) Vitamin Cottage 28.57 76 Andrew Randell (Can) Symmetrics Cycling 29.18 77 Charles Coyle (USA) Vitamin Cottage 78 Kirk Eck (USA) Sienna Dev/Goble Knee Clinic 31.44 79 Skyler Bingham (USA) Team 101.9 The End 32.07 80 Alexi Martinez (USA) Team Successful Living 32.38 81 Ryan Barrett (USA) Sienna Dev/Goble Knee Clinic 34.22 82 Adam Curry (USA) Broadmark 34.29 83 Todd Hageman (USA) Team 101.9 The End 35.31 84 Glen Mitchell (NZl) Priority Health 37.27 85 Joby Siciliano (USA) Team Einstein's Cycling 42.05 Points classification 1 Sergey Lagutin (Uzb) Navigators Insurance 25 pts 2 Michael Sayers (USA) Health Net Presented By Maxxis 19 3 Chris Wherry (USA) Toyota United 19 4 Andrew Pinfold (Can) Symmetrics Cycling 19 5 Jeff Louder (USA) Health Net Presented By Maxxis 18 6 Michael Friedman (USA) Team Tiaa-Cref 17 7 Ryan Yee (USA) Team Successful Living 13 8 Jesse Anthony (USA) Kodakgallery.Com/Sierra Nevada 11 9 Cesar Grajales (Col) Navigators Insurance 7 10 Ken Hanson (USA) BMC Racing 7 11 Clayton Barrows (USA) Team Einstein's Cycling 6 12 Neil Shirley (USA) KJZZ - Pro Composite Team 6 13 Phil Zajicek (USA) Navigators Insurance 5 14 Scott Moninger (USA) Health Net Presented By Maxxis 4 15 Cameron Evans (Can) Symmetrics Cycling 3 16 Dominique Perras (Can) Kodakgallery.Com/Sierra Nevada 3 17 Joshua Thornton (USA) Toyota United 3 18 Valeriy Kobzarenko (Ukr) Navigators Insurance 2 19 Burke Swindlehurst (USA) Navigators Insurance 2 20 Jacob Rytlewski (USA) Priority Health 1 21 Brandon Crichton (Can) Symmetrics Cycling 1 22 Nathan Miller (USA) BMC Racing 1 23 Thomas Peterson (USA) Team Tiaa-Cref 1 Mountains classification 1 Scott Moninger (USA) Health Net Presented By Maxxis 12 pts 2 Jeff Louder (USA) Health Net Presented By Maxxis 10 3 Glen Chadwick (Aus) Navigators Insurance 8 4 Burke Swindlehurst (USA) Navigators Insurance 7 5 Cesar Grajales (Col) Navigators Insurance 6 6 Jonathan Garcia (USA) Team Einstein's Cycling 5 7 Jesse Anthony (USA) Kodakgallery.Com/Sierra Nevada 4 8 David Rodriguez (USA) BMC Racing 4 9 Phil Zajicek (USA) Navigators Insurance 3 10 Clayton Barrows (USA) Team Einstein's Cycling 3 11 Chris Wherry (USA) Toyota United 2 12 Scott Nydam (USA) BMC Racing 2 13 Dominique Perras (Can) Kodakgallery.Com/Sierra Nevada 1 14 James Mattis (USA) California Giant Strawberries 1 Teams classification 1 Navigators 30.28.18 2 BMC Racing 6.49 3 TIAA CREF 9.09 4 Health Net 10.29 5 Team Einstein's Cycling 13.35 6 CA Giant/Village Peddler 20.02 7 Kodakgallery.com/Sierra Nevada 20.48 8 Symmetrics Cycling 21.47 9 Priority Health 23.50 10 Toyota United 24.11 11 KJZZ - Composite Team 33.34 12 Successfulliving.com 41.15 13 Vitamin Cottage 42.34 14 Team End (Utah Allstars) 52.30 15 Broadmark/Hagens-Berman 56.14 16 Sienna Dev't/Goble Knee 58.09
