Stage 7, 2015 USA Pro Challenge

I haven't done my normal coverage of the USA Pro Challenge this week, too much going on, but here's a short video I took this afternoon downtown as the race came through on the third of five laps.  They were literally close enough to reach out and touch at 300m to go.

Goodbye Jens

Goodbye to Jens.  Today was the last race of the great Jens Voigt's career and he went out in typical Jens fashion, by attacking early and staying off the front until late.  5 riders attacked coming out of Boulder and let the pack over Lookout Mountain in golden and down into Denver.  We were camped 175m from the finish and saw Jens lead the group through the finish on the first 4 of the 5 laps, though in the fourth lap the group was mere seconds behind the German.

Meanwhile back in the peloton Garmin-SHARP and UHC decided to drop Elia Vivani on the Lookout Mountain climb to increase the chances for their sprinters Alex Howes and Kiel Rejinen respectively.  not only did they drop Viviani, they dropped literally every member of his Cannondale team and by the time they got past us in Denver the grupetto was 3:30 behind and by their body language were clearly not catching the main group.

On the final lap after Jens was caught BMC took control and tried to set up their sprinter Michael Schar.  At 3K to go, when the times were locked in and Teejay had officially won the race, he came to the front to lead Schar out!  As they went by us at 175m to go Teejay was still on the front and Howes was coming up the inside for Garmin-SHARP but it appeared too little too late for Argyle.  We could see the finish but it turns out I was wrong.  Alex Howes took the win over his best friend Kiel Rejinen in a reverse of Stage 1 in Aspen.  It was Howes' first professional win.  BMC's Schar finished 3rd after the leadout.

After the race we were able to get down close to the podium for the ceremonies.  No surprise that Jens was given Most Aggressive Rider today, but Phil Ligget and Paul Sherwen had a special presentation for Jens.  They brought him back up to the stage and gave him a framed collage of pictures and gave him a chance to address the crowd to say goodbye.  Afterwards we went by the Garmin-SHARP bus where we saw Ben King, Charlie Wegelius, and I got an autograph from Jonathan Vaughters!  I've been wanting to add JV's autograph to my collection since the race started so I was quite pleased.  He was just hanging out on the grassy hill next to the bus, I'm not sure how many people knew who he was, most people seemed to be waiting for Howes or Tommy D.  Or it could be that they all got autographs and such before we got there.

Stage:

1. Alex Howes - Garmin-SHARP

2. Kiel Rejinen - UHC

3. Michael Schar - BMC

Final Standings:

GC:

1. Teejay Van Garderen - BMC

2. Tom Danielson - Garmin-SHARP (1:32)

3. Serghei Tvetcov - Jelly Belly (1:45)

Sprint:

1. Kiel Reijnen - UHC (39)

2. Alex Howes - Garmin-SHARP (31)

2. Danny Summerhill - UHC (23)

KOM:

1. Ben Jacques-Maynes - Jamis-Hagens (35)

2. Teejay Van Garderen - BMC (27)

3. Jens Voigt - TREK (26)

Young Rider:

1. Clement Chevrier - Bissell

2. Ruben Zepuntke - Bissell (3:30)

3. Tanner Putt - Bissell (25:58)

Team:

1. BMC 

2. Garmin-SHARP (1:04)

3. TREK (3:54)

Best Colorado Rider: Teejay VanGarderen - BMC

Most Aggressive Rider: Jens Voigt - BMC

VanGarderen Sets New Course Record

Teejay crushed the time trial today and will almost certainly win his second straight USA Pro Challenge tomorrow in Denver. After Tommy D came in after starting the day in 4th by putting up a personal best of 25:18 5 minutes later Teejay came in at 24:26, crushing his own course record of 25:02 set last year. They've used this course going all the way back to the Red Zinger Classic in 1975 and through to the end of the Coors Classic in 1988. The first person to congratulate Teejay was Tommy D, who ended it with "you're a bad m-----f-----". The big loser was Majka who came in 4th and dropped off the GC podium.

I'll be watching near the finish line tomorrow but I doubt any of the overall standings will change. I doubt Teejay will challenge Jacques-Maynes for the KOM. I suppose teammates Reijnen and Summerhill could contest the sprinter's jersey but I would be surprised. If the 1:31 differential holds up tomorrow it would be the largest margin of victory in the race, beating Teejay's 1:30 win over Frank last year. Tommy D was at 1:42 behind in 3rd so he's improved by 11 seconds this year.

