Tour of Utah 2017 *Spoilers*

takethehighroad

Jack Haig really impressed me.

As for the Tour of Utah, I've tuned in for two days running to see the race had already been won. I saw the Yellow Jersey in the time trail's last kilometre, and then saw the group coming in 4 minutes down yesterday.

RonB

The Queen Stage, with its epic finish at Snowbird Resort, has always had a big impact on who wins the overall classification of the Tour. At 99km, the course is much shorter than previous editions. But don’t be fooled—this means riders need to handle a much harder, more dynamic race with less room for error. The stage begins, for a second time, in the shadow of Mount Timpanogos at Soldier Hollow, where Nordic competitions were held for the 2002 Olympic Winter Games. The entire area sits in the Wasatch Mountain State Park.

After rolling out from the stadium at Soldier Hollow, the racers will only have a few miles around Deer Creek Reservoir before tackling the Alpine Loop, a Category 1 climb that runs beside Sundance Resort. Passing through American Fork Canyon and Timpanogos Cave National Monument, this route was first used on the Queen Stage in 2008.

The route travels through the cities of Draper and Sandy before the final fireworks up Little Cottonwood Canyon to Snowbird Resort. This is the 10th consecutive year that Snowbird Resort has hosted a stage finish, with the signature climb featuring 8-12 percent gradients on the final six miles through Little Cottonwood Canyon.

RonB

Full General Classification Results to date ...

http://www.procyclingstats.com/race/The_Larry_H.Miller_Tour_of_Utah__2017_Stage_5_GC

Live coverage on the tracker starts at 2000 BST, Eurosport2 an hour later.

bobmcstuff

Blazing Saddles wrote:

Majka wanted others to win it for him, rather than try to win it himself,
Unlike Poels, his reluctance to stick his nose in the wind on the penultimate climb cost him the overall, as the final climb wasn't selective.
Even there he expected Teuns to come through!

Majka should stick to being a domestique as he doesn't seem to have the racing instinct to lead.

And Tejay should give up GC and be a domestique. He did a good job on that stage.

RonB

Shame to hear that Chris Lawless has abandoned the race.

This descent. Down the canyon road from the American Fork Canyon KOM point is really spectacular. 52 km to go.

blazing_saddles

BMC making it hard for Rally.

RonB

Two lead groups joined together with 20km to go. Going to be even more difficult for the chasers now.

RonB

Rally doing a fantastic job of bringing things back together. 9km to go and all uphill to the Snowbird Resort.

Mad_Malx

I can't get excited about climbs on these wide roads

RonB

Good stage that.

Rob Britton holds on to the overall race lead, with just the sprint stage to go. I was thinking that he was doing too much work chasing the Bardiani leaders up ahead, which seemed confirmed when Powless made that last ditch attack at the end.

RonB

Just the final stage to go and the original Salt Lake City circuit is back. With the start/finish line on the east side of the Utah State Capital, this circuit is the one used in 2013 and is a favorite of the racers and spectators alike. There will be 11 laps of around 10km, including two intermediate sprints and a time bonus at the finish for the top three, so the overall race champion may not be decided until the very end.

The major climb of the circuit is along State Street, and provides a great opportunity to see the racers up close as they suffer on this steep section. Other viewing areas include Bonneville Blvd around City Creek Canyon and the serpentine turns around Reservoir Park.

RonB

Unofficial top 3 on stage 7:
1. Marco Canola (NIP)
2. Brent Bookwalter (BMC)
3. Gavin Mannion (UHC)

No changes in the GC so Rally's Rob Britton is the overall winner.