Big teams take charge in Stage 2

TOOELE — It's only the second stage of a six-stage race, but the big guys joined the party.

"It was aggressive toward the end. The heat, winds and the dryness took a toll on most," said Josh Kadis, marketing manager of Kodakgallery.com/ Sierra Nevada team. "The big ones raced ahead."

The big teams — Navigators, Toyota United and Health Net Maxxis — shared the honors at the end of the second stage at the Tour of Utah.

U.S. national champion Toyota's Chris Wherry sprinted the 93.2 mile-course in 3 hours, 23 minutes and 17 seconds to claim the top spot.

"Our team rode really well and we were able to save energy to the end," Wherry said. "We kept each other out of the wind and ourselves hydrated."

The Navigators controlled the final two laps as Wherry charged ahead of Utahn Jeff Louder and Navigators Sergey Labutin on the final lap. "Sergey was a lot faster. But we kept our momentum," Wherry said.

Louder, who is racing for Health Net Maxxis, had great support from Michael Sayers. Sayers led with 25 miles to go as the race descended on Tooele's Main Street, then turned west at 200 North and cranked up the speed on the slightly downhill approach to the finish.

The stage concluded with nine laps on the wide surface of Miller Motorsports Park in Tooele.

"We sent Michael Sayers up the road. Then the rest of the team could sit back and work it out," Louder said. "With the heat and winds, we were getting fatigued.

"We were following the wheels and let the others chase. It was pretty easy," Sayers continued. "The draft kept on changing and we had to keep switching our positions."

The day began at Thanksgiving Point, at the Family Discovery Park in Lehi. The stage climbed Cedar Pass on state road 73 and into Cedar Valley and Eagle Mountain. Leaving the congestion of the Wasatch Front, the race entered the open spaces towards Utah's West Desert.

The race passed through the towns of Cedar Fort and Fairfield, where riders began the long climb of Five Mile Pass.

After sprint bonus seconds and finish times were calculated, Labutin was awarded the yellow leader's jersey for the general classification, the sprint classification and the best young rider's jersey.

Jesse Anthony still retains the Stage 1's King of the Mountain jersey.

Sergey Lagutin of Navigators hasn't rode a mountain stage for a long time, so he is expected to be a bit wary. And so a Navigator in the yellow jersey after Thursday's 14-mile, 4,500-feet of climbing mountains is far from assured.

Wednesday's KJZZ Time Trial is a 24-kilometer flat stage starting in downtown Heber City to Lake Creek and will end at Heber Main Street. There will be opportunities for sprinters to gain time and points.

"I am in pretty good form. And I would like to keep it up." said Wherry.

"I will go all out in the time trial tomorrow. I am good at it," Louder said. "Time trial is a race of truth; there's nothing you can hide."

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