Stage 1 is now complete in the 2009 Tour of Utah. After yesterday’s Prologue, the race got underway in official fashion with a typical day of climbing in Utah’s Wasatch Mountains. An 11:00 am start in Ogden, the racers climbed up to Snowbasin for the first of two climbs over 85 total miles. The second climb took riders to the top of Big Mountain’s killer 2000 vertical over 6 short miles.
After Big Mountain, it was a fast sprint down Emigration Canyon with a finish at Research Park at the University of Utah. Temperatures were hot today and riders endured the beat-down sun and a difficult course.
Winning the stage was taken by Francisco Mancebo Perez of Rock Racing and 2nd place was taken by teammate and fellow Spaniard, Oscar Sevilla. With the stage win, Mancebo rides into tomorrow’s difficult Mt. Nebo stage with a target on his back and the yellow jersey.
Local rider and last year’s winner, Jeff Louder (BMC Racing) and fellow Utahn David Zabriske (Garmin-Slipstream) both finished 25 seconds off the winning pace to put them 34 and 32 seconds behind in the General Classification standings.
View Results: See Stage 1 Official Results and the GC Standings
Download: Tour of Utah 09 Stage1 Profile (PDF)
Photo Credit: Jonathan Decich
