Canadian Cyclist

 

August 25/12 19:41 pm - USA Pro Challenge: Stage 6, report, results and photos


Posted by Editoress on 08/25/12
 

Defending Champion Levi Leipheimer of Omega Pharma-QuickStep Takes the Overall Lead of the 2012 USA Pro Challenge Heading into Final Day of Racing

Boulder-Resident Rory Sutherland of UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling Team Wins Stage 6 of the Professional Cycling Race after Powering Up Flagstaff Mountain

In a battle to the finish, Stage 6 of the 2012 USA Pro Challenge came to a close when Rory Sutherland (UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling Team) crossed the line at the top of Flagstaff Mountain in Boulder first, followed by Fabio Aru (Astana Pro Team) and Jens Voigt (RadioShack-Nissan-Trek). In what has been a constant battle for the overall lead, Defending Champion Levi Leipheimer (Omega Pharma-QuickStep) heads into the final day of the race wearing the Exergy Leader Jersey, nine seconds up on Christian Vande Velde (Garmin-Sharp-Barracuda) and 21 seconds ahead of Tejay van Garderen (USA) of BMC Racing Team.

 

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Rory Sutherland wins Stage 6 -  Photo Oran Kelly

 

"Today was amazing; I saw all kinds of colorful characters up on Flagstaff and it was inspiring," said Leipheimer. "I knew I had to save my strength for today. When I was nearing the finish, I just focused on giving it everything I had. Today was one of the most beautiful days of cycling I've ever seen."

The penultimate stage of the 2012 USA Pro Challenge took the riders from returning host city Golden to one of the most legendary cycling cities in the U.S. – Boulder – on a 102.8m/165.5 km route that included the epic climb of Flagstaff Mountain. Featuring three Waste Management sprints and two Nissan King of the Mountains competitions in addition to Flagstaff, the stage was challenging and hotly contested.

The stage began with several attacks and counter-attacks, but nothing stuck until a 14-man breakaway that would last for a good part of the stage. Upon reaching the first Waste Management sprint in Boulder, Serghei Tvetcov (MOL) of Team Exergy crossed the line first, followed by Sutherland and Stage 4 winner Jens Voigt (GER) of RadioShack-Nissan-Trek.

Heading toward the first KOM of the day – Cat. 2 Boulder Canyon (8,231 ft.) – the breakaway riders traveled through a classic mountain tunnel climbing at a speed of 22 mph, with Alex Howes (Garmin-Sharp-Barracuda) taking max points, followed by EPM-UNE riders Francisco Jarley Colorado Hernandez and Robigzon Leandro Oyola Oyola.

Descending at speeds of up to 62 mph, the break screamed down the hill toward the second Waste Management sprint line of the day in Lyons, where Tvetcov took max points, followed by Timmy Duggan (Liquigas-Cannondale) and Voigt.

After making the turn onto Lefthand Canyon, Voigt launched an attack with his teammate George Bennett to ultimately spring Bennett into a solo break heading toward the second KOM of the day – Cat. 2 Lee Hill Rd. (7,008 ft.). With only seven riders left in the original break, Bennett crested the hill first, followed by Colorado and Voigt.

With only two minutes over the field, the break saw several attacks heading toward the final Waste Management sprint of the day in Boulder, which was taken by Voigt, followed by Tvetcov and Aru. With Voigt out slightly in front of the break, Sutherland launched an attack that would take him out in front and lead to him powering up the mountain all the way across the finish line.

"Flagstaff is such a beautiful mountain," said Sutherland. "I can't even describe the beauty of cycling in Colorado and how much it means to win in my hometown of Boulder. This is definitely the biggest win of my career."

In a battle for the general classification, with about 5 km to go attacks were launched off the front of the field, which allowed Leipheimer to pull away and take fourth in the stage, placing him at the top of the GC.

"The competitive level of racing we've seen at the 2012 USA Pro Challenge has made it one of the closest major stage races in the history of the sport," said Shawn Hunter, CEO of the Pro Challenge. "With Levi taking over the lead today under the picturesque backdrop of Flagstaff Mountain and the largest, most enthusiastic crowds I've ever seen at a U.S. stage race cheering him on, we couldn't have asked for a better day of racing."

