More Tour of Utah

Several posts ago, I listed the teams and riders that were scheduled to appear in the 2009 Tour of Utah. I gave my opinion on some riders to watch.

I need to add to that list.

At that time, BMC Racing hadn't revealed their roster. I commented that it was more than likely a given that 2008 ToU winner Jeff Louder would be in the lineup.

He is:

BMC Racing Team
Directors: Gavin Chilcott, John Lelangue
http://www.bmcracingteam.com/
Complete team and rider information powered by VeloBios.
Jeff Louder
Chad Beyer
Jonathan Garcia
Brent Bookwalter
Steve Bovay
Nathan Miller
Jackson Stewart
Ian McKissick


The only other team that did not have their roster posted yet was the Trek/Livestrong U23 Development team, A team formed by some unknown rider from Austin, TX.

Trek/Livestrong U23 Development Team
Director: Axel Merckx
http://www.treklivestrongu23.com/
Ryan Bauman
Sam Bewley
Cody Campbell
Guy East
Benjamin King
Ryohei Komori
Taylor Kuphaldt
Julian Kyer
Taylor Phinney
Bjorn Selander
Jesse Sergent

Their roster has a couple of interesting people on it. First off is the Director, Axel Merckx. Axel's palmares as a professional rider are impressive, but he is better known as the son of cycling legend Eddy Merckx.

The other person is also comes from some impressive cycling genes: Taylor Phinney. Wunderkind offspring of former professional racing cyclist Davis Phinney and Gold Medal cyclist and speed-skater Connie Carpenter-Phinney. Taylor is most recently won the individual pursuit at the 2009 UCI Track Cycling World Championships.

With talent like this, the Tour of Utah is going to be impressive to say the least.

The Tour of Utah starts on Tuesday, August 18th with a Prologue starting at the state capitol. I will post stage and GC results each day, and hopefully I will be able to report from at least one of the stages again this year. Also, there may be a special surprise coming up. I can't say more, because nothing is confirmed. But if it works, it should be good.