Alex Howes (Garmin-Sharp-Barracuda) in Santa Rosa, California
[updated 10/18/2012]
This Sunday’s World Championship elite men’s road race won’t be Alex Howes’ first Worlds competition or his first trip up the Cauberg on two wheels. But it could be one to remember.
Howes raced at Worlds in cyclocross as a junior in 2006. Later he represented the U.S. in the under-23 road races in 2009 and 2010. He currently rides for the Garmin-Sharp-Barracuda team.
One of Howes’ biggest goals is to ride in the Olympics. The Worlds provide a similar rush of satisfaction for him because of the national team format. “For me personally I’ve always really cherished the opportunity to represent my country,” Howes said, a few days before leaving Boulder for The Netherlands. “So for me World Championships have always been a priority and a goal every season.”
Now 24 years-old, the 2012 event is his first elite worlds. He spoke those words with what sounded like a tremendous sense of pride. “I went twice as a U23 and both times I was ecstatic to go. To be selected for elite, it’s obviously a much higher level. It’s an opportunity I’m really looking forward to.”
Repeats on the Cauberg
Many commentators have suggested that the last spin up Cauberg Hill at the end of the 267 kilometer course will decide the winner on Sunday. The famous climb tops out about 1.5 kilometers from the finish line in Valkenburg, The Netherlands.
Alex Howes leads 2012 Amstel Gold escape, photo courtesy of Graham Watson for Team Garmin-Sharp-Barracuda
The finish resembles that of the 255 kilometer Amstel Gold one-day classic which Howes completed just 47 seconds behind this year’s winner after participating in a strong break-away for almost 190 kilometers; only Howes and another rider survived as far as about 10 kilometers from the finish line.
Howes believes the 2012 Worlds road course fits him really well, “and that’s probably the primary reason why I was selected,” he said, “because I’ve shown that I can do well on a course like that.”
And while Howes has said elsewhere he’s not the team leader, teammate Tejay van Garderen (BMC Racing) offered a different opinion. Van Garderen, whom many consider the U.S. team leader given his stellar season this year and who has said he’ll aim for a good result, legs willing, told VeloNews he sees Horner, Talansky, and Howes as potential team leaders. “…they’ve all shown strong performances in one-day events,” he said.
At the time of this interview Howes described all nine of the U.S. team riders as very strong and said the team’s strategy would be decided once the nine-man team met together, with significant influence from the team director. Howes has demonstrated time and again he’ll work himself into the ground for the designated or on-the-road team leader.
He said he’s not holding onto any “hard-set” goals for Sunday. Then he added, “I do know that my form is coming around and it’s a good course for me so…I’m not there to lick stamps, I guess.”
Howes is also familiar with some of the roads leading into the finishing circuits; he thinks they might take some by surprise. “There’s like 100 K before we hit the circuits which I think will be a lot more selective and technical than a lot of people realize.”
One-day racer advantage
All things being equal – like luck, for instance, the Limburg World Championship road race route favors one-day racers who look forward to conquering its many hills.
At this point in his neo-pro season Howes characterized himself as more of a one-day racer. “Obviously the shorter, kind of punchier climbs suit me quite well.” The finishing circuit features two such climbs, including the 1.5 kilometer Cauberg with a 12% maximum grade.
Given where he stands in his development as a pro-cyclist, and the depth of the U.S. team and the entire field, predicting Howes will fly out of Limburg wearing a rainbow jersey under his street clothes might be a little bit unrealistic. However younger riders have pulled-off storming performances to earn the world champion stripes. Examples include Lance Armstrong at age 21, Oscar Freire at age 23, and most recently in 2005 Tom Boonen at 24 years-old.
Howes & Zabriskie lead peloton over Coleman Valley Rd in the Tour of California
Looking ahead, Howes said his next big goal is to race a Grand Tour. “…my development is kind of hinging on that,” he said. “Right now where I’m at I’m not going to make massive gains just doing what I have been doing. I need to overextend a little bit, and a Grand Tour is more or less the only way to do that.”
Howes has shown he rides well in week-long races, having just completed the Tour of Utah and the USA Pro Challenge in Colorado.
For the moment though, one-day racing feels good. “The idea of one day – lay it all on the line, go for broke, really appeals to me and physiologically it suits me quite well.”
