Tschopp takes the stage and overall lead in Snowbird

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 BMC's Johann Tschopp bridged from the field to a small breakaway on the slopes of the final beyond-category climb Saturday at the Tour of Utah and then soloed in to win the Queen stage and claim the yellow jersey from Garmin-Sharp's Christian Vande Velde.

Tschopp finished the stage 43 seconds ahead of NetApp's Leopold Koenig and 47 seconds ahead of Bontrager-Livestrong's Joe Dombrowski. Vande Velde came in 1:38 down on Tschopp and is now in second place overall, 38 seconds behind the Swiss rider. RadioShack-Nissan's Matthew Busche finished 1:02 down on the stage for seventh and climbed to third overall, 43 seconds behind.

The race started at the Newpark Town Center below the Park City ski area used for 2002 Winter Olympic ski jumping events. It finished at the Snowbird Ski Area and Summer Resort after 162.8km and 3,048 meters of climbing. The day included three sprint points and four KOM spots, including the finish. Riders tackled the category 4 climb above Jordanelle Reservoir as an hors d'oeuvre before the more significant climbs to come, including the category 1 ascent of Alpine Loop and the category 2 Suncrest climb about 36km from the finish at Snowbird.

An early breakaway of five riders formed from a much larger group of 23 as the riders made their way off the Jordanelle climb and came out of the tiny town of Heber about 56.5km into the race. Ben King (RadioShack-Nissan) joined Valerio Agnoli (Liquigas-Cannondale), Jeff Louder (UnitedHealthcare), Chris Barton (Bissell Pro Cycling) and 2011 stage winner Jesse Anthony (Optum-Kelly Benefit Strategies) in a move that quickly began building time on the field as they made their way toward the ascent of Alpine Loop that started about 88 km into the race.

The leaders held a 4:45 gap at the bottom of the climb,which slowed their pace down to 16km/h on the narrow, winding road that traversed the steep forested slopes leading to the Sundance Resort at the summit. Competitive Cyclist's Francisco Mancebo jumped away from the field as it turned onto the climb and started a solo bridge attempt that would see him connect with the leaders near the summit after passing Barton, who had lost contact about halfway up the 11km ascent.

A chasing group of riders formed coming off the descent and rode to within 1:30 of the leaders as they passed through the town of Alpine in the valley below. BMC's Michael Scharr, Rabobank's Tom Slagter, Liquigas-Cannondale's Timmy Duggan, Champion System's Caleb Fairly and Bissell's Ben Jacques-Maynes had an advantage of 1:40 over the field, which was being driven by Vande Velde's Garmin-Sharp squad.

The chase brought the leaders' advantage down to just 40 seconds on the category 2 Suncrest climb. They made contact soon after as they descended back into the valley before setting out for the final ascent as a group of nine after Fairly crashed hard at the bottom of Suncrest. The newly formed breakaway had a lead of 1:55 with 20km remaining when Anthony decided to jump away and set out on his own and built a gap of nearly 20 seconds. Mancebo, who won the jersey for most aggressive rider on the stage, jumped from the group and set out after Anthony, but his effort was short-lived as the bunch behind started to explode on the lower slopes of the Snowbird climb and the front of the quickly fracturing field started gobbling up the remnants of the breakaway.

Garmin-Sharp's Peter Stetina, RadioShack-Nissan's Chris Horner and a rider from the Colombian EPM-UNE squad peeled off the front of the field but were soon joined by most of the GC contenders, including Levi Leipheimer (Omega Pharma-Quickstep), Garmin's Tom Danielson and Christian Vande Velde, Tschopp, Koenig, and Bontrager-Livestrong's Joe Dombrowski and Ian Boswell.

While the GC battle played out behind, Anthony had been caught at the front of the race, and Mancebo was also falling off the leaders' pace. Rabobank's Tom Slagter, who officials reinstated in the race after a disqualification on stage 3, had pulled away from the rest and was being chased by Duggan, King and Scharr, who were struggling up the road in that order.

Tschopp made his move, and he apparently timed it perfectly, slipping away from the select bunch and steadily building a gap as he looked strong and smooth all of the way up the climb. Tschopp caught and passed all of the breakaway riders in succession until he was alone with nothing between him and stage victory.

Behind, Vande Velde appeared to be in a spot of trouble as his teammates Danielson and Stetina set the pace for the select bunch that was also collecting the breakaway remnants. Danielson said there was some confusion in the group.

"First [Vande Velde] was there, and then he wasn't there," Danielson said. "When he came off I didn't feel super so I waited for him, then they told me to keep going. And I just wasn't super so I wanted to go with him, and then I just had problem with the heat or whatever."

Sensing an opportunity, Leipheimer lit out for the finish, taking Dombrowski with him. Boswell and Koenig bridged up to the pair and then Boswell put in his own attack. Koenig set out after him with Leipheimer and Dombrowski in tow. The trio reeled Boswell back, and Koenig immediately countered, this time taking Dombrowski with him.

The pair was a handful of seconds ahead of Leipheimer and Boswell and tried in vain to catch Tschopp, who had built a lead of nearly 45 seconds by the finish. Koenig came in 43 second behind Tschopp for second after separating from Dombrowski near the very top of the climb. The 21-year-old development team rider, who finished fourth on the Mt. Baldy stage at the Tour of California and then won the Baby Giro, made the podium in third, 47 seconds behind the leader. Dombrowski came oh-so-close but just couldn't hang onto Koenig at the line.

"There's a little crest and then you come downhill to the finish," he said. "And I was just like three or four meters off his wheel. I couldn't catch on, and then he hit the downhill and I was like, 'pffff, not gonna make it.' [Third] isn't bad though, either."

Boswell crossed the line another five seconds behind his teammate, with Leipheimer grabbing fifth, a minute behind the leader. Vande Velde regrouped and finished ninth, 1:38 behind Tschopp, who had started the day exactly one minute behind Vande Velde in the overall competition. RadioShack-Nissan's Chris Horner finished out the top 10, coming in with the same time as Vande Velde.

Tschopp was ecstatic on the podium as he pulled on his first-ever yellow jersey in stage race.

"For me, it's a special moment," Tschopp said in French through an interpreter. "It is the first time that I wear the leader's jersey in a stage race. I prepared very well for the Tour of Utah, it's a race that is well suited for me with its beautiful roads, a lot of mountains and mountains that suit me. It is somewhat similar to Valais in Switzerland. I had fun."

Dombrowski now wears the jersey for best young rider, while Jacques-Maynes won back the mountains jersey he lost earlier in the race to Duggan. Rabobank's Michael Matthews held onto the sprinter's top, while Mancebo got the most agressive rider prize. UnitedHealthcare's Jeff Louder remains the best Utah rider.

The 2012 Tour of Utah concludes Sunday with the 123.5 km "King" stage that will throw another 2,086 meters of climbing at the peloton. The route covers terrain the race has never visited before, including the scenic and private Wolf Creek Ranch, a 3.5km climb that hits grades of 22 percent. The Empire Pass climb comes 93km into the race and sets the bar for pure heinousness in length and pitch. The 17km ascent to the top of the pass has grades that reach near 20 percent. The day ends with a very fast winding 13km descent of Royal Street in the Snow Park area of Deer Valley, finishing in front of the Kimball Arts Center on lower Main Street in Park City.

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