AUGUST 17, 2010
Salt Lake City, UT – The opening prologue of the Larry H. Miller Tour of Utah finished rather similarly to the opening prologue of the Cascade Classic four weeks ago, with a pair of Trek-Livestrong riders occupying the top two positions. Instead of slotting in at 3rd as he did last month, Rory Sutherland of the UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling Team Presented by Maxxis took a close 4th behind a trio of time trial specialists.
Former world junior time trial champion and two-time world track champion Taylor Phinney took the top spot ahead of teammate Alex Dowsett, who also finished 2nd in the Cascade opener. Slotting into 3rd place, less than a half-second ahead of Sutherland, was BMC’s Brent Brookwalter, who came within two seconds of wearing the first maglia rosa of this year’s Giro d’Italia.
Sutherland’s time of 6:14.13 for the 2.8-mile course was just under 0:12 behind Phinney. “I felt pretty good today,” he said. “It’s a pretty short, hard effort so it’s a bit hard to gauge what today means for the rest of the Tour. This is a very hard race, with a lot of climbing, much of it at altitude.
“There are a lot of very good riders within a few seconds of one another,” Sutherland continued. “Tomorrow’s stage should start to shake things up a bit and show who has the legs this week.”
Tomorrow’s Stage 1 wastes little time throwing in the first climbs of the Tour. The 85-mile stage starts in Ogden and begins to climb almost immediately, culminating in the first KoM of the day just after the 25-mile point. Upon finishing the descent from the first climb, the riders will start the second climb in earnest, finally topping out above the 7,300-foot mark at mile 67 before descending back into Salt Lake City and finishing at the SLC Research Park.
Photo: Jonathan Devich, Epic Images
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