Tostado tops in the 24 Hours of Moab cycling race

MOAB — Colorado's Josh Tostado took advantage of a strong second eight-hour riding stretch to build a big lead over the field at the 24 Hours of Moab mountain bike race and cruised to a relatively comfortable victory in the men's solo division.

Tostado was the only cyclist to complete 17 laps in the solo division and finished the race ahead of legendary endurance cyclist Tinker Juarez. Juarez, Roan Exelby and Ben Bostrom, who finished third and fourth, each completed 16 laps.

The 24 Hours of Moab is considered the granddaddy of mountain biking endurance races with more than 2,000 cyclists participating this year. Covering rugged laps of 15 miles over red rocks, sandstone and treacherous descents, athletes tried to outlast each other and cover more distance than the field.

Defending champion Chris Eatough pulled out after eight laps with an illness.

The top Utah finisher in the solo division was Sandy's Chad Ambrose, who completed 12 laps — good enough for 18th overall.

Jari Kirkland won the women's solo race, completing 13 laps.

The Colorado duo of Dean Miller and Dax Massey won the men's two-man relay division with 18 laps completed while the honor of completing the most laps overall went to the four-man relay team of Bart Gillespie, Bryan Alders, Ben Sonntag and Alex Grant. The Salt Lake City-based Monavie/Cannondale squad completed 21 laps. Another Utah team — Kuhl/Scott's Taylor Foss, Blake Zumbrunnen, Kevin Day and Jonny Hintze — completed 20 laps to finish second behind Monavie.

In the coed pro division, Colorado-based Pro Cycling also completed 20 laps but did so in a faster time than the Kuhl/Scott team. Pro Cycling's roster includes Danny Pate, a professional road cyclist racing on the Garmin-Chipotle team.