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Optum Pro Cycling announces team for 2015 Tour of Utah

  • Ron 

Optum Pro Cycling’s eight riders for next week’s Tour of Utah will be resting their legs and lungs this weekend before lining up at the race start on Monday.

The 2015 Tour of Utah (August 3-9), which works harder than ever to earn its moniker as “America’s Toughest Stage Race”, mixes in creative new routes with classic finishes in Salt Lake City, Snowbird Resort and Park City, while the climbing in this year’s route is virtually endless, with a stunning 51,442 feet of elevation gain across seven days of racing.

The route never dips below 4000 feet, and reaches dizzying heights in stages four, six and seven at over 9,000 feet above sea level. The omission of a time trial means hard, fast road racing is on the menu for every inch of the race’s 712 miles. It is most certainly the toughest mountain terrain the team will face all year, and this year’s roster will center around the team’s talented climbing duo, Phil Gaimon and Mike Woods.

The race is undoubtedly designed for pure, high altitude climbers, but there will be plenty of opportunity for all-rounders and sprinters in the flatter early stages. The Orange & Black team was chosen both as a support mechanism for Gaimon and Woods’ general classification aspirations and to contest stage wins – it features two Tour of Utah stage winners in Jesse Anthony and Eric Young, and veteran all-rounders and leadout men in Tom Soladay, Scott Zwizanski, and Brad Huff.

Read a detailed preview of this year’s harrowing route, and hear Performance Director Jonas Carney’s thoughts on the race at optumprocycling.com.

2015 Tour of Utah Roster
Jesse Anthony
Phil Gaimon
Brad Huff
Pierrick Naud
Tom Soladay
Mike Woods
Eric Young
Scott Zwizanski

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