 

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Jerseys - photo by ORan Kelly

 

More Stage 6 Photos by Oran Kelly

 

As part of the awards ceremony actor Patrick Dempsey presented Leipheimer with the Exergy Leader Jersey.

"With the individual time trial tomorrow in Denver, it is still anyone's race," added Hunter. "We're primed for an incredibly exciting finish to the 2012 USA Pro Challenge."

In a shakeup of the jerseys, Leipheimer took the Exergy Leader Jersey and Voigt claimed the Nissan King of the Mountains Jersey. Joseph Lloyd Dombrowski (USA) of Bontrager Livestrong Team maintained the Aquadraat Best Young Rider Jersey and Tyler Farrar (USA) of Garmin-Sharp-Barracuda the Waste Management Sprint Jersey. Sutherland was awarded the Evolve Most Aggressive Rider Jersey.

 

Results from the 6th stage in Colorado

Stage 6: : Golden to Boulder 165.5 km
1 Rory Sutherland (Aus) UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling 4:06:12
2 Fabio Aru (Ita) Astana Pro Team at 0:20
3 Jens Voigt (Ger) RadioShack-Nissan 0:26
4 Levi Leipheimer (USA) Omega Pharma-Quickstep 0:45
5 Timothy Duggan (USA) Liquigas-Cannondale 0:52
6 Christian Vandevelde (USA) Garmin - Sharp 1:02
7 Joseph Lloyd Dombrowski (USA) Bontrager Livestrong Team
8 Andreas Klöden (Ger) RadioShack-Nissan
9 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Liquigas-Cannondale
10 Ramiro Rincon Diaz (Col) EPM-UNE all s.t.
11 Tejay van Garderen (USA) BMC Racing Team 1:14
12 Peter Stetina (USA) Garmin - Sharp s.t.
13 Janez Brajkovic (Slo) Astana Pro Team 1:22
14 Jakob Fuglsang (Den) RadioShack-Nissan 1:22
15 Christopher Baldwin (USA) Bissell Cycling 1:28
16 Damiano Caruso (Ita) Liquigas-Cannondale
17 Kiel Reijnen (USA) Team Type 1 - Sanofi
18 Ivan Rovny (Rus) RusVelo
19 Matthew Busche (USA) RadioShack-Nissan
20 Christopher Horner (USA) RadioShack-Nissan
21 Christopher Butler (USA) Champion System Pro Cycling Team
22 Mathias Frank (Sui) BMC Racing Team all s.t.
23 Jeroen Hoorne (Bel) Omega Pharma-Quickstep 1:33
24 Javier Eduardo Gomez Pineda (Col) EPM-UNE s.t.
25 Lucas Euser (USA) Spidertech powered by C10 1:56
26 Tom Danielson (USA) Garmin - Sharp s.t.
27 Serghei Tvetcov (Mda) Team Exergy 2:09
28 Eduard Alexander Beltran Suarez (Col) EPM-UNE 2:12
29 Carlos Fernando Piamonte Rodriguez (Col) EPM-UNE
30 Sergey Firsanov (Rus) RusVelo
31 Gavin Mannion (USA) Bontrager Livestrong Team
32 Tanel Kangert (Est) Astana Pro Team
33 Benjamin Day (Aus) UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling
34 Michael Creed (USA) Optum p/b Kelly Benefit Strategies
35 Dmitry Kozontchuk (Rus) RusVelo all s.t.
36 George Bennett (NZl) RadioShack-Nissan 2:25
37 Alessandro Bazzana (Ita) Team Type 1 - Sanofi 2:34
38 Rubens Bertogliati (Sui) Team Type 1 - Sanofi
39 Oliver Zaugg (Sui) RadioShack-Nissan both s.t.
40 Craig Lewis (USA) Champion System Pro Cycling Team 2:50
41 Evgeny Petrov (Rus) Astana Pro Team 3:31
42 Artem Ovechkin (Rus) RusVelo 3:39
43 Andres Miguel Diaz (Col) Team Exergy 3:44
