Taylor Phinney Wins Tour of Utah Individual Time Trial by Two Seconds, But Levi Leipheimer Keeps the Yellow Jersey

SALT LAKE CITY – August 21, 2010 – Trek-LIVESTRONG’s Taylor Phinney won yesterday’s Larry H. Miller Tour of Utah, presented by Zions Bank, teamgive individual time trial by two seconds, but Levi Leipheimer, riding for Mellow Johnny’s, retained the AT&T Yellow Leaders Jersey. The time trial was held at the Miller Motorsports Park in Tooele, Utah.

Phinney was the 20th competitor, out of 120, to ride the 9.2-mile course. His ride set the mark high with a time of 16 minutes and 46 seconds averaging close to 33 miles per hour. He would sit for close to an hour waiting for the last rider, Leipheimer, to cross the finish line before knowing his victory was secure.

“I went off early so I had a lot of time to be nervous about the guys who could potentially beat me,” said Phinney, “But in the end, it all worked out and I feel great. There are a lot of really strong guys here so it is amazing to come out on top of a great field.”

Leipheimer’s time of 16 minutes and 38 seconds was two seconds shy of Phinney’s time earning him second on the day. Jeremy Vennell of BISSELL Pro Cycling Team came in third, just in front of Phinney’s teammate Alex Dowsett of Team Trek-LIVESTRONG with a time of 16 minutes, 57 seconds.

“It was a really fast course. I was just trying to keep it steady because it was a flat smooth course without any section harder than the other. It was just a matter of just keeping it pegged the whole time,” said Leipheimer, “I knew I had to push from the beginning with this being more like a long prologue. It isn’t a very long time trial so you can’t afford to lose too much time at the beginning.”

“I actually thought Phinney was going to win this, but I didn’t think Levi would get second after Thursday’s big effort on Mount Nebo,” said Tour of Utah Commentator Todd Gogulski, “I don’t know where he got that. He is obviously really on fire right now. He is one of the best time trialists in the world, but he rode so hard Thursday that it is impressive that he earned second.”

There was no change in the Jersey competition with Leipheimer still in the AT&T Yellow Leaders Jersey, Francisco Mancebo of Canyon Bicycles in the Utah Toyota Dealers King of the Mountains Jersey, Fly V Australia’s David Tanner still has the XO Communications Sprinter Jersey, and his teammate Darren Lill hung on to the Siegfried & Jensen Best Utah Rider’s Jersey.

The top five general classification riders are Leipheimer with a total time of 6:57:24, Mancebo in second with 6:59:01, Lill stayed in third place with 6:59:13, Philip Zajicek of Fly V Australia remained fourth with 6:59:31, and Ian Boswell of BISSELL Pro Cycling Team slipped from a tie of third place with Lill to fifth place, with a time of 6:59:53.

After the time trial, there were several changes in the overall team competition. Trek-LIVESTRONG is now in first place, having moved up from eleventh. Moving up from fifth place to second place is BISSELL Pro Cycling Team. Fly V Australia dropped from first to third. Team Holowesko Partners dropped from second to fourth, and BMC Racing Team went from fourth to fifth place.

Today’s Stage Four, presented by Heiden Davidson Orthopedics, is a 75-minute criterium that will follow a one-mile course around downtown Park City, including a climb up historic Main Street.