Stage:
1. Teejay Van Garderen - BMC
2. Tom Danielson - Garmin-SHARP ( :52)
3. Serghei Tvetcov - Jelly Belly (1:08)

GC:
1. Teejay Van Garderen - BMC
2. Tom Danielson - Garmin-SHARP (1:31)
3. Serghei Tvetcov - Jelly Belly (1:45)

Young Rider:
1. Clement Chevrier - Bissell
2. Ruben Zepuntke - Bissell (3:30)
3. Tanner Putt - Bissell (19:09)

Team:
1. BMC 
2. Garmin-SHARP (1:04)
3. TREK (3:54)

No sprint or KOM points today with the time trial so no change there.

A Race Happened, Apaprently

The weather in the mountains kept the relay plane grounded today, so all we saw was parts of the final 10K (any camera in town in Breckenridge plus occasional glimpses from the helicopter. Apparently a 12 man group broke away with 60K to go, then over Hoosier Pass a 4 man group consisting of Didier, Acevedo, Ben King, and Britton broke away and stayed away to the finish. On the final short climb in Breck Ben King attacked but was passed by Didier with 300M to go on the climb, followed by Acevedo and Britton. Didier bombed his way down to the finish line with the other two trying to close the gap but they came up just short. Another 25m and Acevedo would have won the stage as all 3 got the same time, with Ben King 15 seconds back.

Stage:
1. Laurent Didier - TREK
2. Jainer Acevedo - Garmin-SHARP
3. Rob Britton - SmartStop

GC:
1. Teejay Van Garderen - BMC
2. Rafal Majka - Saxo-Tinkoff ( :20)
3. Serghei Tvetcov - Jelly Belly ( :37)

KOM:
1. Ben Jacques-Maynes - Jamis-Hagens (35)
2. Teejay Van Garderen - BMC (27)
3. Tom Danielson - Garmin-SHARP (20)

Young Rider:
1. Clement Chevrier - Bissell
2. Ruben Zepuntke - Bissell (3:55)
3. Tanner Putt - Bissell (18:01)

Team:
1. Garmin-SHARP
2. BMC ( :11)
3. TREK (1:20)

No change in the Sprinter standings or the Best Colorado Rider standings.

Most aggressive went to Ben King.

Jens Almost Pulls Off The Upset

SHUT UP LEGS!

Sadly Jens didn't pull it off. Breaking away from the early breakaway with under 40K to go Voigt was caught by the peloton with 750m to go, leading to a sprint victory by Cannondale's Viviani. That's his 3rd stage win in Colorado. I saw his first win in person in the VIP tent about 50m from the line in 2011.

Going back to yesterday's Stage 3 (sorry I didn't get an update posted, Rapids game) it blew up the leader board. Early on a small group of 8 including Michael Rodgers, Teejay, Alex Howes, Tommy D, and Jainer Acevedo got off the front during the first climb of Monarch Mountain. TREK hammered the peloton to close the gap and a small group that included Matthew Buche and Rafal Majka caught the leaders before the second climb up Monarch. The group stayed together for the most part until the last 4K when the big names dropped the rest, including leader Alex Howes. With 1K to go Teejay attacked and only Majka was able to go with him. Teejay won the stage, took the overall lead, and barring a disaster should defend his 2013 race victory.

Stage:
1. Elia Viviani - Cannondale
2. Martin Kohler - BMC
3. Serghei Tvetcov - Jelly Belly

GC:
1. Teejay Van Garderen - BMC
2. Rafal Majka - Saxo-Tinkoff ( :20)
3. Ben Hermans - BMC ( :23)

Sprint:
1. Kiel Reijnen - UHC (27)
2. Danny Summerhill - UHC (23)
3. Tyler Magner - Hincapie (17)

KOM:
1. Ben Jacques-Maynes - Jamis-Hagens (35)
2. Teejay Van Garderen - BMC (27)
3. Ben Hermans - BMC (23)

Young Rider:
1. Clement Chevrier - Bissell
2. Ruben Zepuntke - Bissell (5:37)
3. Tanner Putt - Bissell ( 12:45)

Team:
1. BMC
2. TREK (2:54)
3. Garmin-SHARP (4:24)

Most aggressive for Stage 3 was Michael Rodgers. Most aggressive today was obviously Jens Voigt.

Teejay took the Best Colorado jersey after Stage 2 and keeps it as long as he stays in the lead.

