Tour of Utah to feature three mountaintop finishes

The Larry H. Miller Tour of Utah announced its 2017 route Thursday, a climber’s delight featuring three mountaintop finishes, one of which being an individual time trial. The 13th edition of the UCI stage race will take place July 31-August 6.

Stage 2 will be the race’s first of three uphill finishes, at Snowbasin Resort. This comes at the end of a 151.1-kilometer day. As well as the climb to the ski area, the stage includes two other categorized climbs. Riders will face about 9.7km of climbing at 6 percent gradient to reach the finish at 1,948 meters.

For the first time since 2011, the Tour of Utah includes an individual time trial. Stage 3’s test will be short at nine kilometers, but the route climbs 525.8 meters in the high altitude arena of Big Cottonwood Canyon.

The race’s final challenge for GC hopefuls will feature a familiar finish at Snowbird Resort at the end of a 10-kilometer climb with gradients ranging from 8-12 percent. While stage 6 will be short at merely 99 kilometers, it is very difficult with 2,347 meters of climbing. Prior to the summit finish, the route goes over a category 1 climb of American Fork Canyon.

All totaled, the race will run 965 kilometers over seven days, with 11,133 meters of elevation gain.

Lachlan Morton (Dimension Data) won the 2016 edition of the race, riding for Jelly Belly. He launched a bold attack on the final stage to Park City to snatch the overall title from Cannondale-Drapac’s Andrew Talansky.

Tour of Utah 2017 route

Stage 1: Logan to Logan, 212.3km
Stage 2: Brigham City to Snowbasin Resort, 151.1km
Stage 3: Big Cottonwood Canyon ITT, 9km
Stage 4: South Jordan to South Jordan, 201.1km
Stage 5: Layton to Bountiful, 180.2km
Stage 6: Heber Valley to Snowbird Resort, 99km
Stage 7: Salt Lake City circuit, 115km