Jure Kocjan enjoyed one of the most beautiful moments of his career when he took the leader's jersey in the Tour of Utah at the end of yesterday's second stage. The Slovenian dug deep on the final climb to make the key selection and knew that he would probably be the fastest rider in the group.

Yesterday Jure Kocjan got agonizingly close to a big win when the peloton failed to catch Michael Schär in the second stage of the Tour of Utah. Riding for the small SmartStop team, the Slovenian won the bunch sprint for second and so took his second consecutive runner-up spot.

Kocjan could console himself with the fact that his many bonus seconds were enough to take the leader's jersey in the prestigious race. Being both a solid climber and a good sprinter, he had made the stage one of his big goals.

"I was very motivated for today's stage," Kocjan said. "Before the climb I didn't feel very good. It was hot and normally I don't like the hot weather. I just stayed on the back of the first group, on my limit and I just kept on saying 'go, go, go' and kilometer by kilometer I was closer to the summit. When we came to the top, I knew that if we came to the sprint, normally I would be the fastest guy."
 
Kocjan added that it was "incredible" to claim the yellow Larry H. Miller Dealerships Overall Leader's jersey. "We'll try tomorrow to defend the yellow jersey but we'll see. We have some other cards to play."