Tour of Utah: Jure Kocjan snags close Stage 2 victory in downtown Ogden

Ogden • Mike Caldwell emerged from behind the banner on stage and waited for Jure Kocjan to follow. The mayor of Ogden held in his right hand a framed photo of historic 25th Street in downtown Ogden and handed it to the grinning 30-year-old Slovenian, minutes after the Team SmartStop sprinter finished off the gripping final breakaway in Stage 2 of the 2015 Larry H. Miller Tour of Utah.

The photo will serve as a solid reminder to one of Kocjan's best rides in his professional career.

Kocjan burst through a pack of riders with the finish line in sight and fended off a late attempt by Robin Carpenter of Hincapie Racing Team to seal the victory in a 100-mile stage that started Tuesday morning in Tremonton. He won in 3 hours, 37 minutes and 27 seconds.

While Carpenter finished second, Brent Bookwalter of BMC Racing Team finished third in Stage 2. Kiel Reijnen, the Stage 1 victor Monday, nearly reached the podium for the second straight day, but was edged by Bookwalter in the mass finish.

Reijnen held onto the leader's yellow jersey heading into Stage 3 Wednesday. The race will start at Antelope Island State Park and finish in Bountiful.

"[Tuesday] favored a real versatile guy that still has a really good kick like Jure, obviously," Bookwalter said. "And I think we have a couple more of those days."

While Kocjan emerged and stayed in front of the group of 30-or-so riders, Carpenter's late push nearly caught Kocjan, but the 23-year-old from Philadelphia ran out of pavement. After three second-place finishes in the 2014 Tour of Utah, Kocjan said he had high expectations entering Monday's Stage 1 in Logan.

But the unseasonal conditions — the temperatures dropped as low as 55 degrees in a steady downpour Monday — left Kocjan, "frozen all day." Disappointed, Kocjan ate dinner with his teammates and returned to his hotel room, both to stew and prepare for Stage 2 and forget about Logan.

"I was super motivated and angry," Kocjan said.

It paid off.

Relatively easy going in comparison to Monday and other stages in the Tour of Utah, Stage 2 featured a climb up the North Ogden divide that separated several racers and coupled others together in an attempt to stay together. The two-mile climb at 6,170 feet didn't shatter the peloton, but proved to be the ultimate instigator to prompt riders to stay within striking distance.

"Everybody's sort of focused on that one climb — that's the focal point for the day," Carpenter said. "And if you can make it over that, then the race is yours to sort of play with."

It took some time for Kocjan, a noted sprinter, to get back into his zone.

He was in trouble the last kilometer of the climb, struggling up the incline. Kocjan picked the last group to attach to, helping him to the peak before the elongated descent toward Ogden. He was familiar with this specific climb; during last year's stage which ended in Eden, cyclists did the opposite route.

Bookwalter initially made the first crucial move with 14 miles left in the race, catching former leader Daniel Eaton. From there, he drifted in and out of the breakaway. It wasn't until the final 2.3-mile lap of the circuit that he resurfaced late in the race.

Problem is, Kocjan did too, when it mattered most.

"Tomorrow should be somewhat similar," Bookwalter said.

ckamrani@sltrib.com

Twitter: @CKTribune