Tour of Utah, Stage 4 Recap & Results

After a Difficult Uphill Crit Course, Levi Holds onto Yellow.

The fourth stage of the Tour of Utah had the riders following a 90-minute uphill criterium around downtown Park City. The course was fast and furious on the one-mile circuit. The course began downhill and then had a climb with an elevation of 7,120 feet. The peak of the hill was around 0.8 miles into the course and the remaining 0.2 miles were downhill. The riders covered more than 4,000 feet of climbing throughout the course of the day.

Immediately after the crit began, Alex Dowsett of Trek-LiveStrong made a break off the front. Trek-LiveStrong’s Taylor Phinney and Tim Roe joined him.  This initial pack ended up with 13 riders including Jai Crawford (Fly-V), Corey Collier (On The Rivet), Jonathan McCarty (Rio Grande) and Jeff Louder (BMC).

The break managed to gain 20 seconds on the field. Quickly a chase group organized, including Team RadioShack’s Levi Leipheimer to bridge the gap. This group also include 2009 Tour of Utah winner Francisco Mancebo (Canyon Bicycles).

At 30 minutes into the crit, the lead pack had grown to 33 riders. Unfortunately around this point the initial breakaway rider, Alex Dowsett, fell off the back. It appeared that this uphill course was inflicting real pain in many of the riders.

With 25 minutes to go, Louder made a successful attack on the climb. Phinney managed to follow along with riders from BMC and Bissell but Louder only continued to build his lead. At one point Louder had over a minute on the field.

With only 8 laps to go, a chase group with Levi, Darren Lill (Fly-V), Carter Jones (KFAN) and Mancebo began to organize but Louder maintained a lead of 50 seconds on the group. Around this point, Phinney appeared to lose much of his steam.

Jai Crawford put in the most successful attempt to bridge the gap to Louder but was only able to put in 20 seconds in chase. After the final lap, Louder won followed by Crawford and Mancebo. Levi finished in the top 10.

Jeff Louder had an impressive breakaway day on the uphill crit at the Tour of Utah, but after an equally remarkable ride, Levi managed to maintain the leader’s jersey. Throughout the day, Taylor Phinney was able to pick up 8 sprint points, leaving him just 1 point back from the sprinters jersey.

Tour of Utah Stage Four
1.      Jeff LOUDER                BMC Racing Team    1.14′45″
2.      Jai CRAWFORD            V Australia        1.15′07″
3.      Francisco MANCEBO         Canyon Bicycles    1.15′07″
4.      Davide FRATTINI            Team Type 1        1.15′12″
5.      Benjamin JACQUES-MAYNES    BISSELL Pro        1.15′12″
…
9.      Levi LEIPHEIMER            Mellow Johnny’s    1.15′12″

Trek-LiveStrong Stage Four
28. Ben King                1.15.12
30. Joe Dombrowski            1.15.12
49. Taylor Phinney            1.17.44
55. Tim Roe                1.17.57
64. Julian Kyer            1.20.07
78. Alex Dowsett            1.23.34

General Classification after Stage Four
1.      Levi LEIPHEIMER        Mellow Johnny’s        8.12′36″
2.      Francisco MANCEBO         Canyon Bicycles        +1′28″
3.      Darren LILL            Fly-V Australia        +1′49″
4.      Philip ZAJICEK        Fly-V Australia        +2′07″
5.      Ian BOSWELL            BISSELL            +2′29″

Trek-LiveStrong after Stage Four
18. Tim Roe                +6:02
36. Joe Dombrowski            +13.47
37. Ben King                +13.52
47. Julian Kyer            +19.27
50. Alex Dowsett            +20.31
77. Taylor Phinney            +37.16

By Fitzalan Gorman, staff writer

Photo by Everardo Keeme Photography