44 Cameron Wurf (Aus) Champion System Pro Cycling Team 3:53
45 Pengda Jiao (Chn) Champion System Pro Cycling Team
46 Javier Megias Leal (Esp) Team Type 1 - Sanofi both s.t.
47 Robigzon Leandro Oyola Oyola (Col) EPM-UNE 4:10
48 Francisco Colorado (Col) EPM-UNE 5:06
49 Roman Kreuziger (Cze) Astana Pro Team 5:31
50 Peter Velits (Svk) Omega Pharma-Quickstep
51 Julian Kyer (USA) Bissell Cycling
52 George Hincapie (USA) BMC Racing Team
53 Taylor Phinney (USA) BMC Racing Team all s.t.
54 Moreno Moser (Ita) Liquigas-Cannondale 6:19
55 Alexander Mironov (Rus) RusVelo 6:32
56 Paolo Longo Borghini (Ita) Liquigas-Cannondale 6:56
57 Biao Liu (Chn) Champion System Pro Cycling Team 7:27
58 Michael Schär (Sui) BMC Racing Team 7:56
59 Alex Howes (USA) Garmin - Sharp 10:36
60 Christopher Jones (USA) UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling 12:20
61 Benjamin King (USA) RadioShack-Nissan
62 Jorge Camilo Castiblanco Cubides (Col) EPM-UNE
63 Martin Velits (Svk) Omega Pharma-Quickstep
64 Alex Candelario (USA) Optum p/b Kelly Benefit Strategies
65 Morgan Schmitt (USA) Team Exergy
66 Julien El Fares (Fra) Team Type 1 - Sanofi
67 Caleb Fairly (USA) Spidertech powered by C10
68 Brian Vandborg Bach (Den) Spidertech powered by C10
69 Georg Preidler (Aut) Team Type 1 - Sanofi
70 Matt Cooke (USA) Team Exergy
71 Johann Tschopp (Sui) BMC Racing Team all s.t.
72 Valerio Agnoli (Ita) Liquigas-Cannondale 13:41
73 Ivan Basso (Ita) Liquigas-Cannondale
74 Robert Förster (Ger) UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling
75 Nathan Haas (Aus) Garmin - Sharp
76 Jeremy Vennell (NZl) Bissell Cycling
77 Tyler Farrar (USA) Garmin - Sharp
78 Michael Friedman (USA) Optum p/b Kelly Benefit Strategies
79 Yevgeniy Nepomnyachshiy (Kaz) Astana Pro Team
80 Carter Jones (USA) Bissell Cycling
81 Tom Zirbel (USA) Optum p/b Kelly Benefit Strategies
82 Joey Rosskopf (USA) Team Type 1 - Sanofi
83 David Zabriskie (USA) Garmin - Sharp
84 Rafael Infantino Abreu (Col) EPM-UNE
85 Ivan Santaromita (Ita) BMC Racing Team
86 James Oram (NZl) Bontrager Livestrong Team
87 Ryan Eastman (USA) Bontrager Livestrong Team
88 Ryan Roth (Can) Spidertech powered by C10
89 Hugo Houle (Can) Spidertech powered by C10
90 Arkimedes Arguelyes Rodriges (Rus) RusVelo all s.t.
91 Lachlan David Morton (Aus) Garmin - Sharp 24:42
92 Daniel Summerhill (USA) UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling s.t.
93 Sergey Klimov (Rus) RusVelo 27:06
94 Ben Jacques-Maynes (USA) Bissell Cycling 28:09
95 Frank Pipp (USA) Bissell Cycling s.t.
96 Matt Brammeier (Irl) Omega Pharma-Quickstep 28:16
DNF Cadel Evans (Aus) BMC Racing Team
DNF Karl Menzies (Aus) UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling
DNF Jake Keough (USA) UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling
DNF Jeffry Louder (USA) UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling
DNF Gang Xu (Chn) Champion System Pro Cycling Team
DNF Andrew Bajadali (USA) Optum p/b Kelly Benefit Strategies
DNF Fred Rodriguez (USA) Team Exergy
 
