Salt Lake City, UT – 2010 Olympic nordic combined skiing gold and silver medalist Billy Demong will be spending time in the saddle as he competes on Team Cole Sport in the 2010 Tour of Utah bike race. After Tuesday’s prologue and Wednesday’s Stage 1, Demong sits eight minutes and 32 seconds behind the leader, Briton Alex Dowsett of Team Livestrong, Lance Armstrong’s Development Team.nThe Tour is made up of five stages. Stage 1 began in Ogden on Wednesday and ended in Salt Lake City with a fast start and two climbs in the middle, followed by today’s stage 2, Thanksgiving Point to Mount Nebo, consisting of a flat course ending with a 20-mile climb. Stage 3 is at Miller Motorsports Park near Tooele, Utah, were riders will compete in a 10 mile time trial, before heading into stage 4’s Downtown Park City 90-minute climb. The Tour ends Sunday with the “Queen Stage” made up of four grueling climbs to a mountain-top finish at Snowbird Ski & Summer Resort in Little Cottonwood Canyon.

Demong will be a contender in the hills such as in stages 4 and 5, utilizing his strength and endurance from nordic combined. Demong, who hails from Vermontville, N.Y., but resides in Park City and trains at the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association’s Center of Excellence, will ride in front of a home crowd during stage 4. The stage is centered around Park City’s Main Street, where riders will do a one mile loop for 90 minutes. Look for Demong to be in the front as he races up the Main Street hill Saturday, August 21 from 4:30 to 6:00 p.m.

Joining the Tour of Utah this year are Tour de France riders Levi Leipheimer (the only rider competing individually) George Hincapie and Brent Bookwalter. Bookwalter finished Tuesday’s prologue in third, Hincapie in eighth and Leipheimer in 10th.