2013 tour of utah - stage 6

Jens and me

Stage 6 (8/11/13), Park City to Park City, 78 miles, 7,633 foot elevation gain.  Sunday was the final day of the 2013 Tour of Utah.  As we did last year, we got really organized and went MTBing at Round Valley before we watched the race.  I had a pretty good ride, managing to go up yet another hitherto unridden switchback, which means I can now do fourteen of the Sweet Sixteen on our route.  Woohoo!  We got rained on for a little bit on the way back, just enough to smear the dust on our legs and put some unwanted humidity in the air.  We had parked the truck at the high school so when we finished our ride and cleaned up, we were able to hop right on a shuttle bus to take us in town.

Tommy D. getting the crowd going at the finish

Park City was packed with people: folks there to watch the race, people enjoying Park Silly and some bewildered tourists who had stumbled into the madness.  We got sandwiches from the deli on Main Street and snarfed them down whilst people- and dog-watching, then made our way down the street to score spectator spots at the fence just after the finish line.  We couldn't see any televisions but we could hear the play-by-play as more and more people crammed in around us.

Winner of the 2013 ToU

The stage route started at Park City, went out to Heber and Midway, then up and over Empire Pass and down what the cyclists had ridden up on Saturday on their way to Big Cottonwood Canyon, with a slight uphill finish on Main Street.  After narrowly losing the stage win the day before, Tommy Danielson was not about to miss out this day: he charged up the hill, leaving his teammates and Chris Horner behind, and caught Paco Mancebo (5-Hour Energy/Spain) and Janier Acevedo (Janis/Columbia) on the descent.  At one point, these guys were going 70 m.p.h. - absolute insanity.

Stage 6 podium

Mancebo won the stage with Acevedo taking second.  Tommy D. got third on the day but his grin lit up the town because he had put enough time on the rest of the general classification to win the whole enchilada.  The crowd roared as he crossed the finish line, waving his arms.  Actually, the crowd roared for everyone as the cyclists finished up.

RadioShack enjoying their champagne

We were positioned well enough that we only had to turn around and walk straight ahead to get to the stage for the awards presentations.  Various winners got fancy watches, gift baskets, champagne, High West whiskey and vodka, Sierra Nevada beer and trophies.  Tommy D. was grinning like a madman the whole time and gave a very gracious interview.

General classification podium

Stage podium:  Francisco ("Paco") Mancebo, Janier Acevedo, Tommy D.  General classification:  Tommy D., Chris Horner, Janier Acevedo.  Team standings: RadioShack, UnitedHealthcare, BMC.  Sprinter: Michael Matthews.  King of the Mountain: Michael Torkler (Bissell/New Zealand).  Most Aggressive: Paco Mancebo.  Best Young Rider:  Lachlan Morton.

GC podium enjoying their Sierra Nevada