Tour of Utah 2017 – Stage 2 [FULL STAGE]

August 01, 2017

Tour of Utah 2017 – Stage 2 – Brigham City – Snowbasin Resort : 151,1 km

The Tour of Utah, officially the Larry H. Miller Tour of Utah, is an annual multiday road cycling race; traversing the states of Idaho, Utah, and Wyoming. Since the 2011 edition, the tour holds UCI classification (2.1). Between five and six UCI ProTeams compete annually. Due to its altitude, distance, and weather conditions, the tour is nicknamed: “America’s Toughest Stage Race”. In 2010, only 71 of the initial 140 riders finished. After receiving 2.1 status in 2011, a stronger field participated; 88 of the initial 120 competitors finished. In September 2014, it was announced that the race was promoted to 2.HC status.

Brent Bookwalter (BMC Racing) claimed the first summit finish of the 2017 Larry H. Miller Tour of Utah, patiently waiting until the very final metres to launch into top gear and sprint to victory over Sepp Kuss (Rally Cycling) and late attacker James Piccoli (Elevate-KHS).

With his second place finish, Kuss rode into the yellow jersey ahead of Bookwalter on the same time, as overnight race leader Ty Magner (Holowesko-Citadel) was dropped before the final climb.

The long, gradual ascent to Snowbasin Resort saw a number of riders attack the ever-shrinking peloton. Rally’s Adam De Vos was the first to go after the day’s breakaway was reeled in, and although he was briefly joined by Jhonatan Narváez (Axeon), the Canadian spent most of the climb dangling just off the front of the bunch before finally being pulled in by a surge from Axeon just outside one kilometre to go.

Piccoli countered and looked set to stage a huge upset victory until Bookwalter’s burst of speed put paid to those ambitions. Bookwalter said a reconnaissance ride last week paid off on Tuesday.

“I knew it was kind of steep coming through that last corner,” Bookwalter said of the final kilometre. “The gate [to the ski resort, ed.] was closed when we rode it, so it was hard to get a feel of exactly how much speed you’d be carrying. Robin Carpenter did a real big dig, and Robin’s got awesome like one-minute, two-minute power, so I figured if I could just hold is wheel and come off it and push to the line, I’ve been a close second in a lot of races the past 12 to 24 months, so I really wanted it once I launched my sprint.”

There were no time bonuses for the summit finish, and so with the top riders tied on time, the overall lead was decided by stage finishes. Kuss finished 22nd on stage 1, while backwater was further back in 30th, putting Kuss in yellow at Snowbasin.

“I didn’t necessarily envision [being in yellow after stage 2], but it was always a hope,” Kuss said. “I trained super hard for this race, and I think when you prepare for a race you can kind of envision it, but I didn’t expect to be in this position today.”

Although Kuss said in the post-stage press conference that he believes teammate Rob Britton is still Rally’s best hope for the final overall, he didn’t hesitate when a reporter asked if he though he’s still be in yellow following Wednesday’s 9km uphill time trial.

A firm “yes” was his one-word response.

How it unfolded

The 151.1km second stage started with an immediate climb out of Brigham City, with the first classified climb of the day coming just 11 kilometres into the race. A large group of riders broke away on the opening climb, where BMC’s Joey Rosskopf took the maximum points ahead of Holowesko’s Ruben Campanioni and mountains leader Jacob Rathe (Jelly Belly-Maxxis).

The group was quickly back together after the KOM and then screamed down the descent to the first intermediate sprint of the day in Wellsville at kilometre 24, where Chris Lawless crossed the line first.

From there, multiple groups attacked and built small gaps, but like the day before, the peloton was initially feeling stingy and brought everything back until Rosskopf slipped away with Marco Canola (Nippo-Vini Fantini) and Oscar Clark (Holowesko-Citadel).

The trio slowly built a gap of 55 seconds before the field sat up, allowing the leaders’ advantage to grow jump quickly to 3:45, then ultimately 5:10 at the feed zone 75 kilometres in.

