Kiel Reijnen came to the Tour of Utah hunting a stage victory. He’d come close earlier in the week, but victory eluded him. At last on Friday in Bountiful, Reijnen got his turn to stand on the top step. The high-altitude climbs over North Ogden Divide and Trappers Loop sapped the legs of the pure sprinters and opened the way for the fast-finishing Reijnen to score a stage victory.
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Friday’s stage began on the unique terrain of Antelope Island and finished with a technical circuit in Bountiful. Along the way, riders faced the exposed, high-altitude climbs of North Ogden Divide and Trappers Loop. The finishing circuit in Bountiful also included a steep, leg-breaking climb that the riders ascended twice before the ripping into the finishing straight.
After the neutral laps around Antelope Island, an eleven-rider breakaway escaped almost immediately. Axeon-Hagens Berman’s Logan Owen, who won the stage in Bountiful last year, was among the riders in the early break and he had hopes it would go all the way. Owen said after the stage that he sensed fatigue among some of the teams, which he thought might weaken the chase.
The lead group included Tom Bohli (BMC Racing), Simon Pellaud (Silber), who’s ridden multiple breakaways this week, Julien Bernard (Trek-Segafredo), Frederic Brun (Fortuneo-Vital Concept), Christopher Jones (UnitedHealthcare), Daniel Eaton (UnitedHealthcare), Logan Owen (Axeon-Hagens Berman), Brayan Stiven Sanchez (Team Jamis), Thomas Vaubourzeix (Lupus), and Alexander Cataford (Silber Pro Cycling). Bernard won the Most Aggressive prize for the day for his role in instigating the move.
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Jelly Belly quickly took up the chase in defense of Lachlan Morton’s race lead. With the terrain too difficult for the pure climbers, Jelly Belly couldn’t look to other teams for help controlling the breakaway. To make Jelly Belly’s task more difficult, most of the big teams had riders in the break and were looking for an easy ride ahead of the weekend’s mountains. But Jelly Belly never let the breakaway go too far up the road, much to the disappointment of Owen and the other breakaway riders.
As the kilometers ticked down, riders began to drop off the front group. The race entered the circuit in Bountiful with seven riders remaining out in front. The finishing circuit included a steep climb and a screaming fast descentbefore a 90-degree right-hander announcing the finishing straight. Then it was a flat-out sprint to the line.
On the first trip up the Bountiful Bench climb, Bernard attacked the lead group and went up the road alone. The remains of the breakaway followed, but it was clear they would not last out in front for long. Behind, Cannondale-Drapac took over the chase in the main field which by now numbered around 30 riders. The green team hoped to set up Alex Howes for the stage win.
Over the top of the Bountiful Bench, Reijnen had teammates Peter Stetina and Didier Laurent with him. “I knew if we could keep everything together to the line that I could win the sprint, so I waited,” he said. A crosswind in the finishing straight complicated the run-in and Reijnen struggled to find a wheel. Then BMC Racing punched it hard in the hopes of setting up young sprinter Rick Zabel.
Reijnen jumped early. “I just decided to start sprinting, and it was thankfully the right decision,” he said. The early jump gave Reijnen his first stage win of this year’s Tour of Utah. Axeon-Hagens Berman’s Tao Geogehegan Hart finished second, while Cannondale-Drapac’s Alex Howes was third.
“Today was an emotional win for me, because I didn’t really believe in myself for the first 150 kilometers, but the team did,” said Reijnen. “I felt after the first time up the hard climb that I had the legs to win.”
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The American, who’s based Boulder, heads to the Vuelta a España after the Tour of Utah finishes. “I’ve spent a lot of time in Europe getting my head bashed in this year,” he said. Reijnen prepared for the Tour of Utah by heading up to a cabin in the Colorado mountains. “I went to where I always go to get good, by myself, riding dirt roads,” he said. “I went on some quests.”
Lachlan Morton remains in the race lead ahead of the weekend’s mountain stages. Adrien Costa was caught out behind a split in the finishing circuits and slipped to third overall, while Andrew Talansky is now second. Axeon-Hagens Berman director Axel Merckx was quick to put Costa’s day in perspective. “Adrien had a little harder time today. It’s not unexpected at 18 years old.”
Saturday’s queen stage begins at Snowbasin Resort outside Ogden. It includes the massive climb up Guardsman’s Pass in Park City. Then it’s a summit finish at the Snowbird Ski and Summer Resort. Last year, Joe Dombrowski seized the race lead on this course. Though he may not be able to climb back to the top of the classification this time around, you can expect to see the lanky Cannondale-Drapac rider at the front on the long grind to Snowbird.
