It was definitely wet, but I had a lot of fun. – Greg Daniel
LOGAN — Although Kiel Reijnen hit himself in the chest numerous times and punched the air in celebration, it was actually a very friendly finish line at the end of Stage 1 of the Tour of Utah Monday afternon.
The 29-year-old from the UnitedHealthcare Team just managed to outsprint Alex Howes and Taylor Phinney, two close friends whom he often rides with while training in his adopted hometown of Boulder, Colorado.
When asked where the stage victory placed in career achievements, Reijnen said, “It’s probably my favorite win” because he was able to share the podium with Howes and Phinney.
“To have those two guys there was really super cool. We ride together a lot, we hang out together a lot and we compete against each other.”
Howes, racing with the Cannondale-Garmin Pro Cycling Team, ended up in second place, while Phinney, competing for the first time since being badly injured last May at the U.S. National Championships in Tennessee, finished third. After hitting a motorcycle outside of Chattanooga, Phinney crashed into a guardrail, leaving him with myriad injuries, including a broken leg and a shattered kneecap.
“It’s really nice to be back,” said Phinney, who competes with the BMC Racing Team. “I didn’t want to come back before I was at a position where I could be competitive, and I could give some people a run for their money.”
Reijnen claimed victory of the 132-mile stage — the longest first stage in the 11-year history of the Tour of Utah — that took riders up Logan Canyon, down to Garden City, around Bear Lake and into Idaho, then back up out of Garden City, down Logan Canyon and into downtown Logan.
Despite riding in rain nearly the entire route, Reijnen, Howes, Phinney and Greg Daniel all finished at just under five hours and nine minutes.
“It was definitely wet, but I had a lot of fun,” Daniel said. “It’s always fun to race the Tour of Utah; this is the second time I’ve done it. And I just feel honored to be able to race with guys like Taylor Phinney and Kiel and Alex, people that I grew up watching on TV.”
Racing for the Axeon Cycling Team, Daniel finished fourth while also being awarded the jerseys for King of the Mountain and Best Young Rider. The 20-year-old out of Denver was one of the survivors of a seven-man breakaway that pulled away from the peloton on the ride up Logan Canyon.
That group of riders managed to put as many as 15 minutes before themselves and the 100-plus cyclists behind them. But as four cyclists fell out, their lead got down to seven minutes on the trip around Bear Lake, and the gap was down to about 90 seconds on the second trip through Logan Canyon.
Daniel and Johann Van Zyl were in the lead coming back into Cache Valley, but the course made two laps around Logan before hitting the finish line, allowing Reijnen, Howes and Phinney to catch up. With the peloton closing in fast, the fresher threesome passed Daniel and Van Zyl on the last lap and then battled down the homestretch, with Reijnen finishing the strongest.
“We’re all really good at pushing each other, and none of us is going to give an inch, and I think that’s pretty cool,” Reijnen said.
In addition to the yellow jersey for the stage win, Reijnen was also awarded the jersey for top sprinter. Van Zyl, who finished fifth, received the Most Aggressive Rider jersey, and Reijnen’s UHC teammate and Park City resident Daniel Putt was honored with the Fan Favorite jersey. Cannondale-Garmin was the top overall team.
Cannondale-Garmin won despite the sudden absence of Tom Danielson, who has won the past two Tours of Utah. Danielson withdrew from the race late Sunday night, with Cannondale-Garmin releasing the following statement:
“Tom Danielson notified Slipstream Sports that he was informed by USADA that he has returned an adverse analytical A sample using carbon isotope testing. In accordance with Slipstream Sports’ zero tolerance anti-doping policy, he has been suspended from competition, effective immediately. He awaits the results of his B sample. Slipstream respects and will adhere to the process of the anti-doping authorities and will not comment further.”
“We’re at the Tour of Utah and we’re here to race, and I think we showed that today,” Howes said of losing Danielson. “When you get bad news, obviously morale is not amazing, but we’re here to do a job, and that’s what we’re going to do.”
While the men were out on the course, the Tour of Utah Women’s Edition also hosted the Criterium Classic 2015, a two-stage race that will end Tuesday in Ogden. Allie Dragoo won Monday’s stage, a 74.7-mile-long course around Logan. The 26-year-old Michigan native with the Twenty16 Cycling Team outlasted runner-up Gretchen Stumhofer by 49 seconds.
“The course today was pretty hard with the rain, first off, and then the little climb that we had every lap; after 75 minutes, it really starts burning,” Dragoo said. "But it was a good course for me.”
The seven-stage Tour of Utah now moves on to Stage 2, a 100-mile course that starts in Tremonton at 10:45 a.m. Tuesday and ends in downtown Ogden.