SEE!!! I TOLD YOU SO!!!!

Six miles into the race, there was a 3 mile, 10% climb. Read that again.

We were released from neutral just before the climb. Garmin was setting a hard pace up the base of the climb, but Rock Racing hit hard about halfway up. I was in good position, so I attacked hard over the crest of that sucker and didn't look back until I'd taken the KOM. And who should I see behind me but my teammate Nick only a few seconds back. I eased up a bit, and once we were together, we took turns tucking around the switchbacks on the descent. We were quickly joined by my other teammate Adrian, who dropped the field on on the hair-raising descent (Adrian lit-up that descent like a bobsledder in a hurry -- and nobody could stick his wheel). The three of us worked together for a while until the second KOM, I was starting to crack a little bit, but my teammates eased up after the KOM (which Nick took). Back in the field, my teammate Jake attacked at the base of the climb and closed the 3 minute gap before the summit of the KOM. Lang and Dan marked a possible bridge move that included Hamilton, Sevilla, Donald (the race leader), Swindelhurst, Lill, Danielson, Sutherland and Chadwick. They wisely sat on the move, and when the time was right, attacked together. Once they were off, they radioed up to us so that we'd slow down a bit. Once all six of us joined up on the rolling stretch before the final KOM, our gap increased quickly. We arrived at the finish a whopping 9 minuets ahead of the chase group which contained Cancellara, Contador, Leipheimer, Voigt, and Armstrong (who came out of retirement just to race the Tour of Utah). We kept it together until the finish, and I won the sprint.

Because of time bonuses, I'm in the leader's jersey. Nick's got the KOM jersey. Jake is way ahead in the young rider competition. Bradley White somehow hung on to the points jersey, but Dan's second, Nick's third, Jake's fourth, and Adrian is fifth (so we have some cards to play). Lang is somehow winning the Best Utah Rider jersey, despite being from Seattle. Almost 70 guys got time cut.

GO HAGENS-BERMAN!!!!!