Tour of Utah 2011 Prologue

A full gallery of photos of every rider is here: http://www.gallery.cyclingwest.com/v/tourofutah2011/

By Jared Eborn
PARK CITY — It was short, but anything but sweet.
The Larry H. Miller Tour of Utah got things rolling Tuesday afternoon at the Utah Olympic Park with a brutal 1.25 mile prologue that left legs fried, lungs burning and a relatively unknown youngster from Columbia wearing the yellow jersey.

Sergia Luis Henao, racing for the Gobernacion de Antioquia-Indeportes Antioguia team, blazed a trail up the roughly 615 feet of climbing on the short course and tripped the clock at 4:05 — two seconds faster than one of the pre-race favorites Francisco Mancebo (RealCyclist.com) and five seconds better than Oscar Sevilla, also racing for Gobernacion de Antioquia-Indeportes Antioguia.

Reflecting on his first win in the U.S. and the competitive field for the race, Henao said through a translator, “It was a difficult but we have to live day by day [in the tour]. It was a big surprise not just to me, but to everyone that we won today. All the stages are difficult, but the team is very strong. We will try to stick together. Our goal is to control other teams to make sure no one else has the advantage.”

Runner up Mancebo, winner of the 2009 Tour of Utah, commented, “This year is more difficult because there are more strong teams in the race. We have to be in the best shape to compete, especially in the last stages. The experience of the riders competing is a lot more difficult.”

Utah cyclists were well represented at the top of the results sheet as Tyler Wren (Jamis-Sutter Home) captured the Best Utah Rider jersey with his time of 4:16 and 9th place while Jeff Louder (BMC) hit the line at 4:23 and 21st place.

Former Utahn Levi Leipheimer (RadioShack) had a strong ride, finishing sixth just seven seconds back. David Zabriskie, recovering from a broken wrist suffered in the Tour de France, was 33 seconds back.

All told, only 15 seconds separated the top 17 racers.
The Gobernacion de Antioquia-Indeportes Antioguia team, which raised a few eyebrows with its inclusion in the race, showed they are here to compete and not simply participate. Seven of the team’s eight riders finished inside the top 50 during the prologue and with impressive credentials as racers in South America, the squad will have little difficulty tackling Utah’s mountains.

HTC-Highroad star in the making Tejay Van Garderen missed out on the podium by less than a second and he recorded a slightly-slower time than Sevilla, but earned the Best Young Rider jersey. Garmin-Cervelo stars Tom Danielson and Christian Vandevelde also had strong rides and sit in fifth and seventh, respectively.

Tuesday’s stage will be a challenging 3-lap circuit around the Ogden Valley with passes through downtown Ogden as well as climbs up the North Ogden Pass. Climbers will eye KOM points while sprinters, especially those within shouting distance of the overall lead, will fight for sprint points as well as time bonuses at each of three sprint locations in Ogden.

Stage 1 begins and ends on Ogden’s Historic 25th Street with action starting at 11 a.m.