Lill solos to victory on Mount Nebo

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Darren Lill celebrated his 27th birthday in fine fashion, with a solo victory on the Tour of Utah's second stage. The Team Type 1 rider attacked at the bottom of the 32-kilometre ascent of Mount Nebo. Francisco Mancebo (Rock Racing) attacked an eight-rider chase group to capture second place, and maintain his overall lead, ahead of defending race champion Jeff Louder (BMC).

“It’s nice to get a win on my birthday,” said Lill. “I’ve been looking for a win for a long time and I don’t know what’s been going on but praise God for helping me today because it was a long, hard day and I definitely needed his help all the way to the line - I was praying the whole way.”

As expected the decisive finishing climb caused the overall classification to reshuffle. Lill’s stage-winning performance moved him up into second place, 35 seconds behind Mancebo, while Louder also moved closer to the overall lead by taking third place, 40 seconds back.

“The last climb was very hard and there weren’t very many people left,” Mancebo said. “Lill attacked and he was very strong. Sevilla worked very hard to bring back a lot of attacks on the way up the climb. I fell off the group a few times because I just couldn’t stay with them in those moments. I came back and jumped at the very finish. I will wear the jersey again tomorrow and hopefully I’ll be able to keep it until the end.”

The Spanish climber reaped the benefits of having an equally talented team-mate in Oscar Sevilla at his disposal during the climb up Mount Nebo. Lill counter attacked OUCH-Maxxis’ near five-kilometre lead-out into the start of the lengthy climb. Sevilla went with him and the pair set off on what looked to be a move too early.

“I was seesawing all day fighting cramps,” said Bissell’s climber Burke Swindlehurst. “OUCH set a fast tempo at the bottom, the kind where you would think there was five kilometres left in the race, not 35! That was pretty interesting that they would ride that hard into what was essentially an hour and thirty minute climb. As soon as it looked like OUCH didn’t have anymore matches to burn Lill went and Sevilla went with him.”

Mancebo sat back amongst a 11-rider chase group without additional tea-mmates for protection. The small bunch quickly became aware of the leader’s isolation and started attacking. Up front Sevilla sacrificed his own opportunity to move into the race lead and dropped off of Lill’s wheel to return to his team-mate and friend’s side as a faithful servant.

“I dropped back because we had a long way to go,” Sevilla said. “Mancebo is our leader and he is very strong. It was better for us to stay together. There were a lot of attacks coming from Baldwin and Louder. In the last couple of kilometres I couldn’t do any more. Our team worked very good today.”

Back in the chase group Sevilla set a quick tempo on the front of the field to try to reduce the time to Lill, who had gained over a minute and became the virtual race leader. However the attacks continued mid-climb forcing the chase group to reduce to nine riders, Louder, Pat McCarty and Chris Baldwin (OUCH p/b Maxis), Matthew Busche (Kelly Benefit Strategies), Anthony Colby (Colavita-Sutter Home), Phil Zajicek (Fly V. Australia) and Burke Swindlehurst (Bissell).

After their dominant display to finish one-two on the previous stage, Sevilla and Mancebo surprisingly displayed signs of weakness with both falling off pace as activity within the chase group increased. Louder put in several attacks in pursuit of Lill followed by counter attacks from Baldwin and McCarty.

“When Lill attacked no one could match him,” said Louder. “I know Lill is strong and very motivated. He’s good at getting out there and putting his head down and going for it. He was really steady and we were on and off. I just stayed with the leaders Mancebo and Sevilla.

“I tried to hit them three or four times and they were just too strong,” he added. “All I could manage was third. It was a disappointing third but it’s still a long race and I didn’t give up too much time today.”

Lill maintained a steady tempo holding his margin at one minute. It decreased during moments of high activity in the chase group and went up again when the bunch settled down.

“I rode this climb last week and I had an idea of what was in store,” Lill said. “Some of the bigger guys would do better over the top where it’s rolling, they can get some recovery there. I wanted to do damage at the bottom of the climb where it was steeper. I wanted to get some time. I don’t think I gained as much time as I would have liked but I’m happy with the win, it’s great for my Team Type 1.”

The chase group successfully rid Sevilla from the group and Mancebo fought hard, yo-yoing in and out of the group trying to maintain contact. A slight downhill was all it took for Mancebo to find his second wind and he attacked with 200-metres to go to capture second place.

“Mancebo’s been top 10 in the Tour a couple of times so he is a great rider,” Louder said. “He’s also a nice guy and it’s good to be able to race against good riders and race against the world’s best. Even when Mancebo is suffering he’s got that little bit more.

“I didn’t think he was going to go like he did at the end,” added Louder. “I though we had him on the ropes. He knows what he’s doing and saved just a little for the end. Maybe it’s just desire but he always had something left.”

In addition to his race lead Mancebo leads the sprint classification. Lill’s stage win moved him into the event’s mountains classification jersey. Louder moved into the Best Utah Rider jersey, ahead of the previous day’s leader Dave Zabriskie (DZ Nuts) while USA Under 23 road and criterium champion Alex Howes (Felt-Holowesko Partners-Garmin) is the event’s best young rider.

The Tour of Utah continues on Friday with a 14.5-kilometre individual time trial at Miller Motorsports Park.