Rally Cycling, Caja Rural-Seguros RGA and Axeon were apparently not happy with the size of the gap, and immediately went to the front to power the chase. By the time the leaders reached the second intermediate sprint back in Brigham City 83 kilometres in, the gap was down to just two minutes. It would never go above that for the rest of the race.

The breakaway finally came apart on the second categorised climb of the day up North Ogden Divide, where first Clark came dislodged and then Canola. Rosskopf soloed over the summit and collected maximum KOM points, but he was soon back in the fold, too, after the descent, setting up a general classification battle on the final climb to Snowbasin Resort.

De Vos launched his move early in the two-step climb, initially joined by Narváez who faded back after a kilometre, and used a short descent before the final four-kilometre pitch to open up a 10-second gap. The chasing peloton never gave him much breathing room, and they slowly inched toward him, coming close with two kilometres to go. Axeon’s Neilson Powless finally put the Rally rider out of his misery with one good surge, but Piccoli launched a surprise counter-attack.

Bookwalter stayed calm, using his experience to patiently wait and time his effort to perfection. He blasted clear, followed only by Kuss, overhauling Piccoli with 50 metres to go to take the win.

Results :
1 Brent Bookwalter (USA) BMC Racing Team 3:38:12
2 Sepp Kuss (USA) Rally Cycling
3 James Piccoli (Can) Elevate – KHS Pro Cycling
4 Francisco Mancebo (Spa) Hangar 15 Bicycles 0:00:02
5 Kyle Murphy (USA) Cylance Cycling
6 Robin Carpenter (USA) Holowesko-Citadel p/b Hincapie Sportswear
7 Robert Britton (Can) Rally Cycling
8 Neilson Powless (USA) Axeon Hagens Berman
9 Jonny Clarke (Aus) UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling
10 Gavin Mannion (USA) UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling
11 Kilian Frankiny (Swi) BMC Racing Team
12 Silvan Dillier (Swi) BMC Racing Team
13 Pierpaolo Ficara (Ita) Amore & Vita – SelleSMP p/b Fondriest 0:00:08
14 Taylor Eisenhart (USA) Holowesko-Citadel p/b Hincapie Sportswear
15 Chris Butler (USA) Caja Rural – Seguros RGA 0:00:10
16 Nigel Ellsay (Can) Silber Pro Cycling
17 Jhonatan Narvaez (Ecu) Axeon Hagens Berman 0:00:15
18 Serghei Tvetcov (Rou) Jelly Belly-Maxxis 0:00:17
19 Antonio Molina Canet (Spa) Caja Rural – Seguros RGA 0:00:22
20 Adam De Vos (Can) Rally Cycling 0:00:24
21 Alex Aranburu Deva (Spa) Caja Rural – Seguros RGA 0:00:51
22 Manuel Sola Arjona (Spa) Caja Rural – Seguros RGA 0:00:53
