Up and down day for Kiwis at the Tour of Utah

Aug 14th, 11. Eleven laps, each one with a tough climb, and a breakaway out front made for a hard day for the Kiwis at the Tour of Utah today.

After the inevitable shuffling and reshuffling of the peloton in the first kilometres, a group of 25 riders broke free on the second lap of today's 129km Stage 4 race.

No Kiwis were in the front group.

For PureBlack Racing, it meant no chance for Roman Van Uden to earn more sprint points, and he had to give up his Sprint Jersey by the end of the day. Louis Crosby dropped out early in the race, but Tim Gudsell, Mike Northey and Glen Chadwick had a good day in the chase group and finished just 2min back from the winner. 

For those Kiwis with teammates in the break, Bissell Pro Cycling's Jeremy Vennell and Patrick Bevin, the day's focus was on hanging on during the high pace and 35+degree temperatures.

For George Bennett, whose RadioShack teammate Levi Leipheimer was leading the tour, it meant a day at the front of the peloton working hard to minimise the time gap.

"Holy cow that was hard," Bennett told RoadCycling.co.nz after today's race.

For the first few laps in chase mode, the whole of the RadioShack team, bar Leipheimer and Jani Brajkovich, took turns on the front to reel in the break which at one stage got out to a threatening 2min time gap. Then it was down to four riders, then just two - Bennett and one other were left on the front to keep Leipheimer in contention.

When HTC Highroad saw the team fading, they attacked and split the field. Bennett worked hard to keep the team in contact. On the second attack, Bennett had no response and soon realised his day was done.

The RadioShack stagiare spent the final 24kms out the back, working hard to ensure he finished within the tough 5% cut-off time limit - even though today had 2,200m of climbing, the stage was deemed a sprint stage!

Hayden Roulston (HTC Highroad) was feeling the effects of his Stage 2 crash today. "I'm not sure if it's the effects of the crash, or the altitude but something is making life rather difficult right now. Oh man did i suffer today," he wrote on his blog.

Up the front, at about the same time HTC Highroad's Tejay Van Garderen attacked the peloton, the break group broke in half thanks to a volley of attacks from team Gobernacion Indeportes Antioquia who had the benefit of three riders in the break.

It worked out reasonably well in the end for RadioShack, Leipheimer did lose time, but he kept  the leader's jersey and Bennett finished within the time cut. Two other RadioShack riders didn't, so the team is down to six for tomorrow's final day.

Colombian Janier Acevedo Calle (Gobernacion Indeportes Antioquia) pushed hard in the final 500m, to break away from the lead group of 17 and grabbed today's win. Team Type 1 teammates finished on the podium with Javier Megias Leal in 2nd and Rubens Bertogliati 3rd.

Sergio Henao (Gobernacion Indeportes Antioquia), who wore the leader's jersey for the first two days, put in a monumental effort to bridge the gap from the chase group to the breakaway on the final lap. He did not make it to the front group, but gained time on Leipheimer to move from 4th to 2nd +23sec. on G.C. Brajkovic remains 27sec behind in 3rd overall.

With Henao was none other than Kiwi Jack Bauer (Endura), who is continuing to show his fantastic form!

Tomorrow is the sixth and final day, the Queen stage, with 3,400-plus vertical metres of climbing over the 161km road race.

Fortunately for PureBlack Racing, there are two interim sprints before the peloton hits the climbs, giving Van Uden an opportunity to bring home the Sprint jersey to New Zealand.

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