Spanish duo dominates in opening stage of Tour of Utah

The gauntlet has been thrown down.

After coming into the Tour of Utah as two of the favorites, Rock Racing's powerhouse Spanish duo of Francisco Mancebo and Oscar Sevilla let everyone know they were ready to stamp their seal of ownership on the race — pulling away in Emigration Canyon and crossing the finish line together, hand in hand, for a message-sending 1-2 finish, 25 seconds ahead of the chase pack.

"Like brothers," Mancebo said through an interpreter after the race.

Sevilla, arguably the stronger of the two climbers with some impressive victories this season, allowed his teammate and countryman to roll across the line a few centimeters ahead and take the stage win.

Sevilla said it was a gift for Mancebo's efforts in helping him win last month's Cascade Cycling Classic in Oregon.

David Veilleux, riding for Kelly Benefits Strategies, motored away from the pack to win the sprint and third place on the day.

With the victory, Mancebo took the overall lead in the race — nine seconds ahead of Sevilla and 30 seconds over BMC's Brent Bookwalter, the winner of Tuesday's prologue.

"I knew from that group I could win the sprint," Veilleux said of his third-place showing. "But those two guys were way too fast."

Though two cyclists, Sam Bewley (Trek-LiveStrong) and Brad White (OUCH Maxxis), attacked coming out of Morgan Valley and built a nice lead of nearly two minutes, they were never able to fully pull away and create a comfortable gap.

And when the final big climb of the day came up Big Mountain from East Canyon, Mancebo and Sevilla set a strong tempo, reeling in the breakaway duo on the flats just before the small climb up to Little Mountain and down Emigration Canyon.

There, Mancebo and Sevilla worked together and, after pulling away from the others on the way up Little Mountain, never let up.

"We held on to the back of them for the first half of that climb," White said. "After a while, he lost his wheel. But I couldn't come around."

Despite missing out on his chance to take the overall lead, White was able to earn the polka-dot jersey as the King of the Mountains.

Veilleux donned the blue jersey as best young rider (U-23) after the stage, while Salt Lake's David Zabriskie finished in the first chase group to hold on to his best Utah rider's red jersey.

The stage, which began at the mouth of Ogden Canyon and continued for 85 miles around Pineview Reservoir and up Old Snowbasin Road, had two rugged climbs for the pack to contend with. Despite those nasty ascents, the average speed of the winners was 24.83 miles per hour.

The Tour of Utah continues today with a seemingly-short, 76-mile stage from Lehi to the top of the Mount Nebo loop.