Chaos And Carpenter Rule Stage 2

Odd day today in the race. Coming down from Kebler Pass (half dirt/half paved) the race was stopped 8K from the line with the time gaps preserved, then restarted from the same spot. There was heavy rain on the course on the decent but the race was stopped when they hit paved road. The report is that the time gaps were taken at the top of the summit but the racers were allowed to descend to the end of the dirt area before the race was stopped and the time gaps from the summit reestablished. However this information was not passed to Phil, Paul, and Christian doing the commentary for NBC Sports. The race organizers tried to get the lead service car in front of the leaders but the racers were going full out not knowing it was neutralized and they weren't able to inform the riders of the neutralization (who don't have radios in this race). Lots of frustration when they stopped the riders but the post-race follow up seems that the race made the right call with possibly some poor execution.

At the summit (and when the riders were stopped) Hincapie's Robin Carpenter had a 45 second lead on a small group which included Teejay, Tommy D, and Alex Howes. After restarting Carpenter extended his lead to 1:20 before the group started pulling him back. Inside the last 2K Teejay and Alex Howes jumped out of the group and tried to track down Carpenter, but it was too little too late. Howes finished 2nd for the 2nd day in a row and takes the yellow jersey for Garmin.

Stage:
1. Robin Carpenter - Hincapie
2. Alex Howes - Garmin-SHARP ( :07)
3. Teejay Van Garderen - BMC ( :07)

Overall Standings:
1. Alex Howes - Garmin-SHARP
2. Ben Hermans - BMC ( :11)
3. Teejay Van Garderen - BMC ( :12)

KOM:
1. Ben Jacques-Maynes - Jamis-Hagens (23)
2. Robin Carpenter - Hincapie (18)
3. Matt Cooke - Jamis Hagens (14)

Sprint:
1. Kiel Reijnen - UHC (21)
2. Danny Summerhill - UHC (13)
3. Alex Howes - Garmin-SHARP (12)

Young Rider:
1. Clement Chevrier - Bissell
2. Tanner Putt - Bissell ( :53)
3. Ruben Zepuntke - Bissell (1:07)

Team:
1. BMC
2. Garmin-SHARP ( :04)
3. TREK (1:12)

Best Friends Battle For Stage 1

Stage 1 was the crit race in Aspen this afternoon.  3 22 mile loops from downtown Aspen up to Snowmass Village and back.  The group was broken up over the three climbs with a small peloton staying together until late when Novo-Nordisk's Javier Megias attacked out of the group.  He was later followed by Garmin's Alex Howes and UHC's Kiel Reijnen who caught and passed Megias in the last kilometer.  The two best friends fought out the sprint with Reijnen beating the WorldTour rider for the win and the first yellow jersey.

Stage and Overall Standings:

1. Kiel Reijnen - UHC

2. Alex Howes - Garmin-SHARP

3. Ben Hermans - BMC ( :03)

KOM:

1. Ben Jacques-Maynes - Jamis-Hagens (13)

2. Lachlan Norris - Drapac (11)

3. Matt Cooke - Jamis Hagens (5)

Sprint:

1. Kiel Reijnen - UHC (15)

2. Alex Howes - Garmin-SHARP (12)

3. Danny Summerhill - UHC (10)

Young Rider:

1. Clement Chevrier - Bissell

2. Gregor Muhlberger - NetApp ( :42)

3. James Oram - Bissell ( :42)

Team:

1. BMC

2. TREK ( :03)

3. Garmin-SHARP ( :05)

USA Pro Challenge 2014

Its race time again!  The 2014 version of the USA Pro Challenge starts tomorrow in Aspen and will finish next Sunday in its traditional spot in front of the capitol building in downtown Denver.  This year we lose the climb over Independence Pass but the Vail Time Trial is still in the race.

Teejay Van Garderen returns to defend his title with BMC but his teammate and 2013 runner-up Mathias Frank will not be joining him.  Garmin-SHARP brings Tom 'Tommy D' Danielson, last year's 3rd placed rider and Jainer Acevedo who placed 4th last year while racing for Jamis-Hagens Berman.  Garmin's Lachlan Morton placed 5th last year but will not be returning this year.

As mentioned Stage 1 starts in Aspen.  It will consist of 3 22 mile laps between Aspen and Snowmass and back before the finish in downtown Aspen.  Each loop has 2300 feet of climbing.

Stage 2 starts in Aspen the next morning and takes the racers over 8700 foot McClure Pass mid-stage.  Then its a decent into Crested Butte before finishing on the climb to Mt. Crested Butte as it did in 2011 and 2012.