23 Joey Rosskopf (USA) BMC Racing Team
24 Keegan Swirbul (USA) Jelly Belly-Maxxis 0:01:12
25 Emerson Oronte (USA) Rally Cycling 0:01:19
26 Eder Frayre Moctezuma (Mex) Elevate – KHS Pro Cycling 0:01:50
27 Daniel Jaramillo (Col) UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling 0:02:14
28 Giulio Ciccone (Ita) Bardiani CSF 0:02:32
29 Cory Lockwood (USA) Elevate – KHS Pro Cycling 0:02:39
30 Lachlan Norris (Aus) UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling 0:03:12
31 Lorenzo Rota (Ita) Bardiani CSF 0:03:49
32 Luca Wackermann (Ita) Bardiani CSF
33 Manuel Senni (Ita) BMC Racing Team
34 Ivan Santaromita (Ita) Nippo – Vini Fantini
35 Marco Zamparella (Ita) Amore & Vita – SelleSMP p/b Fondriest
36 Dennis van Winden (Ned) Israel Cycling Academy 0:05:37
37 Patrick Mueller (Swi) BMC Racing Team 0:08:02
38 Diego Rubio Hernandez (Spa) Caja Rural – Seguros RGA 0:08:47
39 Alexander Hoehn (USA) Elevate – KHS Pro Cycling 0:10:06
40 Guillaume Boivin (Can) Israel Cycling Academy 0:11:07
41 Gonzalo Serrano Rodriguez (Spa) Caja Rural – Seguros RGA
42 Martin Elmiger (Swi) BMC Racing Team
43 Will Barta (USA) Axeon Hagens Berman
44 Andrei Krasilnikau (Bel) Holowesko-Citadel p/b Hincapie Sportswear
45 Marco Bernardinetti (Ita) Amore & Vita – SelleSMP p/b Fondriest
46 Rob Squire (USA) Hangar 15 Bicycles
47 Ruben Companioni (Cub) Holowesko-Citadel p/b Hincapie Sportswear
48 Simone Velasco (Ita) Bardiani CSF
49 Marco Canola (Ita) Nippo – Vini Fantini 0:11:21
50 Simone Andreetta (Ita) Bardiani CSF 0:15:45
51 Luis Lemus (Mex) Israel Cycling Academy 0:15:56
52 Janier Acevedo (Col) UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling
53 Orlando Garibay (Mex) Cylance Cycling
54 Vincenzo Albanese (Ita) Bardiani CSF 0:17:39
55 Paolo Simion (Ita) Bardiani CSF
56 Giacomo Berlato (Ita) Nippo – Vini Fantini
57 Fabio Calabria (Ita) Team Novo Nordisk
58 Brian McCulloch (USA) Elevate – KHS Pro Cycling
59 Pier-Andre Cote (Can) Silber Pro Cycling
60 Steve Fisher (USA) Hangar 15 Bicycles
61 Connor Brown (USA) Elevate – KHS Pro Cycling
62 Cortlan Brown (USA) Hangar 15 Bicycles
63 Besmir Banushi (Alb) Amore & Vita – SelleSMP p/b Fondriest
64 Kaler Marshall (USA) Hangar 15 Bicycles
65 Sam Brand (GBr) Team Novo Nordisk
66 Alfredo Rodriguez Victoria (Mex) Elevate – KHS Pro Cycling
67 Yuma Koishi (Jpn) Nippo – Vini Fantini
68 Tom Bohli (Swi) BMC Racing Team
69 Chris Winn (Aus) Hangar 15 Bicycles
70 Joshua Berry (USA) Jelly Belly-Maxxis
71 Andres Diaz (Col) Cylance Cycling
72 Umberto Poli (Ita) Team Novo Nordisk
73 Tyler Williams (USA) Israel Cycling Academy
