Lachlan Norris showed his great climbing potential when he finished 10th in the first big mountain stage of the Tour of Utah. The Drapac rider will now try to move up in the overall standings in the final two mountain stages of the race.

Drapac Professional Cycling’s Lachlan Norris has finished 10th in the Larry H. Miller Tour of Utah’s 168.5km fourth stage, a punishing climb to Powder Mountain won by Tom Danielson (Garmin Sharp).

The result moves Norris into 10th place on the General Classification, up 15 spots in the first real selection of the race.

“It’s always a bit of a mystery as to how it’s going to play out but I’d thought about a few scenarios in my head and that was one of them,” said Norris. “Winning was another, but we’ll keep that one for down the track.”

Jai Crawford also rode solidly in the finale, eventually crossing the finish line in 20th place, 5:45 off the pace in what was a phenomenal team effort to execute the race plan.

Drapac was on the attack early, with Darren Lapthorne working his way into a breakaway which animated the opening loop around the North Ogden Divide. It was the third-straight day at the front of the race for the team’s road captain.

“We always expected today to be a tough day given the climbs, but I don’t think many expected it to be raced so hard on the 100km of flat between the two Cat. 2 climbs,” explained Drapac’s Director of Performance, Keith Flory. “No team was happy with the break combinations, so it was lined out for the majority of the stage.”

The break was eventually absorbed on the second ascent of the North Ogden Divide, the entrée to the final ascent to Powder Mountain.

“Luckily for me the boys were fantastic in looking after Jai and me to get us to the penultimate climb,” explained Norris. “Then the Garmin guys pretty much blew the field apart up there and there was probably only 25 guys over the top.”

Three of those 25 riders belonged to Drapac – Norris, Crawford and stagiaire Brendan Canty. Three soon became two just before the top of the climb with Crawford and Norris left to fight it out among the likes of grand tour winners such as Cadel Evans (BMC) and Chris Horner (Lampre-Merida).

Norris said that today’s result was testament to an effort which began on Monday’s opening stage.

“I haven’t had to lift a finger and that was the only way that I was able to be able to get a result today, by just being able to conserve as much energy as I can,” he said.

“Jai was really helpful and able to move me up on Powder Mountain and I was really happy to be able to finish it off.”

Flory also paid tribute to the efforts of the team.

“Lachy takes the honour of a great stage result, but the whole team performed excellently to give him the opportunity to get the result.”

Norris will now focus his efforts on the General Classification with three stages left to race and attempt to better his position.

“I’d say tomorrow won’t be a super-dangerous day,” he said of the 163.1km fifth stage. “Really, it’s the last two stages that are going to be big ones.

“For the other boys there is still a lot of other opportunities getting in breakaways for stages now that the GC is starting to really take shape. They’re all going really well and definitely in the mix if they get in the right break. Hopefully we’ll be able to continue and get some good results in the latter half of the tour.”