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RACE REPORTS: TOUR OF UTAH STAGE 2: LILL SOLOS TO VICTORY ON MOUNT NEBO
Road Bike Action
August 20, 2009
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Darren Lill takes stage 2 of the Tour of Utah
(Photo: Mitchell Clinton)
Darren Lill claimed victory for Team Type 1 Thursday on one of the most difficult days of the event billed as “America’s Toughest Stage Race.” Lill won Stage 2 of the Larry H. Miller Tour of Utah by leaving some of North America’s best climbers behind on the steep slopes of the nearly 32-kilometer climb up Mount Nebo. Not only was it the South African’s biggest win of the season, but it also came on the same day he was celebrating his 27th birthday.
?"I've been looking for a win this year for a long time. I was praying the whole way,” Lill said. “It's great to win any race, especially a mountain top finish like this. It's quite an epic one, and to be able to win solo is rewarding, especially after such a long effort."
His gutsy, 22-second victory over Francisco Mancebo (Rock Racing), his sixth win of the year, shot him from 39th place to second in the overall standings. He stands 35 seconds behind Mancebo. Defending Tour of Utah champion Jeff Louder (BMC Racing Team) is third, 40 seconds off the race lead.
Had Lill not lost time in a high-speed crash in the final 200 meters of Tuesday night’s prologue, the Salt Lake City resident might very well have donned the yellow jersey as race leader. But he will get at least two more chances to cut into Mancebo’s lead: Friday’s 14.5-kilometer individual time trial at the Miller Motorsports Park and Saturday’s “Queen Stage,” a 155-kilometer race from Park City to Snowbird Ski Resort. “We’ll see what happens up to Snowbird,” Lill said. The six-day race concludes Sunday with a 90-minute criterium in Salt Lake City.
Lill made the winning move by dropping Rock Racing’s Oscar Sevilla on the leg-breaking climb to Mount Nebo that began 55 miles into the 123-kilometer stage and topped out at more than 9,350 feet. At one point, Lill led by more than a minute before attacks from behind whittled down his winning margin.
Tour of Utah Stage 2, 124 km
1. Darren Lill (Team Type1) 3:00:21
2. Francisco Mancebo Perez (Rock Racing) @ .22
3. Jeff Louder (BMC) @ .26
4. Patrick McCarty (OUCH p/b Maxxis) @ s.t.
5. Matthew Busche (Kelly Benfit Strategies)
6. Anthony Colby (Colavita Olive Oil/Sutter Home)
7. Christopher Baldwin (OUCH p/b Maxxis) @ .42
8. Oscar Sevilla (Rock Racing) @ 1.09
9. Philip Zajicek (Fly V Australia) @ s.t.
10. Burke Swindlehurst (Bissell) @ 2.15
General Classification After Stage 2
1. Francisco Mancebo Perez (Rock Racing) 6:31:44
2. Darren Lill (Team Type 1) @ .35
3. Jeff Louder (BMC) @ .40
4. Oscar Sevilla (Rock Racing) @ 1:02
5. Patrick McCarty (OUCH p/b Maxxis) @ s.t.
6. Matthew Busche (Kelly Benfit Strategies) @ 1:03
7. Christopher Baldwin (OUCH p/b Maxxis) @ 1:10
8. Anthony Colby (Colavita Olive Oil/Sutter Home) @ 1:12
9. Philip Zajicek (Fly V Australia) @ 1:40
10. Brent Bookwalter (BMC) @ 2:50
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