Bobsled challenge for Roman Van Uden

No doubt Van Uden repeated this pain expression today ©RoadCycling.co.nz 

Aug 10th, 11. PureBlack Racing's Roman Van Uden shares tales from an Olympic bobsled track - which today hosted the Tour of Utah prologue.

PureBlack Racing started its biggest tour yet when the Tour of Utah kicked off with a 2km prologue.

The Utah Olympic Park, which hosted the 2002 Olympic Winter Games, is renowned for holding some of the fastest downhill events. But this year, the Tour of Utah became the first-ever professional uphill event at the park.

"Today was basically a race up the side of a mountain. With the Bob-sleigh track on one side and the huge ski jump as a back drop, it's definitely a bit different to what you usually see when you are riding a bike," shared Van Uden who finished with the Kiwi team's best time of 4m28s to finish 33rd, 23sec behind the winner.

"Dan Barry was up on the start line 1.5 hours before me so it was a great opportunity to see the course one more time from the comfort of the support car.

"Dan went out really hard in the first 1km and suffered when that caught up with him in the second half of the race. The second to last corner looked really tough, as you swing round into a headwind on the way to the finish line."

"From there it was back to warm up on the wind trainer and to get ready for my own race under the tent and out of the hot sun.

"Knowing I had to manage my output on such a short tough course my plan was to complete the 1km without going too hard and then to nail it in the second half. And that's pretty much how it went for the first 1.5km.

"With about 500m to go I was really digging deep and pushing hard when I decided to pull it back a little to make sure I had something left for the finish. The last 200m was all out."

"As I pulled up across the line I felt like I had finished with a bit too much in the tank and maybe, just maybe, I should have kept going from 500m.

"I'm pretty pleased with my time but would love to have been that few seconds closer to the top of the results sheet."

Tour of Utah

• Full Tour of Utah results
• Kiwi is Tour of Utah Sprint Champion
• Up and down day for Kiwis at the Tour of Utah
• Leipheimer leaps into Utah lead
• Van Uden and his battle for the orange jersey
• Images of Jack Bauer's Utah success
• Jack Bauer wins at the Tour of Utah
• PureBlack leader on tough opening road stage
• Bennett thrives on first day as RadioShack stagiare
• Roman Van Uden out front in Utah
• Bobsled challenge for Roman Van Uden
• Youngest Kiwi at Utah keen for action
• Jack Bauer flies in tough uphill prologue
• Back to basics for Pure Black Racing