Follow Alex Howes on Twitter: @alex_howes.
Watch the elite men’s road race live on September 23rd via links on www.cyclingfans.com.
Team U.S.A. for the 2012 UCI Road World Championships, elite men’s road race
- Timmy Duggan (Liquigas-Cannondale)
- Andrew Talansky (Garmin-Sharp-Barracuda) (replacing Tyler Farrar)
- Chris Horner (RadioShack-Nissan-Trek)
- Taylor Phinney (BMC Racing)
- Tejay van Garderen (BMC Racing)
- Brent Bookwalter (BMC Racing)
- Matthew Busche (RadioShack-Nissan-Trek)
- Lucas Euser (Spidertech p/b C10)
- Alex Howes (Garmin-Sharp)
Photo Gallery
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- Alex Howes leads 2012 Amstel Gold escape, photo courtesy of Graham Watson for Team Garmin-Sharp-Barracuda
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- Alex Howes, left, enjoys laugh on start of Tour of Utah Stage 4
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- Howes leads peloton up Tour of Utah Stage 1 KOM
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- Howes & Zabriskie lead peloton over Tour of California Stage 1 KOM
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- Alex Howes after team time trial win, Tour of Utah
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- Alex Howes in Santa Rosa, California
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- After Tour of Utah Stage 5 crash in Rabobank helmet
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- USA Pro Challenge Golden start, Alex Howes center, near front
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- Howes preps for escape after USA Pro Challenge Golden parade laps
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- Alex Howes corner, Flagstaff Mountain
Today Taylor Phinney rode what he called his best time trial ever at the 2012 UCI World Championships. It was just five seconds short of winning the rainbow jersey. Disappointed? Yes. Still, he said after the race, “but I can in any case be happy, because I was only beaten by a great champion.”
This gallery is a tribute to Phinney’s effort today.
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- Pink bracelet
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- Funny Face
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- Because Taylor Phinney is all heart
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- Time trial training near Boulder 1
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- Time trial training near Boulder 2
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- USA Pro Challenge TT finish
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- Consoling Tejay in Denver
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- Taking the USA Pro Challenge TT win stage
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- 2012 USA Pro Challenge Time Trial podium in Denver
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- Humor at USA Pro press conference
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- USA Pro Challenge TT win benefit
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- Euser, Phinney, King at charity rollerfest
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- With George and Tejay in Golden
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- Yummy egg sandwich pre-training
Robin Eckmann (California Giant Berry Farms/Specialized)
[updated 9/22/2012]
Robin Eckmann uses cyclocross in the road off-season to stay fit, “so I don’t need to do the hard efforts by myself on the road,” he said. But that doesn’t mean he goes easy in a ‘cross race. Eckmann rides for the California Giant Berry Farms/Specialized team.
Robin Eckmann post race, Boulder Cyclocross Series race 1
He sat in the grass in Boulder’s Valmont Bike Park on Sunday, recovering from the Boulder Cyclocross Series opener. The late afternoon sun glanced off the twenty year-old’s shoulders.
Sixty minutes prior he began to pick his way from the back of over 40 competitors to reach the first chase group in the men’s open race. Ben Berden (Raleigh Clement) and Allen Krughoff (Boulder Cycle Sport) led the race.
Eckmann said he attempted to bridge to the duo but their lead was too great. “So I tried to save up my energy a little bit,” he said. Back in the chase group, he assessed the eight or ten next strongest men in the race.
Tim Allen (Feedback Sports) and Robin Eckmann (California Giant Berry Farms/Specialized)
At four laps to go Eckmann and Tim Allen (Feedback Sports) gained a gap on the chasers. They rode together for two laps until they got caught.
With the first two steps of the podium already spoken for, the last two laps became the race for third, the last chance of the day for a rider to raise his arms overhead. And about seven guys wanted it.
Spencer Powlison (Evol Elite Racing p/b Plains To Peaks) leads the chase group in the final laps; Eckmann is in third position.
“The third guy [Ken Benesh] was pretty strong,” said Eckmann, who finished fourth. “I was already pretty gassed just from riding to the front. I think it was a good effort for my first race…” Later Eckmann would say he was too spent to look back and see how close the guys were behind him. Brady Kappius (Clif Bar), who placed sixth in the race, remembered third to seventh place finishers sped over the line within about ten seconds of each other.