Stage 3 takes the race from Gunnison over Monarch Pass and into Salida.  The twist is that the racers will turn around in Salida and go back up to the Monarch Mountain ski area for a second-straight mountaintop finish.

Stage 4 is a fairly flat (for Colorado at least) circuit race through Garden of the Gods after a ceremonial start in downtown Colorado Springs.  Ridge Road does have gradients up to 17% so its not exactly clear sailing for the peloton.

Stage 5 introduces a new start city in Woodland Park.  The race then takes a new route and climbs up to Breckenridge by way of 11,500 foot Hoosier Pass, the high point of the race.  The finish will be in downtown Breck for those who can stay with the lead pack over the climb.  Be sure to check out Broken Compass Brewing if you go!

Stage 6 is the traditional Vail Time Trial that dates back to the Red Zinger Classic in the 1970s (which later became the Coors Classic).  The cyclists will start one-by-one in downtown Vail before climbing up most of the way to Vail Pass.  The past two times they've used the time trial in the race the winner has been decided by a combined total of 4 seconds.

Finally Stage 7 takes the race from Boulder, through Golden and over Lookout Mountain, and into downtown Denver.  This will be the first trip over Lookout Mountain since the inaugural race in 2011.  The final part of the race will be a 3 1/2 lap circuit between Civic Center Park and City Park before the finish in front of the capitol.  I'll probably be watching from somewhere around Civic Center Park.

As usual I'll try to post daily updates here, in among the busy Rapids schedule in the first half of the week.  And go Argyle!

Final Wrap-Up of the USA Pro Challenge

Sorry for the delay. As expected Peter Sagan won the Denver stage, giving him 4 wins in 7 stages at his first USA Pro Challenge. Ben King got the day's most aggressive rider jersey, and no other changes happened in the standings.

Your final podium:
1st - Teejay Van Garderen - BMC (USA)
2nd - Mathas Frank - BMC (SUI) - 1'30"
3rd - Tom Danielson - Garmin-SHARP (USA) - 1'42"

Sprint Jersey - Peter Sagan - Cannondale (SVK)
King of the Mountains Jersey - Matt Cooke - Jamis-Hagens Berman (USA)
Young Rider Jersey - Lachlan Morton - Garmin-SHARP (AUS)
Team Classification - BMC

Sagan Wins His Third Stage

As expected if the break didn't succeed, Peter Sagan too the bunch sprint in Fort Collins.  No changes to any of the standings and Simon Geschke of Argos-Shimano was given the orange jersey for the day for the work he put into the break.  With no mountains today Matt Cooke has wrapped up the red King of the Mountains jersey and Sagan ha a insurmountable lead in the green Sprint jersey.

Today's stage is a circuit race in downtown Denver, otherwise known as the Peter Sagan victory tour, where he'll almost certainly get his 4th win.

Teejay Sets New Course Record

As the last rider of the day Van Garderen had a tall task, as Garmin-SHARP's Andrew Talansky had crushed the course record by 42", setting a time of 25' 05".  It appeared that he wasn't quite up to the task as the coverage showed him crossing the line at 25' 15" but the time was immediately announced as 25' 01" giving Teejay the stage win, a new course record, and a race lead of a minute and a half over his teammate Mathias Frank.  Tommy D finished 3rd on the stage, 1' 02" back, and is also 3rd overall int he race, 1' 42" back.  None of the ongoing jerseys changed today, and Talansky was given the orange most aggressive jersey as a consolation prize.

At this point, barring a complete tactical blunder by BMC, Teejay has won the race.  That sets tomorrow up as a great day for a break to get away and win and that usually means Jens Voigt.  Since the group staying together would mean a bunch sprint, only Cannondale is likely to chance since no other team will want to help set up Peter Sagan.  His closest competitor, Greg Van Avermaet, races for BMC who will be more interested in protecting Teejay's yellow jersey than hunting down a break.

