Matthews wins stage 2 at the Tour of Utah

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After falling just short of the victory the day before, Michael Matthews (Orica-GreenEdge) sprinted to victory on stage 2 of the Tour of Utah. The 23-year-old Australian outkicked race leader Greg Van Avermaet (BMC) and Jasper Stuyven (Bontrager) to win in the field sprint finale of the 210km stage from Panguitch to Torrey.

"It's definitely been a long process this year," said Matthews, who moved to Orica-GreenEdge from Rabobank in the offseason. "I haven't had a win yet. There've been a lot of seconds, but it was a goal for me to hopefully come into this tour with good form and keep building it up through it."

Not only did Matthews atone for his missed opportunity on stage 1, but the Orica-GreenEdge rider took over the yellow jersey from Van Avermaet.

Although he obviously was enjoying his time in yellow, Matthews was realistic about his chances for keeping it, saying the team would look for more stage wins later in the week.

"I think for us tomorrow will be a rest day, if you can call it that," he said. "We'll probably back it off for tomorrow and then ramp it up again for the [Salt Lake City Circuit Race] on Friday."

There was an aggressive start to the stage, but despite numerous attacks the day's early break didn't form until 36.5km had been covered and the dust had settled following the day's opening KOM. As was the case on the opening stage, the escape was comprised of just two riders, this time Michael Hepburn (Orica-GreenEdge) and Martin Wesemann (MTN-Qhubeka).

"I'm not really a climber, and it was a pretty hilly day, so I knew if I was going to do anything it would need to be from the breakaway," Wesemann said, adding that it was important to fly the flag for his team during its first trip to the US. "This is the first time we've raced in America, so we want to get our name out there and let people know that we're actually here."

The duo stayed away for approximately 125km and at one point stretched their lead to eight minutes, but the escapees ultimately came to grief on the day's final ascent, the category 1-rated climb of Boulder Mountain. Wesemann dropped Hepburn near the top of the climb, and the South African pressed onwards for a time alone in the lead, but he, too, was reeled in with 45km to go, 7km prior to the KOM line.

"I wanted to see if I could make it pretty close to the top and maybe go over with the first bunch," said Wesemann, whose effort earned the jersey for the day's most aggressive rider. "I didn't want to make it too easy for them. I wasn't going to give up."

After the catch, Andzs Flaksis (Bontrager) jumped away from the peloton to claim top honors on the final KOM, then he continued onward solo, increasing his lead to one minute.

"Before the end of the climb everyone was calming down when the climb was almost gone," Flaksis said. "So I decided to take my moment."

With 25km to go, prior to the final descent into Torrey, the peloton split in Flaksis's wake under the impetus of Garmin-Sharp and UnitedHealthcare. Ultimately Ryder Hesjedal (Garmin-Sharp) rode away from the peloton and tried to bridge across to Flaksis on the descent, but the Canadian's pursuit was unsuccessful.

"It was a bad headwind in the final after where I went," Hesjedal said. "It's pretty tough because the peloton can do 20km more without even trying. But it was good racing. I was happy to test the legs with a little effort and see where I'm at."

Flaksis, the Latvian U23 road and time trial champion in both 2011 and 2012, continued in his solo effort at the head of the race, but in the approach to Torrey the WorldTour teams of BMC and Orica-GreenEdge notched up the pace in the peloton. While the field had Flaksis in their sights with 11km remaining, the determined 22-year-old refused to yield and dangled off the front until finally being caught inside of 5km to the finish.

"I was hoping to make it as for as I could and do everything I could," Flaksis said. "But I went pretty far from the line. When I went down the descent I hit the headwind, and the gap just came down seconds by seconds. It came down 30 seconds in like 1km. It was pretty tough."

David Zabriskie (Garmin-Sharp), competing for the first time since breaking his collarbone at the Tour of California, attacked solo with 3km to go and rode out to a slender lead but was caught soon after passing under the flamme rouge, leaving the stage win open for the sprinters.

Several riders had predicted stage 2 could provide a GC selection, with a small group of 30 to 40 riders coming to the line in Torrey. But Radioshack-Leopard's Chris Horner said he went up the final climb in his big ring and the ascent wasn't difficult enough to shake the fast men. The stage winner echoed Horner's sentiment.

"The profile probably looked a bit harder than the stage actually was, and everyone sort of went into it a little bit scared with the four categorized climbs," Matthews said. "But all of the sprinters here can still climb fairly well, and I think we probably thought it was going to be harder than it actually was."

Ty Magner, who crossed the line sixth on the stage and kept the Best Young Rider jersey he earned on stage 1 with a third-place finish, said BMC's decision to let the the breakaway go also helped the sprinters.

"For us it depended on how BMC was going to race it," he said. "If they were going to let the early break of two guys roll away, it made the climbs a lot easier. Luckily for us that worked out perfectly."

Bissell Pro Cycling's Michael Torckler collected enough KOM points throughout the stage to hold onto the climber's jersey. Matthews also claimed the sprinter's jersey with his win.

Thursday's 191.9km stage 3 features just one categorized climb, the ascent to Mt. Nebo at 2,850 meters, which is followed by another long descent into the finish in Payson.

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