That “good effort” delivered Eckmann, who considers himself a road specialist and is the current Colorado State time trial champion, his best ‘cross result at an elite level since 2009 based on data from crossresults.com.
That fourth place also came three weeks after Eckmann crashed hard on his back and couldn’t ride for almost a week. “I could barely move off my sofa. I was just trying to make it to school and back and that was pretty much it for my day,” he said. Eckmann attends Front Range Community College where he studies business.
Many cyclists raced the Boulder event as a tune-up for CrossVegas where the ‘cross elite take each other on this Wednesday evening, September 19th. Eckmann will be there, ready to channel his hardest road effort over the grassy course under bright lights.
Sprint for second in the 2012 Boulder Roubaix, Sean Sullivan (Elbowz) & Robin Eckmann (California Giant Berry Farms/Specialized) (l to r)
Boulder Cyclocross Series Race 1 Men’s Open Results
1 Ben Berden (Raleigh Clement)
2 Allen Krughoff (Boulder Cycle Sport)
3 Ken Benesh (Feedback Sports)
4 Robin Eckmann (California Giant Berry Farms/Specialized)
5 Tim Allen (Feedback Sports)
6 Brady Kappius (Clif Bar)
7 Spencer Powlison (Evol Elite Racing p/b Plains To Peaks)
8 Chris Case (Feedback Sports)
9 Jesse Goodrich (Juwi Solar)
10 John Klish (Feedback Sports)
Gallery
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- Spencer Powlison (Evol Elite Racing p/b Plains To Peaks) leads the chase group in the final laps; Eckmann is in third position.
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- Robin Eckmann at the Valmont barriers on lap 1
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- Robin Eckmann on the back-side of the Valmont Bike Park course
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- Robin Eckmann early in the race at Valmont Bike Park
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- Robin Eckmann
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- Tim Allen with Robin Eckmann, followed by Brady Kappius
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- Tim Allen with Robin Eckmann (l to r)
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- Tim Allen and Robin Eckmann early in the Valmont Bike Park lap
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- Robin Eckmann post Boulder Cyclocross Series race 1
[updated 9/17/2012]
For Ben Berden of the Raleigh Clement Cyclocross team, Sunday’s cyclocross race win at Valmont Bike Park seemed like a warm-up until he fired on all cyclinders with less than three laps to go and dropped Allen Krughoff (Boulder Cycle Sport) to finish with a solo victory.
Allen Krughoff (Boulder Cycle Sport) chasing Ben Berden (Raleigh Clement) in Valmont Park
Berden caught and passed Krughoff on the back-side of the course during lap 1 in the venue where he won the Boulder Cup last year. The two rode together for most of the race with Berden leading. Then Berden just decided to go faster. He sailed up the 5280 run-up steps, taking them two at a time.
In a few days, CrossVegas contenders will be keeping their eyes on Berden.
Ben Berden (Raleigh Clement) in Valmont Park
Berden’s trading his Belgian home for Boulder for three and one-half months to benefit from the multide of training partners and the altitude.
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Boulder Cyclocross Series Race 1 Men’s Open Results
1 Ben Berden (Raleigh Clement)
2 Allen Krughoff (Boulder Cycle Sport)
3 Ken Benesh (Feedback Sports)
4 Robin Eckmann (California Giant Berry Farms/Specialized)
5 Tim Allen (Feedback Sports)
6 Brady Kappius (Clif Bar)
7 Spencer Powlison (Plains to Peaks)
8 Chris Case (Feedback Sports)
9 Jesse Goodrich (Juwi Solar)
10 John Klish (Feedback Sports)
Lucas Euser (center) near the summit on Hoosier Pass, Stage 5 of 2012 USA Pro Challenge
Lucas Euser isn’t just a great bike rider. He’s also an eloquent speaker with a lot to say on the topics of persistence, courage, and faith.
Today he spoke with Over the Top Productions on the BlogTalkRadio platform. The quotes below from Euser’s comments today ought to send anyone to the full archived audio interview as well as spark motivation to conquer anything in the way of his or her heart’s desire.
