Mancebo claims stage, race lead

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Rock Racing's Francisco Mancebo won the Tour of Utah's opening road stage, crossing the line while holding the raised arm of teammate Oscar Sevilla. The Rock Racing duo broke away from the peloton on the stage's final climb up Big Mountain, time trialing together for the remaining 15-kilometre descent into the Salt Lake City finish. Canada's David Veilleux (Kelly Benefit Strategies) took third place in a sprint between some 40 riders.

“We went with a move on the climb and worked together the whole way down,” said Mancebo, who enjoyed stage wins in the Tour of California in February and more recently in the Cascade Cycling Classic in July. “The work was hard but we did it. Sevilla won the overall in Cascade [Classic], he wins all the time. Today it was for me.”

By virtue of capturing the 10-second time bonus at the finish line, Mancebo’s win moves the Spaniard into the race by nine seconds ahead of his teammate Sevilla in second place. Prologue winner Brent Bookwalter (BMC) dropped back to third place, 30 seconds behind, while the Tour of Utah’s Best Utah Rider Dave Zabriskie (DZ Nuts) sits in fourth place.

“Mancebo a great teammate, my friend and like a brother to me,” said Sevilla. “It was more motivating that we were friends working together today. He works very hard for me and I want to help him win this week. Whether he won or I won didn’t matter. I was happy for him to win today.”

The Spaniards entered the Tour of Utah among the race favorites thanks to their considerable climbing abilities and the mountainous terrain used in the six-stage race around Salt Lake City. The duo proved their status correct when they attacked the peloton at its weakest moment, with two kilometres of a lengthy ascent remaining near the end of the race.

“We are feeling strong and did a good training camp before coming here,” Sevilla said. “I know these climbs from last year so it was okay that we did not all see them. I would be happy to win here this year. But I am more than happy to work for the team and see Paco win.”

The pair gained an almost instantaneous 30-second advantage over a field that was falling apart at the seams from BMC’s frantic chase. A cooperative two-up time trial and a pair of grimacing faces was enough to maintain a 25-second margin over a small field lead by BMC chasers Bookwalter, Jeff Louder and Chad Beyer. Not even the added help of Zabriskie could bring the duo back.

“It was a tough day and we pretty much had it under control until Rock took control,” Louder said. “We tried to do what we could after that. I took over and rode for Brent and we pretty much held them right there. I was sure they were going to come back on the descent because our group hand strength in numbers.

“In retrospect, those two guys were above and beyond strong because we chased,” he added. “But we can’t race our bikes for other teams and riders. Sometimes I wish I knew what they were thinking.”

Rounding reservoirs, climbing mountains in Utah

Starting in Ogden, a small town located on the outskirts of Salt Lake City, 170 riders lined up early in anticipation of the tough stage. At 137 kilometres, what lay ahead wasn’t the race’s longest stage, promoting optimism from the younger and more eager U23 teams Felt-Holowekso Partners-Garmin, LandRover-Orbea and Trek-Livestrong.

The peloton stuck together up to the Pineview Reservior, catching a preview of the climbing to come as it passed by the 2002 Olympic Snow Basin Ski Resort. Stefano Barberi (Zteam) was the first to gain time on the field through the Ogden Valley. His efforts were short lived, caught at the onset of the first intermediate sprint for points.

Former ProTour rider Aaron Olson (KFAN) was the next to take a flyer at the base of the first mountain climb, a two-part ascent up to the Snow Basin. He muscled over the steep switchbacks that wound up a narrow rural back road and made it to the KOM first, picking up full points. Several attempts to bridge forced the speeds of the peloton to increase and Olson was caught before the descent down the mountain.

Brad White (OUCH-Maxxis) and Sam Bewley (Trek-Livestrong) escaped the field before the second intermediate sprint, located mid-race. Their efforts bore the most significant time advantage of 3:30, making White the virtual leader on the road. BMC took responsibility by setting tempo to keep the gap under control, as they had done early on in the stage.

After more than 30 kilometres together Bewley started to show signs of weakness and eventually fell off White’s pace half way up the second climb of the day. White continued on passing his own cheering section of family members and friends.

“I had my mom and dad, Deb and Bruce,” said White. “My wife Jenny is seven months pregnant and will come out tomorrow to watch, too. I did well here last year so they wanted to come out and watch this year. I’m happy I was able to do something for them today.”

White picked up full points over the second KOM and moved into the lead of the event’s Best Climber competition. White recognised that there are a handful of climbing specialists in the field, but won’t be deterred from trying to pick up additional points over the coming stages.

“My teammate Chris Baldwin had a really good ride today and he didn’t seem too stressed,” said White, who predicts Baldwin will be an overall contender this week. “BMC did as much work as possible. Tomorrow is a big day and we will see what happens with the Rock Racing guys and the other guys. I’ll try to contest the KOM jersey and give it a bit of a go.”

Back in the field, BMC continued to lead the chase over Big Mountain. Their efforts cut the field down to a mere 40 riders. The several strong climbers in the peloton unleashed a string of attacks as expected and dug deep to force BMC’s leaders Bookwalter and Louder into a difficult spot. The two were isolated without their teammates when Moises Aldape (Team Type 1) initiated a move that took Sevilla and Mancebo with him.

“Both those guys are really strong and they looked good all day on the earlier climbs,” said White. “When they came by me on the last climb they looked good and moving strong. The way they looked, I knew it was going to be hard to bring them back. There was a group of 20 or more riders and they didn’t look too organized. They played their cards right today and won.”

The trio caught White on the final pitch. Mancebo and Sevilla put in one more attack to rid themselves of White and Aldape. They crested the climb and blazed down Immigration Canyon to the finish line, holding a 25-second advantage over the 40-rider peloton at the finish line.

“We weren’t too concerned about the earlier breaks,” Louder said. “We could predict what was going to happen and we predicted that Rock Racing was going to race strong today. We weren’t afraid to let things go earlier to stay away, if that was going to happen it wasn’t going to be a big deal because we knew that in the days to come it would probably cost them more than it would us. It was a good shot by those guys.”

The climbing continues on stage two’s 124-kilometre stage from Thanksgiving Point to Mt Nebo. It will start the peloton on a relatively flat opening 100 kilometres before a challenging 20-kilometre climb up Mt Nebo, where the riders will gain the highest elevation at 9,300 feet.