Van Garderen Takes Race Lead, Probably For Good

As expected Garmin-SHARP attacked today to try to take the race away from BMC's Teejay Van Garderen, who was in the best position going into tomorrow's Vail time trial if nothing changed.  After riding a brisk tempo all day to catch Radio shack-Leopard-TREK's Tony Gallopin Garmin surged to the front at the base of the Bachelor Gulch climb.  First Christian Vande Velde and then race leader Lachlan Morton pressed the tempo to set up Tommy D.  Danielson was unable to shake Van Garderen though and once they topped the climb Teejay sped away with him on the decent, along side Jamis-Hagen's Jainer Acevedo.  Acevedo took the stage and Teejay took the yellow jersey.  Van Garderen now has a 30 second lead over everyone other than his own teammate, Mathias Frank, who's only 4 seconds behind.  Van Garderen has improved from 2 years ago, the last time this time trial course was used, and then he finished 6th, 51 seconds behind Vande Velde (currently more than 2 minutes back) and 18 seconds behind Tommy D, who's now 40 seconds behind Teejay going into tomorrow' time trial.

Short of Teejay falling off his bike or something equally unlikely he will still be the race leader after tomorrow's stage.  With Saturday and Sunday likely to be bunch sprints, Teejay has all but sewn up the race win with today's performance.  Matt Cooke has solidified his lead in the climbers competition, but there's still mountains to get over on Saturday.  Peter Sagan keeps the sprinters jersey but hasn't locked it up, though I'd be shocked if anyone took it.  I wasn't paying attention the last two days as Lachlan Morton had both the yellow and blue (young riders) jersey, not Peter Sagan.  Morton lost the yellow but keeps a 45 second lead int he blue jersey, probably enough to win it.  Team lead stays with BMC.  Michael Rodgers gets today's most aggressive orange jersey.

Sagan Wins A Second Stage

As expected one large peloton came into Steamboat Springs after picking up the final remnants of the days  break, with fan-favorite Jens Voigt being the last man picked up just a few kilometers from the line.  A bunch sprint usually means just a few men are likely to win, most likely Mark Cavendish, Marcel Kittel, or Peter Sagan, and only Sagan is in Colorado for this race.  Another win for the Slovak and he keeps his hands on the green and blue jerseys.  None of the jerseys or the team lead changed hands today other than the orange most aggressive rider, which is awarded based on each day's race and went to Jens Voigt. since with the exception of a small break at the end by the sprinters everyone finished on the same time.

Tomorrow's climb up to Beaver Creek and Friday's time trial in Vail will decide the race.  Expect Garmin-SHARP to attack early and often tomorrow as while they have the most options to win, BMC's Teejay Van Garderen is probably best positioned being the best time trial rider among the favorites and only 11 seconds back of Lachlan Morton, who's time trial ability right now as young rider is something of a question mark.  Garmin will want to either extend Morton's lead or get Tommy D off the front to get a slight lead on Teejay going into the time trial.

USA Pro Challenge 2013

Normally I have more of a preview of the race, but I've been busy.  Quick recap of what we've seen so far and where we're going from here:

Stage 1: In the circuit around Aspen it was expected that the race would end in a bunch sprint, and it did.  Also as expected Slovakain National Champion Peter Sagan won the day and took the first yellow(overall), green(sprinter), and blue(young rider) jerseys.  A group of 17 contested the sprint and picked up 5 seconds over the rest of the field.  The big loser was Garmin's Andrew Talansky who lost minutes, not seconds, yesterday and any GC hope.  Matt Cooke took the red (climber) jersey, Craig Lewis the orange (aggressive rider) jersey, and Radio Shack-Leopard-TREK the team lead.

Stage 2: Starting with the now traditional climb out of Aspen over Independence Pass and ending in Breckenridge, two late climbs were the wild card.  Would they break up the peloton?  They did, with 7 riders spreading out over less than a minute gap.  BMC's Mathias Frank got enough ahead to take the win by 3 seconds over Garmin's Lachlan Morton, but Morton was in the group that had a 5 second lead after Stage 1 and took the race's overall lead by 3 seconds.  The rest of the peloton got strung apart in the final kilometers, leaving lots of gaps with Joe Dombrowski losing a minute and Andy Schlek losing a minute thirty.  The rest of the favorites are still within about 45 seconds.  Morton takes the yellow and blue jerseys, Frank the orange jersey, and Sagan keeps the green jersey while Cooke keeps the red.  BMC takes over the team lead.

Stage 3: Breckenridge to Steamboat Springs.  In 2011 my wife and I saw the start of this stage going the other direction, leaving Steamboat heading to Breck.  Rabbit Ears Pass was early that day, allowing the peloton to stay together.    On Wednesday the pass will be the last big challenge before the finish.  A long and steep decent will allow the race to possibly come back together but a breakaway that works together could stay free for the win.  Odds are this is another day for Peter Sagan.

