|
DEC
04 | JAN
| FEB
| MAR
| APR
| MAY
| JUN
| JUL
| AUG
| SEP
| OCT
| NOV
| DEC
Snowbird, Utah (August 12, 2006) - With over 12,000 feet of high-altitude climbing, today's final stage of the Larry H. Miller Tour of Utah lived up to its billing as the domestic cycling season's hardest day of racing.
Dominique Perras once again led the Kodakgallery.com/Sierra Nevada Pro Cycling Team, finishing 16th unofficially in the stage, which Blake Caldwell (TIAA-CREF) won as one of five riders who survived from a 15-rider early breakaway.
 |
Mike Dietrich at the finish |
Initially, that break also included Kodakgallery.com/Sierra Nevada's Mike Dietrich, who crested the first major climb of Alpine Loop just behind the six leaders but crashed on the descent and had to wait for the remnants of the field.
"It was my job to get in the early break and I felt pretty good, but I guess I was going a little too fast trying to catch back on," he explained.
After getting up and over Alpine Loop and the smaller Suncrest climb, Perras was in good position at the base of the 7-mile final climb up Little Cottonwood Canyon to Snowbird at over 8,200 feet.
"I was in a group of five on the final climb and I tried to stay with Chris Wherry, Scott Moninger, Jeff Louder and Glen Chadwick but with about 5km to go, I couldn't breathe any more and I blew up," he recalled.
"The whole team rode well this week but with the altitude, it's tough for us. I was happy to be back at the level that I think I'm normally at."
Indeed, Perras showed his best form of the season in Utah, finishing unofficially in 9th overall and climbing comfortably with the race's elite throughout the week, leading Kodakgallery.com/Sierra Nevada General Manager Robin Zellner to remark that "Dom is back."
David Robinson was Kodakgallery.com/Sierra Nevada's next finisher after Perras, followed by Dietrich and Scott Zwizanski. Jesse Anthony suffered back problems during today's stage and withdrew.
|
 |
