Cycling season reaches fevered pitch

With many of the traditional spring classics completed in Europe, the professional cycling season has already reached a fevered pitch. Salt Lake's David Zabriskie and former Salt Laker Levi Leipheimer are both on the start lists for the Giro d' Italia, which begins Friday.

Zabriskie, riding for Slipstream/Chipotle, has been mostly resting since a strong performance at the Tour de Georgia a couple of weeks ago and will be eyeing another time trial stage win or two in this, the first of the three grand tours of cycling.

Leipheimer's Astana team received a late invitation to race in the grueling 21-stage race through Italy. That may put the talented team at a bit of a disadvantage in regards to scouting the routes and preparation, but with a star-laden roster that includes 2007 Tour de France winner Alberto Contador and Andreas Kloden, Leipheimer will still be considered one of a handful of favorites in the race — especially since Astana may be trying to send a message to the Tour de France organizers that have so-far declined to invite Astana to race this year.

A little closer to home, Cedar City native and Salt Lake resident Burke Swindlehurst continues to have one of his strongest seasons as a pro. Riding for Bissell, Swindlehurst found himself on the podium after the Redlands Cycling Classic a few weeks ago and followed that up with a second-place overall finish at last week's Tour of the Gila.

One of the strongest climbers on the domestic cycling scene, Swindlehurst powered his way up the Gila Monster — the affectionate name for the final stage of the race — and its 9,100 feet of climbing over 105-plus miles for a stage win that allowed him to jump from sixth in the overall standings to second — just 46 seconds behind the overall winner, Gregorio Ladino, who contentedly followed Swindlehurst up the final mountains to make sure his lead did not disappear.

"He wasn't hard to stay with, but he was hard to drop," Swindlehurst told VeloNews.com of his strategy. "As we got closer to the finish, the efforts I made earlier in the day started to catch up to me and I had to shift my ambitions."

Also racing at New Mexico were several local cyclists. Bill Demong, an Olympic ski jumper and nordic combined athlete now pedaling for American RADD/Agel, showed he's got skills off the snow as he finished third in his first stage race competing in the Cat 2 field. Taylorsville's Robert Lofgren and Sandy's Mike Sohm, both racing for Porcupine/Specialized, placed 10th and 15th overall with each making runs at individual stage victories.