74 Daniel Turek (Cze) Israel Cycling Academy
75 Rik Van Ijzendoorn (Ned) Team Novo Nordisk
76 Ulises Alfredo Castillo (Mex) Jelly Belly-Maxxis
77 Julien Gagne (Can) Silber Pro Cycling
78 Uri Martins Sandoval (Mex) Amore & Vita – SelleSMP p/b Fondriest
79 Jacob Rathe (USA) Jelly Belly-Maxxis
80 Miguel Angel Benito Diez (Spa) Caja Rural – Seguros RGA
81 Justin Oien (USA) Caja Rural – Seguros RGA
82 David Galarreta (Spa) Amore & Vita – SelleSMP p/b Fondriest
83 Redi Halilaj (Alb) Amore & Vita – SelleSMP p/b Fondriest
84 Jonny Brown (USA) Axeon Hagens Berman
85 Alan Marangoni (Ita) Nippo – Vini Fantini
86 Michael Rice (Aus) Axeon Hagens Berman
87 Logan Owen (USA) Axeon Hagens Berman
88 Chris Lawless (GBr) Axeon Hagens Berman
89 Stephen Bassett (USA) Silber Pro Cycling
90 Sebastian Haedo (Arg) UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling
91 Rui Oliveira (Por) Axeon Hagens Berman
92 Andzs Flaksis (Lat) Holowesko-Citadel p/b Hincapie Sportswear
93 Damiano Cima (Ita) Nippo – Vini Fantini
94 Guy Niv (Isr) Israel Cycling Academy
95 Ty Magner (USA) Holowesko-Citadel p/b Hincapie Sportswear
96 John Murphy (USA) Holowesko-Citadel p/b Hincapie Sportswear
97 Emile Jean (Can) Silber Pro Cycling
98 Mihkel Raim (Est) Israel Cycling Academy
99 Danny Pate (USA) Rally Cycling
100 Marc Antoine Soucy (Can) Silber Pro Cycling
101 Reid McClure (Can) Team Novo Nordisk
102 Erik Slack (USA) Hangar 15 Bicycles
103 Colin Joyce (USA) Rally Cycling
104 Joseph Schmaltz (USA) Elevate – KHS Pro Cycling
105 Hunter Grove (USA) Cylance Cycling
106 Adam Roberge (Can) Silber Pro Cycling
107 Chad Beyer (USA) Hangar 15 Bicycles
108 Evan Huffman (USA) Rally Cycling
109 Bryan Lewis (USA) Cylance Cycling
110 Gerd Keijzer (Ned) Team Novo Nordisk
111 Stephen Clancy (Irl) Team Novo Nordisk
112 Jordan Cheyne (Can) Jelly Belly-Maxxis
113 Eric Marcotte (USA) Cylance Cycling
114 Chris Jones (USA) UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling
115 Scott Law (Aus) Cylance Cycling
116 Nickolas Zukowsky (Can) Silber Pro Cycling
117 Aviv Yechezkel (Isr) Israel Cycling Academy
118 Eric Young (USA) Rally Cycling 0:17:51
119 Travis McCabe (USA) UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling
120 Taylor Sheldon (USA) Jelly Belly-Maxxis 0:17:54
121 Simone Sterbini (Ita) Bardiani CSF 0:17:56
122 Angus Morton (Aus) Jelly Belly-Maxxis 0:19:19
123 Oscar Clark (USA) Holowesko-Citadel p/b Hincapie Sportswear
124 Karl Menzies (Aus) Cylance Cycling 0:21:17
DNF Corentin Cherhal (Fra) Team Novo Nordisk
DNF Mikel Elorza (Spa) Amore & Vita – SelleSMP p/b Fondriest