History
Until college Euser rode for the fun of flying on two wheels. It wasn’t until his freshman year that he thought about cycling as a career. He tried to immerse himself in the college experience as a freshman. And then he realized he missed the bike.
Sophomore year he got a coach and within a year had found a professional team. But he continued school and earned his degree while working nights in a coffee shop.
Wisdom
Professional cycling is a career, but it’s not a job in the traditional sense of a vocation that receives eight to ten hours of a person’s attention and then gets shelved away until the next day. “Cycling’s not just a job; it’s a lifestyle,” Euser said, adding that it takes 24 – 7 focus and 100% of your energy to succeed.
Lucas Euser (SpiderTech p/b C10) crossed the Stage 3 USA Pro Challenge finish line two seconds behind the stage winner
“If you persevere and get through the hard times you can succeed in this sport,” he said.
Sometimes we all need a push to be the best we can be. For Euser, it was riding in the Boulder training camps with Taylor Phinney and other pro-cyclists this summer with support from Skratch Labs. He realized he hadn’t been working hard enough until then. Now he’s in some of the best riding form he’s ever had.
Lucas Euser fights the machine at the Rollerfest benefit for Boulder Jr. Cycling and the Just Go Harder Foundation
“Don’t let your mind tell you you can’t do anything,” Euser said, “because you can always do more than you think you can.
“There’s always something to fight for, a goal to achieve…or that flame dies.”
That flame’s become a bonfire as Euser looks forward to the 2012 UCI Road World Championships on September 23rd. He’ll be racing for the American team with Phinney, Timmy Duggan, Brent Bookwalter, Matthew Busche, Alex Howes, Tejay van Garderen, Chris Horner, and assuming he’s healthy after his recent concussion, Tyler Farrar.
“We’re going to go and kick some ass because that’s what the U.S.A. does,” Euser said.
Lucas Euser with Connie Carpenter, December 2011
It started out two years ago as a secret.
Well, not entirely. Many pro-cyclists used it; about 40% of the riders in the 2011 USA Pro Challenge drank it. “It” didn’t have a name other than “secret drink mix.” Back then the ingredients were mixed in five gallon paint buckets before they found their way into bottles bearing team and other sports nutrition product labels.
Skratch Labs’ Boulder storefront
It sold by word-of-mouth without any marketing, but eventually to keep up with demand and process orders a website called secretdrinkmix.com appeared.
In early February of 2012 the founders of the secret drink mix product — Ian MacGregor, Allen Lim, and Aaron Foster, named their operation Skratch Labs, which runs out of a storefront on Pearl Street in Boulder, Colorado. Skratch Labs employed eight people when I met MacGregor in June, 2012.
The philosphy behind Skratch products began with the idea that fresh food is better than any recovery drink. The ingredients for the signature hydration mix are simple: start with fresh fruit and add salt and sugar. Nothing artificial.
Packing orders at Skratch Labs in Boulder
The result is a subtle-flavored drink that supplies nutrients and according to MacGregor empties quickly from the stomach — something crucial for pro-cyclists who drink so much during racing and training. But the good taste helps anyone. “If you have to force yourself to drink it, you won’t drink enough,” MacGregor said.
Taste test
Meeting MacGregor in June reminded me that I drink only water on my recreational rides from Lakewood, Colorado to places like Morrison or Golden. I shared this with him, saying I can’t handle the popular sports drinks full strength; they don’t sit well in my stomach. He handed me some single use Lemons & Limes flavor Skratch hydration mix packages and said, “Try them.”
Following are the results from a taste / performance test conducted with five serious recreational cyclists on a 95 degree Fahrenheit day in late June, with most of the subjects riding about 40 miles to and over Lookout Mountain in Golden.
Sure, an experiment with five isn’t scientific. But one perception was clear across four of the five riders, which included people of both sexes; they liked the taste better than the well-known brands on the market, finding it more palatable and less sugary.
Q1: Did the drink mix improve your ride today?
Responses: 2 yes, 1 no (“nothing could make a hotter-n-hell ride better”), 1 don’t know, 1 maybe.
Comments:
- “I rode well on Lookout.”
