Zirbel takes Utah TT; Mancebo defends lead

The blistering heat that has marked the Larry H. Miller Tour of Utah gave way to blistering times Friday night as the stage 3 individual time trial rolled onto the grand prix track at the Miller Motorsports Park near Tooele, Utah. Tom Zirbel (Bissell) redeemed his sub-par performance in Tuesday’s prologue and returned to the form he has exhibited for most of 2009. Zirbel punished his cranks for 14.5 km to put in the fastest time of the night in 17:00, 14 and 19 seconds ahead of BMC teammates Ian McKissick and Brent Bookwalter, respectively.

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Photos
Results

By Brian Holcombe

Tour of Utah 2009 – Stage 3: Tom Zirbel again won his specialty with a powerful ride.

Photo: Casey B. Gibson

The blistering heat that has marked the Larry H. Miller Tour of Utah gave way to blistering times Friday night as the stage 3 individual time trial rolled onto the grand prix track at the Miller Motorsports Park near Tooele, Utah.

Tom Zirbel (Bissell) redeemed his sub-par performance in Tuesday’s prologue and returned to the form he has exhibited for most of 2009. Zirbel punished his cranks for 14.5 km to put in the fastest time of the night in 17:00, 14 and 19 seconds ahead of BMC teammates Ian McKissick and Brent Bookwalter, respectively.

Francisco Mancebo (Rock Racing) defended his overall lead, distancing third-place Jeff Louder (BMC) by two seconds on the stage and allowing second-place Darren Lill (Team Type 1) to take only five seconds.

Tour of Utah 2009 – Stage 3: Late afternoon light made for some great pictures at the Motorsports Park.

Photo: Casey B. Gibson

Motors running
Fans filled the Grand Prix Building overlooking the finish in the early moments of the stage. The trackside crowds grew and the strong early winds calmed as the sun drew near the low-lying mountains to the west.

Riders faced long, open straight-aways separated by a series of hairpin turns in the first 6 km of the stage before entering the banked corners of the inner track on the compound owned by race sponsor the Larry H. Miller Group. The track is home to world-class motorsports events, including the seventh round of the World Superbike series earlier this year.

A succession of riders set fast early times, including Nick Frey (Ciclismo Racing) at 17:52 and Jose Enrique Gutierrez (Rock Racing) at 17:38. As the early winds relented, New Zealand national time trial champion Jeremy Vennell (Bissell) rolled out 43rd and snared the race lead by six seconds with a time of 17:22. “Hot,” is how Vennell initially described the day. “It was good fun, though. It’s an awesome event because everyone can see us ride around the whole circuit and gets to watch – it’s really fun.”

Tour of Utah 2009 – Stage 3: Zabriskie, takes a corner on his way to a fifth place finish, 23 seconds off of Zirbel’s time.

Photo: Casey B. Gibson

Tom Zirbel rolled away from the start house 5:30 after Vennell and brought 22 seconds of that gap back to take the lead, which he would hold for the balance of the evening. Zirbel, who some have pegged for a move to Europe in 2010, went out hard on the stage and held on as fatigue set in over the closing kilometers.

“I went out pretty aggressive, which is not my M.O.,” Zirbel said. “Usually I’m pretty conservative and, you know, I died off a little bit on the track and I thought, ‘There’s not a chance I’m going to win this with the quality of the field that we have.’”

McKissick and latecomer Bookwalter came closest to unseating Zirbel atop the leaderboard, but could not overcome the NRC individual leader in the final tune-up event ahead of the U.S. Professional Championships in Greenville, South Carolina on August 29.

Following the stage, Zirbel pointed to his ride in the grupetto in Thursday’s climb on Mt. Nebo as a deciding factor in his dominant performance. “But, (tonight’s win) was just a tribute,” he said. “Tour of Utah is just so difficult with those mountain stages that that was the difference. We weren’t all fresh.”

Tour of Utah 2009 – Stage 3: Darren Lill heads for home, and cuts into Mancebo’s lead.

Photo: Casey B. Gibson

Top 3 defend positions
Overall leader Mancebo was quietly confident in his ability to defend the yellow jersey before the start. “I know that I will probably lose time to Louder, but I only expect to lose so much time to him,” Mancebo said through Victor Hugo Peña, who translated. “I also expect to make more time to Darren Lill.”

Mancebo, who is not widely held as a strong time trialist, had good reason for confidence, finishing just 42 seconds off the motoring Zirbel. Timing is everything and Mancebo turned in arguably his best performance against the clock in 2009 on Friday night.

Following the stage, a clearly satisfied Lill, who won Thursday’s stage in a 20 km solo breakaway, said, “I felt all right out there and I don’t know where I ended up overall, I might have cracked the top ten, but I think relative to the other GC guys, it was a good effort. I’ve got to be pretty happy with that.”

After struggling in the discipline for much of 2009, Lill has experimented with his positioning on the time trial bike in recent months and looks to have found the right mix of aerodynamics and posture to keep his pace high against the clock.

Tour of Utah 2009 – Stage 3: Favorite son Jeff Louder couldn’t close the gap to Mancebo in the time trial.

Photo: Casey B. Gibson

Less satisfied with his result was defending champion Louder, who took the overall lead in the time trial at the same venue in 2008. “It was hard. I felt a lot faster than I went,” he said. “I was a little surprised at the lack of speed. I don’t know. I’m climbing better than I’m time trialing right now.”

While the overall top three remains intact following the stage, former national time trial champion Chris Baldwin (OUCH-Maxxis) and newcomer Matthew Busche (Kelly Benefit Strategies) turned in strong rides to move within striking distance at fourth and fifth, respectively.

Moon boots and movie stars
The queen stage lies ahead of the peloton on Saturday, as the race traipses through the Wasatch between the ski resorts of Park City and Snowbird via Robert Redford’s Sundance Resort on the Alpine Loop Scenic Byway. Three categorized climbs, as well as a number of steep, uncategorized ramps, will likely see the overall classification determined on the mountaintop finish at Snowbird.

Race notes
Double U23 national champion Alex Howes (Felt-Holowesko) defended his lead in the best young rider’s competition Friday, putting an additional 26 seconds into second-place Bjorn Selander (Trek-LiveStrong) to enter stage 4 with a 28-second lead. After the stage, Howes said he felt “awful,” but was happy with his ride.