Jesse Anthony takes his biggest victory in first stage of Tour of Utah 2011 - Cycling News
Kelly Benefit Strategies team’s Jesse Anthony took a lead in four breakaway riders and won the mountainous stage one of Tour of Utah 2011 in Ogden on Wednesday, August 10. Prologue winner Henao Montoya retained his overall leader’s yellow jersey.
The 26-year-old Anthony took the total of 4 hours, 39 minutes and 29 seconds to cover the distance of 182.9 kilometres. Henao Montoya was runner-up and Oscar Sevilla Ribera finished third with the same timing of Anthony.
After winning the stage Anthony told the media, "The race worked out perfectly for us, it was unbelievable, the day could not have gotten any better and I think it was the best day all year. I'm just going to have to hang on now [for the overall classification]."
The first break in came just after 4 kilometres, when Roman Van Uden (Pureblack) was caught and Jay Robert Thomas (Bissell) attacked and pulled away from the three cyclists including, Rubens Bertogliati (Type 1-Sanofi), Van Uden and Bradley White. All of
them managed to gain a lead of over two minutes while Bertogliati took first climb of the day.
Some riders face a mechanical incident after first climb while Leipheimer was among them after the bike change. Van Uden took the first sprint points and breakaway cyclists led by eight minutes over the peloton.
Bertogliati again took a lead in the second KOM of the day. After few kilometres, Anthony built a two minute gap while Thomas attacked the breakaway riders. The two cyclists Van Uden and White dropped the race and leaving Bertogliati and Anthony in the front
of the field.
Anthony managed to gain a lead in the just before the final climb, he quickly joined by four cyclists Brajkovic, Sevilla, Leipheimer and Henao.
However, in the final 500 metres Anthony increased his pace and managed to take a lead ahead of the other cyclists and took his first victory. Leipheimer showed a decent effort but failed and grabbed fourth place.
Anthony further added, "I have confidence in my team here. It feels good to be up there with Oscar, There are lot of stages to go but if I can keep Levi under control, I feel good to be in this position. We expect Levi to be very good."
Sergio Luis Henao took the overall standing with the timing of 4 hours, 43 minutes and 28 seconds. Oscar Sevilla was runner-up with 7 seconds and Levi Leipheimer finished third with 13 seconds behind Colombian.
Anthony also took a lead in the overall sprint standing ahead of Henao. Bertogliati won the overall King of Mountain title. Tejay Van Garderen took the overall young rider standing ahead of Pinkham.
The second stage will run in Lehi and end in Provo. All the cyclists will cover the distance of 59.6 kilometres.
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