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The Tour of Utah

ZOMG people!!!!1!one

A tour for the climbers in the US! It includes three mountain-y stages, the third of which being:

TourOfUtahProfile.png


I only wish I could be up there to see it--I have fond memories of watching some of the previous editions. It was one of the domestic races that has struggled in recent years to find the $$ to go on, but they seem to have found sufficient backing. There's also a pretty formidable field turning out this year, so it should be a great show.

Anywho, I figured I'd start a thread for it, even if I'll be the only viewer/poster.
 
GoGarmin said:
I'll be following the event this year, although I'm not close enough to see it live.

Will probably be a Garmin/BMC battle again.

Rock Racing will be there, too, with some pretty big names. I know Sevilla has fallen off of his form from a few years ago, but he could still be one to watch out for!
 
Starts today!

4.5 km prologue. Zabriskie's racing, too!

Also, for all you charity-heads out there, the Fat Cyclist posted the following on his blog ( http://www.fatcyclist.com ):

A Note from Fatty: I recently met Ryan Littlefield, owner of Contender Bicycles, arguably the top Pro shop in the U.S. He told me some really interesting — and frightening — facts about cyclists and the amount of sun we absorb. To help raise awareness and funds for skin cancer research, Contender Bicycles is working with the Tour of Utah, top pros, and the U of Utah this week.

It’s a worthy and important cause: as cyclists, we — especially those of us who don’t like sunscreen on the top of our heads because it runs into our eyes — are at risk for skin cancer. And I have a personal stake in this: my sister Kellene — one of my incredible sisters who have been taking care of my family for the past several months — is a skin cancer survivor.
 
TRDean said:
I'm looking at Ben King to have a great tour...not to win overall, but to show something!!

*fingers crossed for top 5*

It'd be nice to see the any of the young guns do well, and--with Phinney's DNS--King def has the best shot, but can he hang in the climbs? (He's obviously got the TT chops.)
 
I think if Sevilla and Mancebo are on form, they could rip this thing to shreds. It will be interesting to see what kind of shape DZ is in, it is his home race but he will be very isolated although I guess he could be considered part of the Felt team. Will also be interesting to see how Peter Stetina goes against a pretty decent field.
 
Jun 18, 2009
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mr. tibbs said:
ZOMG people!!!!1!one

I only wish I could be up there to see it--I have fond memories of watching some of the previous editions. It was one of the domestic races that has struggled in recent years to find the $$ to go on, but they seem to have found sufficient backing. There's also a pretty formidable field turning out this year, so it should be a great show.

Anywho, I figured I'd start a thread for it, even if I'll be the only viewer/poster.

Man, I'd go just to see Utah again. Been there twice. The scenery is stunning.
 
Nick C. said:
Not that I mind but isn't Dave Z. sandbagging this race like a certain trio or is this race a step up? or is it it just that he's not making a production out of it that makes his presence so inoffensive.

I think there're lots of factors at work here. The first one is the most obvious: he doesn't divide the community as much as that other guy (who let's just leave out of the ToU discussion altogether. :eek:).

But I think the biggest reason may be b/c he's kinda a hometown hero: He trains and lives in Salt Lake while he's not racing (remember the big theft story earlier this year?).

And, when it comes down to it, who could possibly begrudge Zabriskie anything? He's such a loveable goof. (And I love seeing "DZ Nuts" in the pages of Cyclingnews.)

Man. I wish I were up there... :(

(@95: Yes--Go Flandis, too! I'm still upset about how they treated him at that basketball/cycling promo event thing. Hope he gets a decent result so he races again next year.)
 
craig1985 said:
And what if he has? I have meet quite a few pro cyclists, ex-pros, those on the cusp of making it etc.

Actually, nitro is right: I've never met him. But my old LBS in Salt Lake is his shop, too. (They even built up his Cervelo TT bike back during his CSC days.) As you can imagine, the owners and workers there know him pretty well, and I've heard nothing but good things. (Not so much about another pro with roots in SLC, but we won't go there...)

One great story that ahs stayed with me came from one of the workers there. He said that Zabrisikie called him up one time at ~1 am and invited him over to play video games and drink beer. I always smile when I think of that.

And now I'm going to post again. Sorry for the double post, but I wanted to keep the ToU stage 1 results seperate from memory lane. :)
 
General Classification after Stage 1

1 Francisco Mancebo Perez (Rock Racing) 3:31:07
2 Oscar Sevilla (Rock Racing) 0:00:09
3 Brent Bookwalter (BMC Pro Cycling Team) 0:00:30
4 David Zabriskie (Garmin Slipstream) 0:00:32
5 Ben Jacques-Maynes (Bissell Pro Cycling) 0:00:33
6 Jeff Louder (BMC Pro Cycling Team) 0:00:34
7 David Veilleux (Kelly Benfit Strategies) 0:00:36
8 Sam Bewley (U23 Trek-LIVESTRONG) 0:00:39
9 Christopher Baldwin (OUCH Pro Cycling p/b Maxxis) 0:00:44
10 Bradley White (OUCH Pro Cycling p/b Maxxis) 0:00:45

Awesome. It was so great reading the report of the stage, too, b/c I used to ride those roads. I've never done the Euro circuit like a lot of the non-European posters on this forum have, so it's a pretty unique experience for me to follow races that climb where I used to climb. And I went to school at the University of Utah, which is connected to Research Park. So exciting!

Also, @ Susan: Please let the powers that be know that it's not Immigration Canyon; it's Emigration Canyon. With an E. Most Utards don't make that distinction, either--but we are notorious for butchering grammar. ;)
 
Alpe d'Huez said:
He just won the Cascade Classic two weeks ago, he can't be that off form!

Unfortunately, I don't trust him, or Mancebo, or much of anyone in that jersey.

Cascade is pretty awesome, but compared to some of the results he was getting in Europe before Puerto...

2001
Winner Maillot blanc and 7th overall, 2001 Tour de France
2nd overall, Vuelta a España
2002
4th overall, Vuelta a España
2003
12th overall, Vuelta a España
2004
3rd overall, Dauphiné Libéré
2005
18th overall, 2005 Tour de France
7th overall, Vuelta a España
 

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