Tour of Utah: Hofland wins in Cedar City

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Belkin's Moreno Hofland repaid his team's long day of chasing down a breakaway by sprinting to the stage 1 win and the first leader's jersey of the 2014 Larry H. Miller Tour of Utah Monday in Cedar City.

Hofland beat Team SmartStop's Jure Kocjan and Lampre-Merida's Andrea Palini in a slightly uphill bunch sprint after the peloton chased down a breakaway of five riders on the second of three finishing circuits in downtown Cedar City.

Monday's stage was the first race for Hofland, 22, since he crashed during the final stage of the tour of California in May and broke five ribs and a vertebrae.

"It was really special for me because it was the first race after the crash," Hofland said of his win. "I was confident because my training went well, but racing is always different. I was nervous like it's the first race of the season, but all the nerves went to my legs and I could do whatever I wanted in the sprint today."

The day's breakaway escaped the field just a few kilometers into the 182km stage, which featured two climbs that reached beyond 3,000 meters of elevation. Three riders initially peeled away from the peloton, including UnitedHealthcare's Jonny Clarke, Drapac's Adam Phelan and Hincapie Sportswear's Robin Carpenter. They were soon joined off the front by Optum Pro Cycling's Tom Soladay and Jamis-Hagens Berman's Stephen Leece. The move played right into Belkin's hands.

"We wanted a small breakaway to go because we suspected that nobody wanted to help us, and that was exactly how it went," Hofland said. "Nobody wanted to help us because they thought I was the favorite for today. I also felt a little bit like that. But it was the first race, so I was not sure about it, but I felt good."

The group of five quickly built an advantage of more than three minutes before reaching the only intermediate sprint of the day about 50km into the stage. The escapees held a 3:25 advantage at the beginning of the climb up through the Brian Head Ski Area and the Cedar Breaks National Monument.

The gap grew to 3:50 about halfway up the climb, where Soladay got popped out of the lead group. With Belkin leading the chase, the gap started coming down and was only 2:45 at the first KOM of the day about 73km in.

The descent off the the first climb was incredibly fast, with multiple riders getting dropped from the field and struggling to get back on. The breakaway's advantage dropped below two minutes as they passed through the meadows and aspen groves of the National Monument, but it started going back up once they hit the second climb to Bristlecone.

The breakaway topped the second KOM with a gap of about two minutes, but the advantage began to plummet once again in the descent and was down to just 30 seconds with about 35km remaining.

Cannondale's Matej Mohoric bridged up to the leaders on the fast run into Cedar City for three laps of a short finishing circuit. The group of five leaders entered the circuits with a scant 15 second lead, and the peloton finally reeled them in on the second of the three laps. The field took the bell for the finalé together, setting up the sprint finish and Hofland's win.

"I knew that I needed to be in second place on the wheel of my teammate Robert Wagner," Hofland said of the finalé. "It was an ideal situation and that happened. So Wagner brought me to the last corner in second place. Robert pulled until 200 meters to go, and then I had to do it myself. It worked out pretty good."

Kocjan's second place was satisfying for the SmartStop rider, although he said the goal was obviously to win the stage.

"We knew the man to watch was Moreno Hofland," Kocjan said. "His team controlled the race, and we sat back until there were three laps to go. I think a few more meters and I could have passed Moreno."

The race continues Tuesday with the longest stage of the week. The 210km run from Panguitch to Torrey includes four KOMs and more than 3,000 meters of climbing. Despite the elevation gain, the long downhill run to Torrey could provide plenty of time for the peloton to come back together for the finish. Orica-GreenEdge sprinter Michael Matthews won the stage in a bunch sprint last year. If the stage plays out in a similar fashion this year, Hofland could find himself on the podium in yellow again.

"I'll try and hold onto [the jersey] as long as possible," he said. "Otherwise I hope my teammate Wilco Kelderman will get it."

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