Van Garderen takes over race lead with Crested Butte victory

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Tejay van Garderen (BMC) timed his attack to perfection to win stage 2 of the USA Pro Challenge from Montrose to Crested Butte. The 24-year-old escaped alongside Christian Vande Velde (Garmin-Sharp) on the steep pitch to the finish line and swept up the last of the day's early break inside the final kilometre.

The American pair held off the rest of the field with van Garderen taking the stage and the overall lead from Tyler Farrar (Garmin-Sharp), who was not a factor in the uphill finish. Vande Velde held on for second place, finishing in the same time as van Garderen, with Ivan Rovny (RusVelo) taking third at six seconds. Levi Leipheimer (Omega Pharma-Quickstep), the defending USA Pro Challenge champion and victor at Crested Butte last year, finished fourth at eight seconds.

The general classification mirrors the stage finale, with van Garderen leading Vande Velde, both tied on time, while Rovny holds third overall at six seconds. Leipheimer moves into fourth place at eight seconds.

The day couldn't have gone better for van Garderen as he won the first road stage of his professional career plus claimed the USA Pro Challenge's yellow jersey for the second time, a feat he previously accomplished just shy of one year ago on the queen stage into Aspen.

"I wasn't overconfident going into the last four kilometres that I was going to win, but I just knew that I was going to try," said van Garderen. "Toward the end, our guys started working and started bringing the gap to the breakaway down so I couldn't let them down.

"When I looked over my should and saw Christian on my wheel I thought, 'man, he's in the perfect position and he's going to outsprint me', but at this elevation I think he had trouble with his acceleration. It all worked out."

After finishing a close second to Levi Leipheimer in last year's inaugural USA Pro Challenge, Vande Velde is once again very much in the mix to finish one step higher this go round on the final podium in Denver.

"I am really happy with my ride today and very proud of how the team is riding here in Colorado," said Vande Velde. "The team is ultra-motivated, we've animated the race the first two days and we hope to continue to do so as the week goes on."

Another day, another big break goes for broke

The race was almost turned on its head when a powerhouse break of 12 escaped early and formed a five minute lead on the bunch. The escape was comprised of Alex Howes and David Zabriskie (Garmin-Sharp), Mathias Frank (BMC Racing Team), Jens Voigt (RadioShack-Nissan), Vincenzo Nibali and Valerio Agnoli (Liquigas-Cannondale), Julien El Fares (Team Type 1-Sanofi), Craig Lewis (Champion System Pro Cycling Team), Christopher Baldwin (Bissell Cycling), Matt Cooke (Team Exergy) plus Rafael Infantino Abreu and Jorge Camilo Castiblanco Cubides (EPM-Une).

Once again several ProTour heavyweights went out on the attack, with Zabriskie, Voigt, Nibali, Agnoli also figuring prominently in the opening stage's 22-man break which nearly ripped the race apart. Cooke, too, also made his second straight appearance in the stage's near race-long escape.

Heading east out of Montrose on US 50, amidst buttes, mesas and wide-open terrain Castiblanco (EPM-Une) jumped away to win the day's first KOM, the category 3 Cerro Summit at 26.8km. The Colombian repeated the feat soon after at the next KOM, the category 3 Blue Mesa Summit at 49.5km, and as the escape reached the expansive Blue Mesa Reservoir its lead remained steady at five minutes. Not long after passing the feed zone, however, with 82km under their belt, the break now faced a gentle but steady uphill through to the finish.

Whether it was due to fatigue, the constant battering by crosswinds or assorted team tactics, cooperation in the lead group periodically came to a halt at the head of affairs as attacks were launched after they passed through Gunnison and turned left onto CO 135 and the final 52km to Mt. Crested Butte. Voigt, Agnoli and El Fares ultimately lost contact with the break.

"The two Liquigas guys were screwing around the whole day, that was the most frustrating part," Lewis told Cyclingnews. "The rest of us were rolling around good together. Fortunately we dropped the guys we wanted to and then, unfortunately, Nibali came back, so that was frustrating, but we still managed to keep it fairly fast. We hung on for as long was we could, but spending all day out there at this altitude, always uphill and there was a lot of wind, it really takes it out of you, especially after yesterday."

The break’s advantage held until the final 15 kilometres with a concerted chase from a number of teams. As the leaders approached the initial rise to the finish at three kilometres to go they still led the peloton by 40 seconds and when Camilo Castiblanco (EPM-Une) launched his attack it appeared that the bunch had mis-timed their efforts.

The Colombian was overhauled by Mathias Frank (BMC) inside the two kilometre banner with a tiring Alex Howes hanging on. Frank, one of six members in the break who were tied on time with Farrar, the general classification leader, dispatched of Howes and pressed on alone. If the 25-year-old Swiss could hang on to the finish both the stage win and yellow jersey would be his.

"At the end we had a lot of guys who were already in the break yesterday so they were pretty tired and the group was not really going," Frank told Cyclingnews. "At the end I was just 20 seconds short to win the stage. I had really good legs. It was actually easier being in the front today than pulling all day yesterday. But we knew Tejay [van Garderen] was super-strong so it was perfect for us."

Frank would be overtaken inside the final kilometre by his teammate van Garderen, with Vande Velde on his wheel. Vande Velde tried to come around the BMC leader inside the final 150 meters but faded in the finale.

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