- “My performance is so variable that it’s hard for me to tell if one product is better than another. I know, however, that sport drinks are much better for me than plain water.”
- “I didn’t feel as tired, had more energy than I normally would on a very hot day.”
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Q2: Compared to other sports drinks, I like this one:
Responses: 4 better, 1 don’t know (“I drank it so fast I really couldn’t tell”).
Comments:
- “The taste is good without a lot of sugar.” (two similar comments)
- “It’s more palatable than Gatorade.” (two similar comments)
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Q3: Would you recommend this drink mix to others or use it again?
Responses: 4 yes, 1 nonsensical answer.
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Allen Lim at the Rollerfest benefit for juniors’ cycling in the Boulder Theatre
Ian MacGregor and Jason Donald (l to r)
Line-up at Golden start, Stage 6 of 2012 USA Pro Challenge
Relive memories or discover emotions, scenery, and behind the scenes team strategy you may have missed during the action-packed week of Colorado racing that was the 2012 USA Pro Challenge. Find it here in this compilation of stories, photos, and videos about the race.
Stories
How seven riders redeemed themselves at this year’s USA Pro Challenge, by ProVéloPassion.
From the Denver Post, a summary of how the course worked out and what riders thought of it, comments on crowd sizes, and some ideas for next year’s course.
The New York Times explores how an older rider, Christian Vande Velde of Garmin-Sharp, holds off the young ones to win the overall, even as the young ones show their strength.
Garmin-Sharp team kitchen truck set up in Mt. Crested Butte. On the menu: beef stew, spinach rice, and jicama carrot slaw.
Garmin-Sharp’s aggressive racing surprised those used to traditional racing strategy. Bicycling discusses how their strategy unfolded.
A list of six lessons Outside Magazine Online gleaned from a week of Colorado racing.
Photos
Thirty-eight of what the Denver Post’s photographers considered their best photos from the race.
A stage by stage set of photo galleries from Cyclingnews.
Video and photo gallery produced by the race with lots of amazing close-ups and a variety of shots from racing action to fans to scenery.
Video
Stage by stage summaries composed by the race, on YouTube.
Have it all
Commentary on race action by stage, standings, course profiles, and photos all reside on the TourTracker.
Nathan Haas (Garmin-Sharp) at the end of the 2012 USA Pro Challenge, in Denver
Last November Nathan Haas expected some big changes. He met 29 new teammates. He looked forward to racing his new Cervélo bike on four continents, most of the time over 16,000 kilometers away from his home in Brisbane Australia. But even he likely didn’t imagine how much his world would evolve over the following nine months.
Haas rode in 2011 for the Australian Genesys Wealth Advisors Team – his first full-time year on the bike – and moved up to Garmin-Sharp as a neo-pro for the 2012 season. He left his family in the days after Christmas to join the team and hasn’t set foot home in Australia since. It’s the longest period ever away from home for Haas, and that experience in itself has stretched him.
Chasing Mt. Baldy break in 2012 Tour of California, Nathan Haas (Garmin-Barracuda, now Garmin-Sharp) second wheel
“I think mentally it was a big jump for me to move to Europe,” Haas said in Denver on the last day of the USA Pro Challenge. “…I think I’ve been really learning some life skills and I think I’m really on top of things mentally now, and I’ve learned just how much spiritually you need to be happy to be able to do all of this…”
The biggest difference a year has made for Haas has been the switch from a small team to one of the biggest teams in the sport. Last year he was winning bike races and teammates worked for him. This year he’s working for teammates he described as the best riders in the world, and in the process learning and improving.
“It’s absolutely incredible…how much more of a sort of across the board rider I’ve become now in terms of tactics and knowing how to work as a teammate as opposed to the person that everybody works for, it’s a big difference. It’s been a real pleasure this year to do it…” He believes he’s also grown physiologically as he’s been competing with a “deeper pool” than he raced with in general last year.
Being professional
Haas labeled himself as “a little bit immature in my professionalism” when he joined his new team. He cited among others, teammates Christian Vande Velde and Dave Zabriskie as “exceptional role models” that have helped him learn what it means to be professional.
