Zirbel makes it 2 straight at MMP

TOOELE — With nothing to lose and a message to send, Bissell's Tom Zirbel spoke loudly as he crushed the field at Miller Motorsports Park to claim victory for the second straight year in the Tour of Utah's time trial race.

Zirbel, well out of contention for the overall lead, set the pace early with a sizzling time of 17:00 minutes.

"I'm surprised it held up this long," said Zirbel, who started the individual race against the clock about 45 minutes before the final racer, yellow jersey holder Francisco Mancebo, left the start gate. "But I'm pretty satisfied with my effort."

That effort, which he said led him to bite into his lower lip and created a marble-size blister, ended with a comfortable winning margin of nearly 15 seconds over BMC's Ian McKissick, who hit the finish line at 17:14.9.

BMC teammate Brent Bookwalter, winner of Tuesday's prologue time trial, was third with a time of 17:19.

The course was nearly identical to last year's but added a few extra turns and twists through the raceway's western circuit.

"I liked it, actually," said Zirbel, who had an average speed over the 9.2-mile course of 31.7 miles per hour. "It's really not that difficult once you get into your rhythm and get going."

The win was particularly satisfying for Zirbel who, next week, hopes to win a national time trial championship in South Carolina. His win Friday night comes with a big boost of confidence as it came with a 23-second margin of victory over reigning U.S. TT champ David Zabriskie.

The Salt Lake native placed fifth.

Defending Tour of Utah champion Jeff Louder was 44 seconds off the pace set by Zirbel, but more importantly two seconds off Mancebo's pace and is now 42 seconds off the overall lead.

Darren Lill, second overall entering the time trial, bettered Mancebo's time of 17:42 by five seconds and is now just 30 seconds away from wearing the leader's jersey.

The Tour of Utah dishes out the pain and suffering in long form today. After a casual start in Park City with a few laps around historic downtown, the race gets serious as it takes the field of 140 cyclists through Kamas and around Jordanelle Reservoir before heading through Midway and down Provo Canyon.

After those first 45 relatively easy miles, the race gets serious with a trip up and over the Alpine Loop. After leaving American Fork Canyon, the race goes over Suncrest and finishes with a brutal 6-mile climb up Little Cottonwood Canyon, where the race finishes at Snowbird.

Last year, Louder attacked midway up the canyon for a solo win that set him up to win the overall title in the race. He hopes to repeat that performance today.