General Classification after Stage 2 :
1 Sepp Kuss (USA) Rally Cycling 8:35:01
2 Brent Bookwalter (USA) BMC Racing Team
3 James Piccoli (Can) Elevate – KHS Pro Cycling
4 Robin Carpenter (USA) Holowesko-Citadel p/b Hincapie Sportswear 0:00:02
5 Silvan Dillier (Swi) BMC Racing Team
6 Gavin Mannion (USA) UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling
7 Neilson Powless (USA) Axeon Hagens Berman
8 Kyle Murphy (USA) Cylance Cycling
9 Kilian Frankiny (Swi) BMC Racing Team
10 Robert Britton (Can) Rally Cycling
11 Jonny Clarke (Aus) UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling
12 Francisco Mancebo (Spa) Hangar 15 Bicycles
13 Pierpaolo Ficara (Ita) Amore & Vita – SelleSMP p/b Fondriest 0:00:08
14 Taylor Eisenhart (USA) Holowesko-Citadel p/b Hincapie Sportswear
15 Chris Butler (USA) Caja Rural – Seguros RGA 0:00:10
16 Nigel Ellsay (Can) Silber Pro Cycling
17 Jhonatan Narvaez (Ecu) Axeon Hagens Berman 0:00:15
18 Serghei Tvetcov (Rou) Jelly Belly-Maxxis 0:00:17
19 Antonio Molina Canet (Spa) Caja Rural – Seguros RGA 0:00:22
20 Adam De Vos (Can) Rally Cycling 0:00:24
21 Alex Aranburu Deva (Spa) Caja Rural – Seguros RGA 0:00:51
22 Joey Rosskopf (USA) BMC Racing Team 0:00:53
23 Manuel Sola Arjona (Spa) Caja Rural – Seguros RGA
24 Keegan Swirbul (USA) Jelly Belly-Maxxis 0:01:12
25 Emerson Oronte (USA) Rally Cycling 0:01:19
26 Eder Frayre Moctezuma (Mex) Elevate – KHS Pro Cycling 0:01:48
27 Daniel Jaramillo (Col) UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling 0:02:14
28 Giulio Ciccone (Ita) Bardiani CSF 0:02:32
29 Cory Lockwood (USA) Elevate – KHS Pro Cycling 0:02:39
30 Luca Wackermann (Ita) Bardiani CSF 0:03:49
31 Marco Zamparella (Ita) Amore & Vita – SelleSMP p/b Fondriest
32 Manuel Senni (Ita) BMC Racing Team
33 Ivan Santaromita (Ita) Nippo – Vini Fantini
34 Lorenzo Rota (Ita) Bardiani CSF
35 Dennis van Winden (Ned) Israel Cycling Academy 0:05:37
36 Lachlan Norris (Aus) UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling 0:06:02
37 Patrick Mueller (Swi) BMC Racing Team 0:08:02
38 Diego Rubio Hernandez (Spa) Caja Rural – Seguros RGA 0:08:47
39 Alexander Hoehn (USA) Elevate – KHS Pro Cycling 0:10:06
40 Guillaume Boivin (Can) Israel Cycling Academy 0:11:07
41 Martin Elmiger (Swi) BMC Racing Team
42 Will Barta (USA) Axeon Hagens Berman
43 Marco Bernardinetti (Ita) Amore & Vita – SelleSMP p/b Fondriest
44 Gonzalo Serrano Rodriguez (Spa) Caja Rural – Seguros RGA
45 Rob Squire (USA) Hangar 15 Bicycles
46 Simone Velasco (Ita) Bardiani CSF
47 Ruben Companioni (Cub) Holowesko-Citadel p/b Hincapie Sportswear
48 Marco Canola (Ita) Nippo – Vini Fantini 0:11:21
49 Andrei Krasilnikau (Bel) Holowesko-Citadel p/b Hincapie Sportswear 0:15:22
50 Janier Acevedo (Col) UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling 0:15:56
51 Orlando Garibay (Mex) Cylance Cycling 0:17:20
52 Ty Magner (USA) Holowesko-Citadel p/b Hincapie Sportswear 0:17:29
53 Joshua Berry (USA) Jelly Belly-Maxxis 0:17:33
54 Chris Lawless (GBr) Axeon Hagens Berman
55 Paolo Simion (Ita) Bardiani CSF 0:17:39
56 Vincenzo Albanese (Ita) Bardiani CSF
57 Ulises Alfredo Castillo (Mex) Jelly Belly-Maxxis
58 Fabio Calabria (Ita) Team Novo Nordisk
59 Steve Fisher (USA) Hangar 15 Bicycles
