American Jesse Anthony Wins Stage One at Tour of Utah
8/11/11 - American Jesse Anthony of Kelly Benefit Strategies-OptumHealth chased down an early breakaway and won today’s Stage One presented by Miller Lite at the Larry H. Miller Tour of Utah. Taking second and retaining the overall general classficiation (G.C.) lead was Sergio Henao (COL) of Gobernacion Indeportes Antioquia. Spaniard Oscar Sevilla of Gobernacion Indeportes Antioquia was third and 2010 Tour of Utah champion Levi Leipheimer (USA) of Team RadioShack was a close fourth overall.
“I’m very happy to be in front... I did not plan to go alone. Call it stupid, but it worked out. This race is wide open. It is not called the ‘toughest stage race’ for nothing,” said Anthony, who won the G.C. earlier this year at Nature Valley Grand Prix. Anthony made a bold move on the second climb of three over North Ogden Pass to join an early break and attacked on the final climb. He won the longest stage of the week, 116.3 miles (187.2 kilometers), in a final sprint to outdistance himself from a small pack of five riders.
With teammates Henao and Sevilla working together in the final sprint on Historic 25th Street in downtown Ogden, Henao retains the Larry H. Miller Dealerships Leader’s jersey and Sevilla moves to second on G.C. Leipheimer is now 13 seconds back in third place on G.C. and Jesse Anthony is fourth, 18 seconds off the lead.
In addition to the stage win, Anthony captured the XO Communications Sprint classification jersey. The Ski Utah King of the Mountain classification jersey will be worn for the first time this week by Ruben Bertogliati (SUI) of Team Type 1-SANOFI. For a second day, Tejay van Garderen (USA) HTC-Highroad secured the Subaru Best Young Rider Jersey and Tyler Wren (USA) of Jamis-Sutter Home earned the Miller Lite Best Utah Rider Jersey. Jay Thompson (RSA) of Bissell Pro Cycling was awarded the Vivint Most Aggressive Rider jersey for initiating the first break of the day on the 11-mile climb up North Ogden Pass.
“The (Best Utah Rider) jersey is obviously a real bonus this week. It is the only race of the year where I can win a jersey like this,” said Wren, who resides in Salt Lake City. “This race really suits my strengths. I’ve been doing this race for awhile and the level of competition here has obviously grown and this jersey has certainly been a goal.”
On Thursday the peloton will start at 11 a.m. at the headquarters of XANGO on the north side of Lake Utah for Stage Two presented by Adobe. This is arolling, 100-mile (161 km) course with rolling hills around the west side of Utah Lake, passing through Goshen Canyon and the towns of Mona, Santaquin, and Springville. After passing near Brigham Young University in Provo, cyclists will finish at Vivint headquarters near The Shops at Riverwoods on North University Avenue. This is the first time in four years that Provo is an official host city. The finish should be between 2:45-3:30 p.m.
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