Stage 4: Steamboat Springs to Beaver Creek.  A slightly different route than they used going the opposite direction in 2011 (which we saw the finish of in Steamboat) but another tough day with an uphill finish at the end.  The climbers are expected to get the win on Thursday going into Friday's time trial.

Stage 5: Vail Time Trial.  The Coors Classic time trial returns after a year's absence.  In 2011 Garmin's Christian Vande Velde (the 2012 race winner) was beaten by the now retired Levi Leipheimer by less than a second for the stage win.  Odds are that the overall winner will probably be determined after this one, as the following two days don't offer great chances to gain time.

Stage 6: Loveland to Fort Collins.  All new roads for the race on Saturday as they make their first trip to the northern part of the Front Range.  The race gets to Fort Collins from Loveland by way of Estes Park, which is probably the best place to watch the race.  Lots of climbing through the canyons to get up there and back.  A climber might be able to make some time like Tom Danielson did last year on the queen stage but odds are the peloton will come back together for a final sprint, which means Peter Sagan.

Stage 7: Denver Circuit.  The same circuit they used last year for the time trial, this time the whole peloton will ride together for 8 laps around the city, from City Park to Larimer Square and down Speer before finishing in front of the capitol as they have every year.  This will be a pure sprint and almost certainly won by Peter Sagan.

With 5 stages to go, it looks like the likely favorites are BMC's Teejay Van Garderen, Garmin's Tom 'Tommy D' Danielson, Lachlan Morton, and Christan Vande Velde.  Outside chances for Bontrager's Lawson Craddock, or Jamis-Hagen's Janier Acevedo, plus a number of young riders who are currently floating around inside a minute of Morton.

And if you don't know I'm a huge fan of Boulder-based Garmin-SHARP, so any of those guys winning would be fine by me.

Two-Wheeled Diversion

The 2013 USA Pro Challenge Host Cities

Time for one of my diversions into another of my favorite sports, pro cycling.  Yes, I know, its been a bad offseason for cycling with Lance Armstrong admitting what many people have known for a while.  He doped.  The sport shouldn't be seen from the perspective of its biggest failures though.  There's still plenty to enjoy and the newest generation coming into the sport, led by riders like Teejay Van Garderen, Andrew Talansky, and Peter Sagan, seem to understand that things have to change and are doing things the right way.

Right now is one of the best times to enjoy cycling with two big races going on this week.  The 2nd biggest stage race of the year, the Giro d' Italia, is into its second week in Italy.  In recent years the strategy in this race has made it less predictable than the Tour de France.  Unfortunately it appears that Boulder-based Garmin-SHARP will not be able to repeat their 2012 Giro win as defending champion Canadian Ryder Hesjedal had a rough time over the last few days and has lost significant time.  Also going on this week is the Tour of California which started in San Diego on Sunday and will end next Sunday in the Bay Area.  One of the most brutal stages I've ever seen happened yesterday as the stage finished on the Cat 1 tramway climb outside of Palm Springs, which set a record high at 114 degrees yesterday!  BMC's Teejay Van Garderen appears to be the favorite in the early days.

Both of these races are televised live each day in the States.

• Giro d' Italia - beIn Sports, 7:30am MDT with the last two hours of the stage live (slightly different schedules on the weekend depending on their soccer and motorcycle coverage) - Channel 411 on Denver Comcast
• Tour of California - NBC Sports Channel, 3pm MDT with the last two hours of the stage live (Sunday the stage will start on NBC then switch to NBC Sports) - Channel 689 on Denver Comcast

Of course this is warm up for the big race of the year, the Tour de France in July, which will be carried live on NBC Sports.  Then the 3rd USA Pro Challenge will take place here in Colorado in August, from the 19th-25th.  My favorite race, because its local, and NBC Sports will have the same sort of coverage they've had in the past, similar to what they're doing for the Tour of California.  Here's a quick breakdown of the stages:

