Matthews makes it two in Salt Lake City

Image 1 of 22

 Australian sprinter Michael Matthews (Orica-GreenEdge) won his second stage of the 2013 Larry H. Miller Tour of Utah, taking a hotly contested sprint over stage 1 winner Greg Van Avermaet (BMC) in downtown Salt Lake City.

The pair attacked early in the final 500m of the uphill finish but played a short game of cat and mouse, allowing the rest of the peloton to briefly make contact before Matthews re-accelerated and rocketed away for the stage win. Garmin-Sharp's Lachlan Morton held onto the overall race lead.

“The boys pretty much did exactly what we said today in the meeting,” Matthews said. “We wanted to ride all day and keep it together, maybe let a little group go and bring it back slowly and make sure I'm in the best position at the bottom of the climb, which was pretty much on Greg's wheel, so it worked out perfectly.”

Van Avermaet, who had to recover from a flat tire just a few kilometers into the race, said he was disappointed with the result, but Matthews was simply stronger in the finale.

“I did everything on this climb,” the Belgian rider said. “I looked back and he was still on my wheel. We were two guys alone and you have to make a decision, go to the finish or wait and take another chance to do the sprint, and I tried to do the sprint, but yeah it was not possible to beat him. I took my chance, tried to win another stage so I'm disappointed today, it would have been nice to have another victory.”

Riders covered five laps of the hilly 10.8 km downtown circuit that featured wide-open, high-speed descents and an 11 percent grade to a false flat about 300 meters from the finish. Attacks flew fast and furious from the starting gun, with Radioshshack-Leopard's Jens Voigt attacking just a few meters after the start.

Despite the activity at the front, none of the moves stuck until Marsh Cooper (Optum-Kelly Benefit Strategies), Francisco Mancebo (5-hour Energy/Kenda) and Craig Lewis (Champion System) peeled away from the group on the fast descent just past the start-finish line. Voigt quickly jumped up to the group, followed by Bissell Pro Cycling's Chris Baldwin.

With Mancebo the highest placed overall rider at more than three minutes down, none of the riders were a threat to Morton's overall lead, but Garmin rode the front hard and kept the group's advantage to a maximum of 25 seconds.

“It was a beautiful route,” Mancebo said of the challenging course. “But Orica-GreenEdge wanted to win the stage today and worked too hard. It was unfortunate for us, but it's important to try. If you try you can win.”

Cooper ran into trouble just past the start of the fifth lap and dropped from the group, but he had more than racing to worry about after colliding with a young fan on the side of the road.

“I looked back just as [Baldwin] was coming over to the left and we sort of brushed,” Cooper said. “I got it kind of under control. I was heading off the road slowing down, and I just went into the bank. The only scary part was there was a spectator there, but I scrubbed a lot of speed before I made contact with her. Everybody was OK, so I was really happy about that.”

With one breakaway rider gone and the gap dangling between 10-15 seconds, Lewis jumped away from the group and built a slight advantage over his former companions. Voigt tried desperately to bridge but never made contact, as he, Baldwin and Mancebo were quickly swept up by the Orica-led field.

“I saw the field coming up on the last lap and we still had 15 seconds,” said Lewis, who won the jersey for the day's most aggressive rider. “I figured if I didn't do anything Jensie was going to get the jersey, so I had to try something, but I knew it wasn't going to last.”

He was right. The American held on until the final climb, but he was overhauled by the BMC-led peloton riding for Van Avermaet. From there it was a drag race to the line, with Matthews ultimately coming away with his second win.

The Tour of Utah continues Saturday with the Queen stage, a 125km loop that starts at the Snowbasin ski area and finishes with the out-of-category ascent to Snowbird. The day features 2,326 meters of climbing and often determines the tour's overall winner. Lachlan said he expects the stage 5 route will be more “up his alley” than Friday's relatively short circuit race.

“Today was more about trying to limit losses than to inflict any pain,” Morton said. “I'm sure [Stage 5] will be really aggressive because there are still a lot of people who can win this race.”

Full Results