June 1/11 12:42 pm - Tour of Utah Announces Final 16 Teams for 2011

Posted by Editoress on 06/1/11
 

The 2011 edition of the Larry H. Miller Tour of Utah professional cycling stage race will now feature five UCI ProTeams, and a total field of 16 teams from around the globe. Four international squads, including Liquigas-Cannondale and Garmin-Cervélo, and five domestic teams were added this week by race organizers. Taking place August 9-14, using six different Host Venues across northern 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.

In the final field for Tour of Utah, six of the teams (all the UCI ProTeams and Geox-TMC) just completed the Giro d'Italia, one of the three Grand Tours of Europe. Eleven of the confirmed teams competed at the Amgen Tour of California in May. And, the five UCI ProTeams will be competing in July at the Tour de France. The final field for Tour of Utah includes 11 teams registered in the United States, and other teams represent Canada, Italy, Great Britain, New Zealand and Spain.

UCI ProTeams Confirmed:

HTC-Highroad (USA)
Team RadioShack (USA)
BMC Racing Team (USA)
*Team Garmin-Cervélo (USA)
*Liquigas-Cannondale (Italy)

UCI Professional Continental Teams Confirmed:

*Geox-TMC (Spain)
Team Type 1 - sanofi-aventis (USA)
Team SpiderTech powered by C10 (Canada)
UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling (USA)

UCI Continental Team, America Tour Confirmed:

*Bissell Pro Cycling (USA)
*Endura Racing (Great Britain)
*Jamis/Sutter Home Pro Cycling (USA)
*Kelly Benefit Strategies - OptumHealth (USA)
*PureBlack Racing (New Zealand)
*RealCyclist.com Pro Cycling (USA)
Trek-LIVESTRONG U23 (USA)

* denotes recent addition to Tour of Utah

Each domestic and international professional cycling team will compete with a maximum of eight riders per team. The athletes 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. The Tour of Utah was elevated by the international governing body of the sport of cycling (UCI) to be one of just three 2.1-rated, or higher, world-class stage races in the U.S. The Tour of Utah is the second largest of these three races.

"The elevation of the Tour of Utah to a 2.1-rated UCI stage race this year makes it possible to include the best teams in the world, and across North America, to compete on the challenging terrain of the Wasatch Front. All of our spectators, corporate partners and volunteers will be rewarded this year with the best field yet, a showcase for international cycling here in Utah," said Steve Miller, president of the Utah Cycling Partnership, which owns the Tour of Utah.

The 2011 Larry H. Miller Tour of Utah will consist of an opening prologue and five stages.