Tour of Utah: 'Mission accomplished' for BMC with stage 2 win

After a relatively quiet day during the opening stage at the Tour of Utah Monday, BMC Racing threw caution to the wind during Tuesday's stage 2, sending Joey Rosskopf into a three-man breakaway and then launching Brent Bookwalter to the stage victory on the first summit finish at Snowbasin Resort.

Rosskopf infiltrated the breakaway after a fast hour of racing in which multiple moves attempted to get away but nothing could stick. The BMC rider joined Marco Canola of Nippo-Vini Fantini and Holowesko-Citadel's Oscar Clark in a move that got away on a small climb after the first sprint 25km into the race.

Rosskopf took the first category 2 KOM, then dropped his breakaway companions as the field was closing in on the second KOM of the day at the top of North Ogden Divide. Rosskopf held off the field over the top and was eventually brought back into the fold after the descent and lead-up to the Snowbasin climb.

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"It was great," Rosskopf told Cyclingnews after the stage. "We had two plans, and we sort of had to do both. We thought there was a chance for the break to go the finish, but obviously not with three guys.

"That was plan A," Rosskopf said. "Plan B was that if we were together on the climb, ride a solid tempo to discourage attacks and let Brent sprint it out for the win. It was a great finish for him, because he can climb and sprint."

Plan A was out the window when Rosskopf got caught, but he wasn't finished fighting for his team. Bookwalter said he had initially tried to talk Rosskopf into riding for GC during the race, but Rosskopf said he was more comfortable just riding aggressively.

Breaking through the runner-up rut

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