Daved Towle with Garmin-Sharp’s Peter Stetina, David Zabriskie, and Nathan Haas (l to r) in Tour of Utah presentation
Being professional, Haas said, affects just about every detail of his life as a neo-pro: “…how to treat your time training, how to treat your time racing, and everything in-between and that’s from how to keep your suitcase to how to pack your rain bag. All these small lessons that are compiling up to be something that next year is going to be a lot easier,” he said.
Living as a professional cyclist means in summary, “making your life about the bike.” It comes down to awareness about which option among the simplest of choices will help him ride better. It means relaxing during downtime. It means staying at home off the legs instead of going out to dinner, a choice that would challenge any man in his early twenties.
Next challenge
Now feeling he’s tamed the neo-pro’s challenges, he said, “…my legs are starting to come good in the end of the season.”
Haas became a sensation at 22 years-old when his legs achieved amazing results last year to win the five-day Jayco Herald Sun Tour and the Japan Cup in October.
Nathan Haas (Garmin-Sharp) in Denver after Stage 7 of the USA Pro Challenge
He’s hoping to repeat his late season success this year at the Tour of Britain. The eight stages that traverse 1,350 kilometers begin on September 9th.
“It’s actually a lot like the Herald Sun Tour in the sense that there’s hills but they are not mountains. Strong riders win it and opportunists win these types of races,” Haas said. “I always find my feet at the end of the year and I’m really hoping to go in hitting the ground running.”
Lars Boom (Rabobank) won a rainy Tour of Britain last year; Michael Albasini and Edvald Boasson Hagen, both riding for the HTC/Colombia team, preceded Boom as victors of the 2010 and 2009 editions, respectively.
After the Tour of Britain Haas will have some time to plan a bit of a musical performance for the next team camp with teammate Jack Bauer; Haas plays saxophone and Bauer plays bass. Haas’ love for music, including his absolute favorite collections, Dark Side of the Moon by Pink Floyd and In Silico by the Australian band Pendulum, is something that’s remained unchanged by the neo-pro experience.
Nathan Haas (third from left) celebrating the team time trial win with the Garmin-Sharp 2012 Tour of Utah squad
2012 USA Pro Challenge Stage 2, Montrose to Mt. Crested Butte.
After making it up here
View down course from Mt. Crested Butte finish line
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Tejay van Garderen (BMC Racing Team) was thirsty.
Tejay van Garderen after winning Stage 2 of the 2012 USA Pro Challenge
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His true thirst, though, got slaked by raising his arms in the air across the finish line and then reliving that feeling for a bit longer.
Tejay van Garderen (BMC) wins Stage 2 of the 2012 USA Pro Challenge and becomes the new overall race leader
If there’s one thing that characterized last week’s USA Pro Challenge, it’s sweet redemption.
Tejay van Garderen (BMC) and Tom Danielson (Garmin-Sharp) both raised their arms overhead in road race victory salutes for the first time in three and six years respectively.
Tejay van Garderen (BMC Racing Team) after winning the Mount Crested Butte uphill finish on Stage 2
After his win on Stage 2, van Garderen noted he’d counted eight second places up to that point. His first pro win since earlier Rabobank development team years occurred last year at the time trial in the Tour of Utah. The win at Mount Crested Butte seemed more special because, “Since it [Utah] was a TT I didn’t get to put my hands in the air,” he said at the post-race press conference.
Tom Danielson (Garmin-Sharp) won the overall Most Aggressive Rider jersey and shared the podium with son Stevie
Danielson, who delighted in the opening of the race in Durango as much as or even more than a child ripping a bow off his first bike, radiated joy after winning Stage 3 into Aspen. He asked commentator Bob Roll for a kiss during an interview before the podium ceremonies and pulled Roll’s face to his own before Roll could respond. Danielson mentioned later that day that he hadn’t won a “race proper” since 2005 or 2006; he wasn’t counting his TT win at the Vuelta Ciclista a Burgos in 2009 or the Bob Cook Memorial Hill Climb in the same year.
Tyler Farrar (Garmin-Sharp) takes first on Stage 1 of the 2012 USA Pro Challenge
Tyler Farrar (Garmin-Sharp) returned to stage-racing in the U.S. for the first time since 2009 after a frustrating Tour de France. During the USA Pro Challenge he described his crash-ridden experience at the TDF as “just there taking up space until Paris.” He came close in Utah but lost sprints to Jake Keough (UnitedHealthcare) and Michael Matthews (Rabobank).
