June 2011 – The 2011 Larry H. Miller Tour of Utah professional cycling stage race will now feature a total of five UCI pro teams. Liquigas-Cannondale and Garmin-Cervélo have been confirmed for the August 9-14 event for a who’s-who of pro cycling, which also includes HTC-Highroad, Team RadioShack, and BMC Racing.
A total of 16 teams from around the globe will compete for six days across the mountains, buttes and plateaus of Utah, vying for UCI points, award jerseys and $116,000 in prize money. With some pro teams opting to bring smaller rosters, five or six riders rather than the maximum of eight, the Tour of Utah opted to expand its field from 15 teams to 16 total teams. Such a stellar lineup validates the strongest international field of professional athletes in the seven-year history of the Tour of Utah.
“America’s Toughest Stage Race” will be the first UCI 2.1-rated stage race for ProTeams in the U.S. following the Tour de France. All of the ProTeams coming to Utah, plus Geox-TMC, raced in May’s three-week Giro d’Italia. Eleven of the confirmed teams competed at the Amgen Tour of California.
The cream of the crop of Continental teams, which focus on USA Cycling’s National Racing Calendar, are provided an opportunity in Utah to go head to head with the bigger teams that focus on international races. There are a total of 11 U.S.-registered squads, and other teams represent Canada, Italy, Great Britain, New Zealand and Spain. Each team will announce its roster later in the summer.
Final Team Lineup:
UCI Pro Teams Confirmed: (world rankings as of May 2, 2011)
• HTC-Highroad (USA), No. 1 on World Tour
• Team RadioShack (USA), No. 3 on World Tour
• BMC Racing Team (USA), No. 5 on World Tour
• Team Garmin-Cervélo (USA), No. 7 on World Tour
• Liquigas-Cannondale (ITA), No. 16 on World Tour
UCI Professional Continental Teams Confirmed:
• Geox-TMC (ESP), No. 7 on UCI Europe Tour
• Team Type 1 – sanofi-aventis (USA), No. 16 on UCI Europe Tour
• Team SpiderTech powered by C10 (CAN), No. 34 on UCI Europe Tour
• UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling (USA), No. 6 NRC and 16 on UCI America Tour
UCI Continental Team Confirmed:
• Bissell Pro Cycling (USA), No. 2 NRC team
• Endura Racing (GBR), No. 17 on UCI America Tour
• Jamis/ Sutter Home Pro Cycling (USA), No. 8 NRC team
• Kelly Benefit Strategies – OptumHealth (USA), No. 16 NRC team
• PureBlack Racing (NZL), No. 7 NRC team and 4th on UCI Oceania tour
• RealCyclist.com Pro Cycling (USA), No. 1 NRC team
• Trek LIVESTRONG U23 (USA), No. 4 NRC team
