BMC's Greg Van Avermaet got away in the final kilometre to win the opening stage of the Larry H. Miller Tour of Utah.
Chris Jones (UnitedHealthcare) and Michael Torckler (Bissell), attacked from the start of the 179.1km from Brian Head to Cedar City,
With a ten minute lead, the pair were able to agree on who took what sprints and climbs and it was Torckler who took the Mountains points and Jones the sprints before they were finally caught on a 4.3km finishing lap around Cedar City.
There was six hundred metres remaining when Greg Van Avermaet made his move and he held the attempts of the peloton to win in a time of 4.11.00, ahead of Michael Matthews of Orica GreenEdge, American Tyler Magner of the Hincapie Sportswear team, American Eric Young of the Optum Presented By Kelly Benefit Strategies and American Kiel Reijnen of UnitedHealthCare Pro Cycling.
The only British rider Steve Cummings of BMC finished 50th
Van Avermaet leads the race by four seconds thanks to the time bonuses from Michael Matthews.