Morton solos to victory in Utah's third stage

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Lachlan Morton (Garmin-Sharp) soloed to the biggest victory of his young career as the 21-year-old Australian rode alone over the Mt. Nebo summit and held off an elite chase group to win stage 3 of the Larry H. Miller Tour of Utah in Payson. Stage 1 winner Greg Van Avermaet (BMC) took the sprint for second place 33 seconds behind Morton, followed by Lucas Euser (UnitedHealthcare) in third.

Not only did Morton win the stage, but he also took over the leader's jersey from Michael Matthews (Orica-GreenEdge), who was unable to climb with the favorites over the category 1 Mt. Nebo summit near the end of the day.

The young Garmin rider praised his teammate, Ryder Hesjedal, for setting up his winning move and providing the motivation for the win.

"Ryder put the pace down early and started the build-up, and when you've got a guy who won the Giro last year setting you up, it's pretty incredible," Morton said. "To have an opportunity like that, especially as a young rider, you have to take it, and I did. So I just put my head down and focused on the finish line."

Unlike the first two stages, where the early break was comprised of just two riders, today a substantial 20-rider group jumped clear in the opening kilometres. Included in the escape were representatives from 12 of the peloton's 16 teams: Lawrence Warbasse (BMC), Rohan Dennis (Garmin-Sharp), Wesley Sulzberger and Baden Cooke (Orica-GreenEdge), Benjamin King (RadioShack Leopard), Jonathan Clarke (UnitedHealthcare), Magno Prado Nazaret, Otavio Bulgarelli and Alex Diniz Correia (Funvic Brasilinvest), Pat McCarty and Carter Jones (Bissell), Eric Young and Michael Friedman (Optum p/b Kelly Benefit Strategies), Lawson Craddock (Bontrager), Francisco Mancebo Perez and James Stemper (5-Hour Energy p/b Kenda), Fred Rodriguez and Luis Davila (Jelly Belly p/b Kenda) plus Andy Baker and Joseph Rosskopf (Hincapie Sportswear Development).

The break pushed out a lead of more than four minutes, but the efforts of RadioShack-Leopard and MTN-Qhubeka kept the group pegged at approximately three minutes for much of stage's flat opening 135km, the preamble to the stage's signature feature: the ascent of Mt. Nebo.

The break ultimately reached the early slopes of the climb intact, but with their advantage reduced to less than two minutes. King, Jones, and Craddock soon dropped their breakaway companions and faced about an hour of climbing to the summit.

"We hit the bottom of Nebo with two minutes there," Jones said. "And once you're in the break all day you're kind of committed, so you really don't want to get caught on the climb. So we gave it a good effort."

Craddock eventually cracked and was dropped from the pointy end of the race. Meanwhile, the peloton had been sharply reduced to a group of general classification contenders approximately 25-strong.

While King and Jones pushed onwards and upwards in the lead, Morton jumped away from the field and made quick work of bridging the gap across to the lead duo. With 40km remaining, two kilometres from the summit, Morton made contact and with much fresher legs soon rode away alone into the race lead.

"When I picked up the last two guys, I figured I wanted to get rid of them before the top," Morton said. "So I went as hard as I could to the KOM, and then there were a few more rollers, so it was really difficult. It was a lot longer than I thought to the finish. But you just have to put your head down and ride, so that's what I did."

Morton's pace dropped King first and then Jones, who said the Garmin rider was flying as he went past.

"Man, was he flying," Jones said. "I tried to stay with him. Ben was smart, he has the experience, and he rode his own pace. I dug super deep to tried and stay with Lachlan because I knew the summit was right there. I just had to make it there even though those rollers over the top are brutal. I totally blew myself, but thankfully Ben was generous and let me sit on his wheel for a little bit, even though recovering at 9,000 feet is not very easy."

Morton crested the summit on his own and faced 38.3km of downhill to the finish in Payson. King led Jones across the summit for second and third while mountains classification leader Michael Torckler (Bissell) took fourth place honors from the GC favorites group.

King and Jones would be caught with 24km remaining by the GC contender chase group, leaving just Morton off the front with a gap of 1:10. Morton negotiated the technical descent with aplomb, while several near crashes in the chase slowed the group's progress.

"It was a tricky descent," said Euser. "It was super-fast, and I think after a couple of guys almost crashed there was a little bit of a hesitation, and that was probably good for [Morton]."

Morton, meanwhile, was slinging himself down the hill after team director Chann McRae told him he had a chance for the stage win.

"Chann came up to me with 10km to go and said there was a pretty good chance I could maybe win," Morton said. "And then once there was still 500 meters to go I realized I could win."

Indeed, Morton arrived alone in Payson to celebrate his first victory in the professional ranks and to claim his first yellow jersey, although the race lead was never on his mind.

"I wasn't thinking about that at all really," he said. "I was just trying to get a win. I mean the yellow jersey is a nice bonus now, but we've still got a lot of cards to play on the team. It's an ideal scenario for us."

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