Mt. Nebo, UT - "The climb just kept going," was how Jeff Louder of the Health Net Pro Cycling Team Presented by Maxxis described the epic finish up to the top of Mt. Nebo in today's Stage 4 of the Larry H. Miller Tour of Utah.

And by the end of that 24.4 mile climb that covered nearly 4,500 feet of elevation up to over 9,000 feet, Louder owned the race lead in his home state tour after finishing second on the stage to teammate Scott Moninger, who moved up to 2nd overall, just two second behind Louder.

The stage itself put forth few surprises, as a break that included Mike Sayers of Health Net Presented by Maxxis went up the road early, and was still off the front when they reached the base of the climb, just 40 miles into the stage.

Toyota-United monitored the front of the peloton protecting race leader Chris Wherry. But once the road turned upward, the expected fireworks started. Phil Zajicek (Navigators) was one of the first to go, attacking out of the remnants of the break. Behind, TIAA-CREF lined up what amounted to a lead-out train to try and launch Blake Caldwell, despite still having Michael Creed up the road in the break.

Caldwell opened a gap of 20 seconds before Burke Swindlehurst (Navigators) another local favorite and frequent training partner of Louder's, made the first serious move. Moninger was the first to react, grabbing Swindlehurst's wheel.

Glen Chadwick (Navigators) was the next to have a go. Behind, Louder was sticking close to race leader Wherry, waiting for the right time to attack in chase of Chadwick. When he went, Wherry didn't react, and he was off on his own.

"After I went off, I actually spent quite a long time riding on my own chasing Chadwick," Louder said. Once he caught Chadwick, they started to close in, with Moninger sitting on Swindlehurst to put an anchor on the break, conserve his energy and give Louder a better chance of catching on.

Louder and Chadwick made contact with 3 km to go, and no sooner had they got to what was now a trio of riders, with Zajicek coming back to the chasing duo, Moninger took off.

"I was pretty gassed when I got up there, and I was actually wanted Scott to go before I made contact," Louder explained. Regardless, the move worked to perfection, with Moninger opening at gap that ended up at 0:19 by the finish. Chadwick tried to follow, but Swindlehurst couldn't, instead fading a bit in the final kilometers. Louder stuck to Chadwick's wheel and approaching the line, came around the Navigators rider to give Health Net Presented by Maxxis the one-two finish, as well as gain an additional six seconds in time bonus. Chadwick earned four seconds as well.

Swindlehurst hung on to come in at 0:32 behind Moninger. Wherry ended up losing 1:40 to Moninger and fell to 5th overall behind Swindlehurst and Chadwick. Perhaps the biggest loser on the day was Sergey Lagutin (Navigators), who came into the stage 2nd overall, but lost 2:35 to the stage winner, falling to 7th overall. But Navigators are still sitting in good position, occupying the 3rd, 4th, 6th and 7th spots overall.

The Larry H. Miller Tour of Utah continues Friday with a difficult circuit race. "I expect the lead group to only have maybe 20 riders in it by the end," Louder said. Whoever survives that will fight it out in the mountainous final stage Saturday.

General Classification after Stage 4

1. Jeff Louder (USA) Health Net pb Maxxis
2. Scott Moninger (USA) Health Net pb Maxxis         0:02
3. Glen Chadwick (Aus) Navigators Insurance          0:23
4. Burke Swindlehurst (USA) Navigators Insurance     0:52
5. Chris Wherry (USA) Toyota-United                  0:57

Official Results