We’ll see how it goes tomorrow, but I think it will be awesome. – Jure Kocjan
SOLDIER HOLLOW — As team Smartstop rider Jure Kocjan was red-lining up the final meters of Stage 4 of the Tour of Utah; he had no thoughts of taking over the race lead. All he was thinking about during the grueling uphill sprint, with a late elevation gain, was reaching the line first.
Kocjan was passed in the final meters of a stage where he finished third, but finds himself in the yellow jersey as the overall leader heading into Stage 5 in Salt Lake City.
“The first plan was to win the stage and if it happened (yellow jersey) it happened,” Kocjan said.
Entering the day, Kocjan trailed race leader, UnitedHealthcare’s, Kiel Reijnen, by four seconds. By finishing third in Thursday’s Soldier Hollow Stage, Kocjan picked up four seconds of time from a sprint bonus. Reijnen finished Thursday’s stage in 48th place, losing 13 seconds and falling to eighth place in the overall standings.
All told, there are six riders within four seconds of Kocjan’s lead, but the new race leader says he looks forward to defending the yellow jersey Friday on the streets of Salt Lake City.
“We’ll see how it goes tomorrow, but I think it will be awesome,” he said.
Thursday’s stage featured 127 miles of riding, 8,000 feet of climbing and one Category 2 climb over Wolf Creek Pass. Thursday’s stage winner, Optum’s Eric Young, was just trying to hang on coming over the pass.
“This was a pretty hard stage for me personally,” Young said. “I was just off the back of the main group, this climbing at 9,500 feet is pretty hard.”
Young recovered down the long descent and over the Jordanelle Reservoir climb before finding himself near the front of a long, steep and uphill finish.
“I was kind of alone at the end there and as we came around the final corner, I saw a little opening, cut in and sprinted to the end,” Young said.
Young edged Hincapie rider Dion Smith and Kocjan, although all three were credited with the same time.
Smith’s teammate, Robin Carpenter, joined a seven-man breakaway group early in the day. Although that group was swallowed up by the peloton with about five kilometers to go, Carpenter took over the Best Young Rider and Most Aggressive Rider jerseys.
“I had this stage earmarked as one where you could get in the break and do some damage,” Carpenter said. The 23-year-old rider moved to second in the overall standings, trailing Kocjan by just two seconds.
Stage 5 moves to Salt Lake City for a seven-lap circuit, totaling 55 miles. The race starts at 4:40 p.m. and will have several severe climbs on Wall Street and Zane Avenue as well as spending some time in the Capitol Hill neighborhood.
Adding to what looks like a very technical Salt Lake City course is a good chance of rain Friday evening.
“There are quite a few corners on the course, and the rain looks like it will be a factor,” Young said. “Wet weather might give a little more chance to the break, but it’s a hard circuit (and) probably the strong fast guy will win.”
Hey can you check these two names really closely in the spell check...Jure Kocjan and Kiel Reijnen...I've seen tem too many times..Just to make sure...Thanks Rich