Leipheimer victorious on Mount Nebo

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Levi Leipheimer has claimed his second victory on home soil this week after winning the Tour of Utah’s Stage 2, atop Mount Nebo. Leipheimer’s 51 second victory over defending champion Francisco Mancebo Perez (Canyon Bicycles) on the stage moves the Mellow Johnny’s rider into the race’s overall lead.

Leipheimer’s victory came just days after he won the Leadville 100 mountain bike race, setting a record time over the course. Without any team-mates to help him in Utah Leipheimer expected he’d be out of the general classification race, but will now have the leader’s jersey to defend on tomorrow’s Stage 3 time trial.

“The last five kilometres was windy, high altitude and I’m getting sick of this high altitude feeling, it’s not very good,” Leipheimer said. “I went away and I felt good, but you do one big effort and the altitude is crazy, it makes you hurt really bad.

“I tried not to go over my limit and keep it steady,” he added. “I knew behind that they were hurting and they weren’t working together well.”

As expected the Mt Nebo ascent shook up the overall classification, with Leipheimer leading heading into his specialty the individual time trial. Leipheimer says his proven track record in the individual time trial should allow him to maintain the yellow jersey after the stage at Miller Motorsport Park on Friday.

“I took the jersey, whatever, I probably won’t hold onto it by the end of the race,” Leipheimer said. “I came here to win a stage and I saw the opportunity, so I had to take it. History has shown that I can time trial but you never know what can happen tomorrow, I should be able to keep the race lead.”

The Mt. Nebo battle for yellow

Jai Crawford (Fly V Australia) was the first rider make a move at the base of stage two’s finishing climb Mt Nebo, an ascent that traveled as high as 9,345 feet. His teammate Darren Lill counter attacked and gained a sizeable lead on the field with Cesar Grajales (On The Rivet) in tow. The threatening duo forced defending champion Mancebo to chase with little help from his companions Leipheimer, Boswell and Phil Zajicek (Fly V Australia).

Once the group of six riders reunited Mancebo was the next to make a move and rode clear of his climbing rivals. Leipheimer jumped across to the Spaniard and the pair set a blazing tempo mid-way up the ascent. Through the tight switchbacks and the tall Aspens, Boswell lingered in the background, a young and quiet competitor fighting to reel back the two veteran Grand Tour contenders.

“Mancebo did all the work and I sat behind with a grimacing look on my face,” Leipheimer said. “I guess he thought I was serious so he did all the work and brought back Darren. It was Darren, Phil, Boswell, Mancebo and myself. We kind of looked at each other and Mancebo hit it hard on one of the pitches. Then I went alone.”

Leipheimer made his winning move with five kilometres remaining by letting loose a monster attack, strong enough to drop Mancebo from his wheel. He showed the form he displayed at Leadville by soloing to the finish line with a more than 50-second margin. Leipheimer only needed a six seconds to Lill, the highest placed rider in the overall classification from that group, in order to take over the yellow jersey.

“I am tired but that’s ok,” said Mancebo who won the Tour de Guadeloupe on Sunday and flew to the Utah on Monday. “I didn’t know that Levi was feeling that good. With five kilometres to go he went hard and he is very strong. He attacked very, very strong. I’m still happy with my climb. I know Levi was strong today and he will be strong in the time trial tomorrow. But there is more climbing left.”

Boswell reunited with Mancebo and the pair sprinted to the finish line for the remaining podium places. Mancebo used his experience to outpace Boswell to the line for second.

“I’ve been here in Utah training for 10 days with my team,” Boswell said. “I rode pretty well at Cascade, which is where I’m from. I was going uphill well and today was a good time to test my legs. I don’t want to say that I surprised myself but at the same time knowing that I’ve been riding uphill well, it is good to actually race and ride with these guys.”

Former race leader Alex Dowsett (Trek-Livestrong) finished the climb more than 12 minutes behind. Other climbers who finished inside the top 10 include Pat McCarty (Rio Grande), Max Jenkins (UnitedHealthcare-Maxxis), Tyler Wren (Jamis-Sutter Home) and Tim Roe (Trek-Livestrong).

Large breakaways emerge pre-Mt Nebo

A large group of riders split off the front of the peloton in the opening kilometres of the 125.6 km event. The large split included Bradley Gehirg (Canyon Bicycles), Ben Jacques-Maynes, Frank Pipp and Peter Latham (Bissell), Larry Warbasse (BMC Racing), Ivan Dominguez and Luis Amaran (Jamis-Sutter Home), Ken Hanson (Team Type 1), Mike Friedman (Jelly Belly-Kenda), Taylor Kneuven (Rio Grande), Joe Dombroski, Ben King and Taylor Phinney (Trek-Livestrong), Jay Thomson, Darren Rolfe and Phil Zajicek (Fly V Australia) and Chris Baldwin (UnitedHealthcare-Maxxis).

The group gained a maximum advantage of 1:30 minute on the field before being reabsorbed before the first sprint zone. Prologue winner Phinney took full points in the first sprint ahead of Hanson and previous day’s winner David Tanner (Fly V Australia), who is also leading the sprint classification.

The peloton gently rolled along narrow, rural roads that wound through the valley toward the foothills of the Wasatch Mountain Range. An unfortunate accident saw USPro Road Champion George Hincapie (BMC Racing Team) withdraw from the race. While Hincapie was transported to hospital, early reports suggest he suffered no broken bones.

Tanner took full points at the second sprint zone, increasing his lead in the sprint competition, ahead of Danny Summer Hill (Holowesko Partners) and Amaran.

The three riders were a part of a large breakaway that also included David Harward (Canyon Bicycles), Peter Latham (Bissell), Ivan Dominguez and Andy Guptill (Jamis-Sutter Home), Ried Mumford (Kelly Benefit Strategies), Phil Gaimon (Kenda-Geargrinder), Pat McCarty (Rio Grande), Chris Jones (Team Type 1), Marc De Maar, Brad White and Morgan Schmitt (UnitedHealthcare-Maxxis).

The lead climbers set a fast enough tempo out of the main field to catch and pass though breakaway riders in a tactical battle on the way up the final 12 km to the top of Mt Nebo. “We caught the big group at the lower steeper parts of the climb,” Leipheimer said. “As the climb pitched up and got steeper we were pretty much all together.”

Click here for the start order and times for tomorrow's time trial.

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