Kiwi Jack Bauer Wins Tour of Utah's Stage Two
8/11/11 - Jack Bauer (NZL) of Endura Racing sprinted to his first win on American soil with a big push in the final 500 meters at Stage Two presented by Adobe at the Larry H. Miller Tour of Utah. In a photo finish, Elia Viviani (ITA) of Liquigas-Cannondale came away with second in today’s exciting finish and American Jake Keough of United Healthcare Pro Cycling placed third. The winners rode the 99.2-mile (159.6 km) rolling course around Utah Lake in 3 hours and 33 minutes, averaging 27.8 miles per hour. For the third day of the six-day stage race, Colombian Sergio Henao of Gobernacion Indeportes Antioquia continues to lead the General Classification.
Another Kiwi, Roman Van Uden of PureBlack Racing, captured the XO Communications Sprint classification jersey today. Bauer’s Endura Racing teammate from Australia John Anderson was awarded the Vivint Most Aggressive Rider jersey. Ruben Bertogliati (SUI) of Team Type 1-SANOFI retained the Ski Utah King of the Mountain classification jersey for a second day and Tejay van Garderen (USA) of HTC-Highroad secured the Subaru Best Young Rider jersey for a third day. Salt Lake City resident Jeff Lauder of BMC Racing Team was awarded the Miller Lite Best Utah Rider jersey.
“For all of us as a team, it’s been bit of an experiment to see how we form up in the mountains and high altitude. Obviously a stage win was a goal so to do it so early in the tour and on a sprint stage is awesome. I’ve never raced at altitude before and especially yesterday’s stage and the prologue that was a whole new thing for me,” said Bauer, who won today’s stage in Provo near the recognizable landmarks of Brigham Young University and Mount Timpanogos on the Wasatch Mountain Range. “Obviously a win was a goal, but to get one so early in the tour – especially on a sprint day – was exciting.”
There were no changes for top riders in the G.C., with Henao continuing his lead over teammate Oscar Sevilla (ESP) by seven seconds and staying ahead of the 2010 defending champion Levi Leipheimer (USA) of Team RadioShack by 13 seconds. Other notable riders include 2009 Tour of Utah champion Francisco Mancebo of RealCyclist.com in sixth place on G.C., George Hincapie (USA) of BMC Racing Team in 22nd position and Utah-native David Zabriskie of Garmin-Cervelo in 59th. Of 115 riders who started today’s stage 112 riders finished.
Tomorrow the riders race against the clock in the Individual Time Trial at the Tour of Utah. Stage Three presented by United Healthcare will be hosted by Miller Motorsports Park. It is the fourth consecutive year this “race of truth” will be contested near Tooele, Utah at this state-of-the-art road racing facility, which was completed in 2006 for automobiles, motorcycles and karts. This year’s official start and finish areas are in close proximity to one another, both near the facility’s pit row area. At 9.7 miles (15.6 km), the time trial course has multiple twists and turns, including one out-and-back section and a turnaround area within walking distance of pit row. Because of high temperatures that occur on the race track in the middle of the day, the athletes will begin taking turns in the ITT at 5 p.m. The competition should conclude by 7:30-8 p.m.