60 Justin Oien (USA) Caja Rural – Seguros RGA
61 Mihkel Raim (Est) Israel Cycling Academy
62 Emile Jean (Can) Silber Pro Cycling
63 Giacomo Berlato (Ita) Nippo – Vini Fantini
64 John Murphy (USA) Holowesko-Citadel p/b Hincapie Sportswear
65 Stephen Bassett (USA) Silber Pro Cycling
66 Colin Joyce (USA) Rally Cycling
67 Redi Halilaj (Alb) Amore & Vita – SelleSMP p/b Fondriest
68 Kaler Marshall (USA) Hangar 15 Bicycles
69 Yuma Koishi (Jpn) Nippo – Vini Fantini
70 Sebastian Haedo (Arg) UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling
71 Chris Winn (Aus) Hangar 15 Bicycles
72 Chad Beyer (USA) Hangar 15 Bicycles
73 Andres Diaz (Col) Cylance Cycling
74 Andzs Flaksis (Lat) Holowesko-Citadel p/b Hincapie Sportswear
75 Eric Marcotte (USA) Cylance Cycling
76 Erik Slack (USA) Hangar 15 Bicycles
77 Travis McCabe (USA) UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling 0:17:47
78 Adam Roberge (Can) Silber Pro Cycling 0:17:50
79 Eric Young (USA) Rally Cycling 0:17:51
80 Taylor Sheldon (USA) Jelly Belly-Maxxis 0:17:54
81 Logan Owen (USA) Axeon Hagens Berman 0:18:02
82 Umberto Poli (Ita) Team Novo Nordisk 0:18:11
83 Simone Sterbini (Ita) Bardiani CSF 0:18:14
84 David Galarreta (Spa) Amore & Vita – SelleSMP p/b Fondriest 0:18:53
85 Cortlan Brown (USA) Hangar 15 Bicycles 0:18:58
86 Daniel Turek (Cze) Israel Cycling Academy 0:19:03
87 Jonny Brown (USA) Axeon Hagens Berman 0:19:06
88 Michael Rice (Aus) Axeon Hagens Berman
89 Besmir Banushi (Alb) Amore & Vita – SelleSMP p/b Fondriest 0:19:19
90 Rui Oliveira (Por) Axeon Hagens Berman
91 Oscar Clark (USA) Holowesko-Citadel p/b Hincapie Sportswear
92 Hunter Grove (USA) Cylance Cycling 0:19:37
93 Luis Lemus (Mex) Israel Cycling Academy 0:20:11
94 Miguel Angel Benito Diez (Spa) Caja Rural – Seguros RGA 0:21:52
95 Brian McCulloch (USA) Elevate – KHS Pro Cycling 0:21:54
96 Tyler Williams (USA) Israel Cycling Academy
97 Jacob Rathe (USA) Jelly Belly-Maxxis
98 Alan Marangoni (Ita) Nippo – Vini Fantini
99 Guy Niv (Isr) Israel Cycling Academy
100 Chris Jones (USA) UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling
101 Simone Andreetta (Ita) Bardiani CSF 0:21:58
102 Pier-Andre Cote (Can) Silber Pro Cycling 0:28:54
103 Sam Brand (GBr) Team Novo Nordisk
104 Connor Brown (USA) Elevate – KHS Pro Cycling
105 Tom Bohli (Swi) BMC Racing Team
106 Rik Van Ijzendoorn (Ned) Team Novo Nordisk
107 Julien Gagne (Can) Silber Pro Cycling
108 Alfredo Rodriguez Victoria (Mex) Elevate – KHS Pro Cycling
109 Uri Martins Sandoval (Mex) Amore & Vita – SelleSMP p/b Fondriest
110 Danny Pate (USA) Rally Cycling
111 Damiano Cima (Ita) Nippo – Vini Fantini
112 Stephen Clancy (Irl) Team Novo Nordisk
113 Reid McClure (Can) Team Novo Nordisk
114 Joseph Schmaltz (USA) Elevate – KHS Pro Cycling
115 Evan Huffman (USA) Rally Cycling
116 Bryan Lewis (USA) Cylance Cycling
117 Nickolas Zukowsky (Can) Silber Pro Cycling
118 Scott Law (Aus) Cylance Cycling
119 Jordan Cheyne (Can) Jelly Belly-Maxxis
120 Angus Morton (Aus) Jelly Belly-Maxxis 0:30:34
121 Karl Menzies (Aus) Cylance Cycling 0:32:32
122 Gerd Keijzer (Ned) Team Novo Nordisk 0:35:54
123 Marc Antoine Soucy (Can) Silber Pro Cycling 0:37:54
124 Aviv Yechezkel (Isr) Israel Cycling Academy