• Stage 1 - Aspen Circuit Race - 3 laps of a 22 mile circuit around Aspen/Snowmass, this is the first time a circuit stage has been used in the USA Pro Challenge.
• Stage 2 - Aspen to Breckenridge - The annual summit of 12,000 Independence Pass, quickly becoming the signature of the race, happens early in the stage then the riders will be on to new roads as they swing through Buena Vista before heading North to Breckenridge.
• Stage 3 - Breckenridge to Steamboat Springs - Almost the exact reverse of stage 5 in 2011, the riders will hit Rabbit Ears Pass right before the finish instead of right after the start.
• Stage 4 - Steamboat Springs to Beaver Creek - Again, almost the revers of Stage 4 in 2011.  We had a chance to go to Steamboat Springs for both the Stage 4 finish and Stage 5 start in 2011 and it was awesome.  If you're interested in seeing this sport in person its a great way to see both ends of a stage in one place.
• Stage 5 - Vail Time Trial - The Coors Classic time trial returns to the race after being skipped in 2012.
• Stage 6 - Loveland to Fort Collins - The race's first foray to the Northern part of the Front range.  Going up Big Thompson Canyon to Estes Park and back down, this would be the stage I'd like to watch if I could get up to Estes in time that morning.  Family commitments will prevent me from seeing it in person this year, so I hope its an successful stage and they'll return.
• Stage 7 - Denver Circuit Race - Using much of the same course as they did in 2012 for the Denver Time Trial, the 9.4 mile circuit will take them through Writer Square and City Park before starting and finishing as always in front of the Capitol at Civic Center Park.

So that's the rundown of cycling right now.  As always the best local coverage of pro cycling can be forund over at Pedal Dancer.

UPCC Stage 7 - Denver Time Trial

Image from USA Pro Challenge website

Another great day of cycling! We spent the day down in Civic Center Park where today's time trial started and finished. It was an interesting setup with the team buses on one end the finish on the other and the start right in the center, bisecting the finishing straight like a T. For the riders to get from their buses to the start house they ran a path barricaded on both sides from the center to the start house, with one gap for people int he festival to cross sides. I happened to be trying to cross when they blocked it off for Tommy D (one of my personal favorite riders) to ride up to the start house for his warm up ride. We also passed the Radio Shack bus after the race just as Jens Voight and Chris Horner came out.

The time trial went somewhat as expected. Taylor Phinney had the best time and won the stage. Christian Vande Velde was 2nd, 10 seconds behind, Tejay Van Garderen was 3rd, 19 seconds back. The big surprise was Levi Leipheimer who finished 9th, 43 seconds off the pace! This means that the winner of the USA Pro Cycling Challenge is Christan Vande Velde of Garmin-SHARP! Go Argyle!

The only elimination today was EPM-UNE's Piamonte Carlos Fernando who overcooked the final corner onto the finishing straight, hit the barriers, and catapulted his bike over the dividing barrier and into the lane for riders coming out of the start house! He had to wait for a new bike to complete the final block of the time trial but it took too long so he was eliminated for being over the time cut.

Stage results:

1st: Taylor Phinney - USA - BMC

2nd: Christian Vande Velde - USA - Garmin-SHARP
3rd: Tejay van Garderen - USA - BMC

Rory Sutherland was given the Most Aggressive Rider award today

Full List Of Stage Winners:
Stage 1: Tyler Farrar - USA - Garmin-SHARP
Stage 2: Tejay van Garderen - USA - BMC
Stage 3: Tom Danielson - USA - Garmin-SHARP
Stage 4: Jens Voight - Germany - Radio Shack-Nissan-TREK
Stage 5: Tyler Farrar - USA - Garmin-SHARP
Stage 6: Rory Sutherland - Australia - United Healthcare
Stage 7: Taylor Phinney - USA - BMC

Final Podium:

Leader - Christian Vande Velde - USA - Garmin-SHARP
2nd: Tejay van Garderen - USA - BMC - 21 seconds behind
3rd: Levi Leipheimer - USA - Omega Pharma-Quickstep - 24 seconds behind

BTW , last year's podium was Levi, Christian, then Tejay.

Final jersey winners

Sprinter - Tyler Farrar - USA - Garmin-SHARP
King of the Mountains - Jens Voight - Germany - Radio Shack-Nissan-TREK
Young Rider - Joseph Lloyd Dombrowski - USA - Bontrager-Livestrong
Most Agressive - Tom Danielson - USA - Garmin-SHARP
Team - Radio Shack-Nissan-TREK

(The final Most Aggressive rider jersey is based on a media vote of who has been most aggressive all race.)

A week ago I predicted Tommy D with Garmin-SHARP a heavy favorite to have the winner if it wasn't Danielson.  Well Danielson slipped up on Flagstaff but his teammate was able to finish off the week with a great time trial and a big win for the hometown squad.  The team also had 3 of 7 stage victories and won 2 of the other 4 jerseys.  Overall a great race for Team Argyle!

13 years ago when I started following cycling seriously I never thought I'd end up seeing George Hincapie's final two days as a professional in person.  The peloton is going to have a big hole in 2013 without him.  Thanks for the entertaining racing over a great career George!