More photos to follow.

Darren Lill celebrated his 27th birthday in fine fashion, with a solo victory on the Tour of Utah's second stage. The Team Type 1 rider attacked at the bottom of the 32-kilometre ascent of Mount Nebo. Francisco Mancebo (Rock Racing) attacked an eight-rider chase group to capture second place, and maintain his overall lead, ahead of defending race champion Jeff Louder (BMC).

“It’s nice to get a win on my birthday,” said Lill. “I’ve been looking for a win for a long time and I don’t know what’s been going on but praise God for helping me today because it was a long, hard day and I definitely needed his help all the way to the line - I was praying the whole way.”

As expected the decisive finishing climb caused the overall classification to reshuffle. Lill’s stage-winning performance moved him up into second place, 35 seconds behind Mancebo, while Louder also moved closer to the overall lead by taking third place, 40 seconds back.

“The last climb was very hard and there weren’t very many people left,” Mancebo said. “Lill attacked and he was very strong. Sevilla worked very hard to bring back a lot of attacks on the way up the climb. I fell off the group a few times because I just couldn’t stay with them in those moments. I came back and jumped at the very finish. I will wear the jersey again tomorrow and hopefully I’ll be able to keep it until the end.”

The Spanish climber reaped the benefits of having an equally talented team-mate in Oscar Sevilla at his disposal during the climb up Mount Nebo. Lill counter attacked OUCH-Maxxis’ near five-kilometre lead-out into the start of the lengthy climb. Sevilla went with him and the pair set off on what looked to be a move too early.

“I was seesawing all day fighting cramps,” said Bissell’s climber Burke Swindlehurst. “OUCH set a fast tempo at the bottom, the kind where you would think there was five kilometres left in the race, not 35! That was pretty interesting that they would ride that hard into what was essentially an hour and thirty minute climb. As soon as it looked like OUCH didn’t have anymore matches to burn Lill went and Sevilla went with him.”

Mancebo sat back amongst a 11-rider chase group without additional tea-mmates for protection. The small bunch quickly became aware of the leader’s isolation and started attacking. Up front Sevilla sacrificed his own opportunity to move into the race lead and dropped off of Lill’s wheel to return to his team-mate and friend’s side as a faithful servant.

“I dropped back because we had a long way to go,” Sevilla said. “Mancebo is our leader and he is very strong. It was better for us to stay together. There were a lot of attacks coming from Baldwin and Louder. In the last couple of kilometres I couldn’t do any more. Our team worked very good today.”

Back in the chase group Sevilla set a quick tempo on the front of the field to try to reduce the time to Lill, who had gained over a minute and became the virtual race leader. However the attacks continued mid-climb forcing the chase group to reduce to nine riders, Louder, Pat McCarty and Chris Baldwin (OUCH p/b Maxis), Matthew Busche (Kelly Benefit Strategies), Anthony Colby (Colavita-Sutter Home), Phil Zajicek (Fly V. Australia) and Burke Swindlehurst (Bissell).

After their dominant display to finish one-two on the previous stage, Sevilla and Mancebo surprisingly displayed signs of weakness with both falling off pace as activity within the chase group increased. Louder put in several attacks in pursuit of Lill followed by counter attacks from Baldwin and McCarty.

“When Lill attacked no one could match him,” said Louder. “I know Lill is strong and very motivated. He’s good at getting out there and putting his head down and going for it. He was really steady and we were on and off. I just stayed with the leaders Mancebo and Sevilla.

“I tried to hit them three or four times and they were just too strong,” he added. “All I could manage was third. It was a disappointing third but it’s still a long race and I didn’t give up too much time today.”

Lill maintained a steady tempo holding his margin at one minute. It decreased during moments of high activity in the chase group and went up again when the bunch settled down.

“I rode this climb last week and I had an idea of what was in store,” Lill said. “Some of the bigger guys would do better over the top where it’s rolling, they can get some recovery there. I wanted to do damage at the bottom of the climb where it was steeper. I wanted to get some time. I don’t think I gained as much time as I would have liked but I’m happy with the win, it’s great for my Team Type 1.”

The chase group successfully rid Sevilla from the group and Mancebo fought hard, yo-yoing in and out of the group trying to maintain contact. A slight downhill was all it took for Mancebo to find his second wind and he attacked with 200-metres to go to capture second place.

“Mancebo’s been top 10 in the Tour a couple of times so he is a great rider,” Louder said. “He’s also a nice guy and it’s good to be able to race against good riders and race against the world’s best. Even when Mancebo is suffering he’s got that little bit more.

“I didn’t think he was going to go like he did at the end,” added Louder. “I though we had him on the ropes. He knows what he’s doing and saved just a little for the end. Maybe it’s just desire but he always had something left.”

In addition to his race lead Mancebo leads the sprint classification. Lill’s stage win moved him into the event’s mountains classification jersey. Louder moved into the Best Utah Rider jersey, ahead of the previous day’s leader Dave Zabriskie (DZ Nuts) while USA Under 23 road and criterium champion Alex Howes (Felt-Holowesko Partners-Garmin) is the event’s best young rider.

The Tour of Utah continues on Friday with a 14.5-kilometre individual time trial at Miller Motorsports Park.