More than a year after his TDF July 4th win Tyler lifted his arms overhead on Stage 1 in Telluride, fists clenched. He won again four days later in Colorado Springs and finished the race in the green Sprint jersey.
Rory Sutherland (UnitedHealthcare) celebrates his Stage 6 victory on Flagstaff with his son
After five years of taking serious aim at the Tour of California and returning home with decent results but no victories, Rory Sutherland (UnitedHealthcare) demonstrated this year he can win in the biggest races in the U.S. against impressive World Tour team line-ups.
Sutherland raced across the finish line on Flagstaff twenty seconds ahead of the next placed rider for Stage 6; he rolled about twenty feet and sat on the ground where journalists and videographers mobbed him.
Sutherland showed as one of the strongest riders in the combined August races of Utah and Colorado this year, winning a stage at each.
Jens Voigt (RadioShack-Nissan-Trek) talks to the media immediately after winning at Beaver Creek
Jens Voigt (RadioShack-Nissan-Trek) may have surprised even himself when he pulled off a solo win at age 40 into Beaver Creek on Stage 4. Just three months earlier in California he told team staff to remember well what he looked like standing on the podium after his second place in the Bakersfield time trial, because he expected it would be his last time on a podium ever in his career.
Most likely only Voigt harbored that pessimistic outlook. Between most aggressive and mountains jerseys, a stage win, and the overall team classification prize, Voigt stood proudly five times on Colorado podiums.
Taylor Phinney (BMC Racing Team) greets the crowd in Denver as he steps onto the podium after winning the USA Pro Challenge time trial
In 2011 Taylor Phinney (BMC Racing Team) missed the USA Pro Challenge in exchange for a shot at qualifying for the Olympic team; if he had placed at least third in the TT at the Vuelta a Espana last year he would have secured an automatic qualification to ride the TT for the 2012 U.S. Olympic team. While he undoubtedly gave his all in Spain, his heart likely remained in his home state of Colorado.
Phinney couldn’t raise his hands high as he crossed the USA Pro Challenge TT finish line in Denver with what would remain the best time. He enjoyed that feeling as he stood above number one on the stage, reaching a height of nearly seven feet from toes to fingertips.
As Phinney rose from the press conference table on Sunday afternoon after all the questions had been answered, he picked up the placard stamped with his name and the USA Pro Challenge logo and tucked it under his arm.
Christian Vande Velde (Garmin-Sharp), overall winner of the 2012 USA Pro Challenge
The color yellow has teased Christian Vande Velde (Garmin-Sharp) during the past few weeks. It slipped from his grasp in Utah when he lost it on Snowbird to Johan Tschopp (BMC Racing Team) and in Colorado to van Garderen on the punchy uphill to Beaver Creek. Vande Velde, who according to team manager Jonathan Vaughters entered the TT start house on Sunday having hit his stride this year, had apparently decided nothing would stand between him and winning the overall in Colorado.
One videographer said Vande Velde had “cursed a blue streak” under his breath during the countdown in the TT start house. Vande Velde solidly beat van Garderen and Levi Leipheimer (Omega Pharma – Quick-Step) in the race against the clock, as well as – if the videographer heard correctly, any demons that had haunted him since the team’s disheartening 2012 Tour de France.
At the final 2012 USA Pro Challenge press conference, the riders named some favorite foods as they posed: Chipotle, wood-fired pizza, and cheeseburgers among others
Final 2012 USA Pro Challenge GC top 10. (2012 USA Pro Challenge full GC here).
1 Vande Velde, Christian (GRS) 00″
2 van Garderen, Tejay (BMC) 21″
3 Leipheimer, Levi (OPQ) 24″
4 Kloden, Andreas (RNT) 1’08”
5 Brajkovic, Janez (AST) 1’14”
6 Fuglsang, Jakob (RNT) 1’24”
7 Danielson, Tom (GRS) 1’28”
8 Busche, Matthew (RNT) 1’32”
9 Stetina, Peter (GRS) 1’39”
10 Dombrowski, Joseph (BLS) 1’40”
ProVéloPassion 