UPCC Stage 6 - Golden to Boulder

Image of Rory Sutherland on Flagstaff from Jason Greene

Just got back from Boulder where we had an awesome day watching the race. If you watched the coverage on NBC the first look you got at the peloton was just meters after they passed us. We were at the corner of 17th & Spruce, 1 block after they raced passed the sprint point down 17th and they had to make a 90 degree turn onto Spruce, so we saw them coming and going. Then when they came back into town they made the corner going the opposite direction. I'm watching the coverage now and haven't seen it, but if they show a head on view of the first sprint that camera was located essentially right above my head.

The race itself was pretty good as well. ;)  An early break of 14 riders got free and stayed free until the Flagstaff Mountain final climb, which killed the final sprint competitions. The break included Rory Sutherland and Jens Voight! Once they hit the climb of Left Hand Canyon the break and the peloton started to splinter but a small group including those two stayed free as they came back through Boulder and hit Flagstaff. The big names of the race caught all but those two and Fabio Aru with United Healthcare's Rory Sutherland winning the stage and Jens finishing 3rd.  As you can see above, Sutherland was even smiling as he made the climb!

Meanwhile back with the race leaders Tejay van Garderen and Tommy D both somewhat bonked on the final climb. Levi Leipheimer and Christian Vande Velde took advantage. Levi attacked first with Christian having to wait until closer to the end of the climb. Levi finished 4th and picked up 29 seconds on Tejay, Christian finished 6th and got 8 seconds. Peter Stetina finished on the same time as Tejay, while Tommy D was 42 seconds behind Tejay.

Stage results:

1st: Rory Sutherland - Australia - United Healthcare

2nd: Fabio Aru - Italy - Astana
3rd: Jens Voight - Germany - Radio Shack-Nissan-TREK

As expected, today's stage caused some changes in the standings.  Defending champion Levi Leipheimer has moved into first overall with Christan Vande Velde 9 seconds back and Tejay van Garderen 21 seconds back.  In the final King of the Mountains competition, Jens Voight's attacks over the last couple of days finally took the jersey from Tommy D, who's had it since Stage 1.  With no more climbs Jens Voight is the winner.

EDIT: They do give sprinter points for the best times tomorrow, so the sprinter jersey competition is not complete.

Leader - Levi Leipheimer - USA - Omega Pharma-Quickstep

Sprinter - Tyler Farrar - USA - Garmin-SHARP
King of the Mountains - Jens Voight - Germany - Radio Shack-Nissan-TREK
Young Rider - Joe Dombrowski - USA - Bontrager-Livestrong
Most Agressive - Rory Sutherland - USA - United Healthcare
Team - Radio Shack-Nissan-TREK

The big loser today was Tommy D.  He finished almost 45 seconds behind Tejay van Garderen on a climb in his hometown that he holds the record on.  He also lost his King of the Mountains jersey on the final climb of the race.

Tomorrow's stage is a short time trial where each rider rides the course solo.  Garmin's Dave Zabriskie is the current National time trial champion, but Tejay van Garderen is very good at time trialing as well.  Levi Leipheimer and Christian Vande Velde essentially tied for first in last year's time trial, with Leipheimer getting the win by hundredths of a second so they're pretty good.

I would expect Tejay to win tomorrow, but the length of the time trial (9.5 miles) probably will prevent him from retaking the jersey.  The last time these 3 raced in a similar time trial was in the 2011 Tour of California.  Levi finished 2nd, Tejay 3rd, and Christian 10th.  That time trial was 15 miles long and Levi had 26 seconds over Tejay and 47 seconds over Christian.  Levi is still recovering from his fractured leg in April and Tejay and Christian have both gotten better, but I don't see Tejay picking up over 2 seconds a mile on Levi.  If Levi is off just a bit though, he could concede a second a mile to Christian.

Here's some pictures my wife took from our vantage point in Boulder:

Joey Rosskopf (Team Type 1) and Carter Jones (Bissell) try to catch the early breakaway ahead of the peloton

BMC including George Hincapie (5th) and Tejay van Garderen (in yellow) leads the peloton through the Boulder sprint point

Jens Voigt leads the break back into Boulder towards Flagstaff

BMC and Garmin are hunting down the breakaway before Flagstaff.  Taylor Phinney is 1st, Hincapie is 2nd and in the background Tejay van Garderen (Yellow) and Vincenzo Nibali (Orange)