GC
1 Levi Leipheimer (USA) Omega Pharma-Quickstep 25:39:50
2 Christian Vandevelde (USA) Garmin - Sharp at 0:09
3 Tejay van Garderen (USA) BMC Racing Team 0:21
4 Joseph Lloyd Dombrowski (USA) Bontrager Livestrong Team s.t.
5 Ramiro Rincon Diaz (Col) EPM-UNE 0:22
6 Andreas Klöden (Ger) RadioShack-Nissan 0:26
7 Peter Stetina (USA) Garmin - Sharp 0:38
8 Janez Brajkovic (Slo) Astana Pro Team 0:41
9 Ivan Rovny (Rus) RusVelo s.t.
10 Damiano Caruso (Ita) Liquigas-Cannondale 0:52
11 Matthew Busche (USA) RadioShack-Nissan s.t.
12 Jakob Fuglsang (Den) RadioShack-Nissan 0:53
13 Christopher Horner (USA) RadioShack-Nissan 0:57
14 Mathias Frank (Sui) BMC Racing Team 1:18
15 Tom Danielson (USA) Garmin - Sharp s.t.
16 Lucas Euser (USA) Spidertech powered by C10 1:20
17 Christopher Butler (USA) Champion System Pro Cycling Team 1:35
18 Javier Eduardo Gomez Pineda (Col) EPM-UNE 1:36
19 Gavin Mannion (USA) Bontrager Livestrong Team 1:50
20 Carlos Fernando Piamonte Rodriguez (Col) EPM-UNE 1:53
21 Michael Creed (USA) Optum p/b Kelly Benefit Strategies 2:23
22 Timothy Duggan (USA) Liquigas-Cannondale 2:37
23 Christopher Baldwin (USA) Bissell Cycling 2:47
24 Kiel Reijnen (USA) Team Type 1 - Sanofi 3:33
25 George Bennett (NZl) RadioShack-Nissan 4:15
26 Dmitry Kozontchuk (Rus) RusVelo 4:17
27 Benjamin Day (Aus) UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling 4:54
28 Francisco Colorado (Col) EPM-UNE 4:55
29 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Liquigas-Cannondale 5:40
30 Eduard Alexander Beltran Suarez (Col) EPM-UNE 6:39
31 Cameron Wurf (Aus) Champion System Pro Cycling Team 6:41
32 Robigzon Leandro Oyola Oyola (Col) EPM-UNE 6:57
33 Jens Voigt (Ger) RadioShack-Nissan 8:25
34 Roman Kreuziger (Cze) Astana Pro Team 12:58
35 Oliver Zaugg (Sui) RadioShack-Nissan 13:12
36 Craig Lewis (USA) Champion System Pro Cycling Team 13:36
37 Rory Sutherland (Aus) UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling 14:12
38 Rafael Infantino Abreu (Col) EPM-UNE 15:23
39 Alex Howes (USA) Garmin - Sharp 16:05
40 Johann Tschopp (Sui) BMC Racing Team 19:22
41 Paolo Longo Borghini (Ita) Liquigas-Cannondale 20:01
42 George Hincapie (USA) BMC Racing Team 20:10
43 Carter Jones (USA) Bissell Cycling 20:58
44 Michael Friedman (USA) Optum p/b Kelly Benefit Strategies 22:23
45 Michael Schär (Sui) BMC Racing Team 24:23
46 Tanel Kangert (Est) Astana Pro Team 25:16
47 Jorge Camilo Castiblanco Cubides (Col) EPM-UNE 25:50
48 Julian Kyer (USA) Bissell Cycling 26:48
49 Pengda Jiao (Chn) Champion System Pro Cycling Team 27:42
50 Peter Velits (Svk) Omega Pharma-Quickstep 27:45
51 Serghei Tvetcov (Mda) Team Exergy 27:49
52 Alexander Mironov (Rus) RusVelo 28:32
53 Alessandro Bazzana (Ita) Team Type 1 - Sanofi 28:44
54 Alex Candelario (USA) Optum p/b Kelly Benefit Strategies 30:33
55 Sergey Firsanov (Rus) RusVelo 32:56
56 Andres Miguel Diaz (Col) Team Exergy 34:19
57 Benjamin King (USA) RadioShack-Nissan 34:58
58 Moreno Moser (Ita) Liquigas-Cannondale 35:50
59 Tom Zirbel (USA) Optum p/b Kelly Benefit Strategies 38:45
60 Christopher Jones (USA) UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling 39:38
61 Caleb Fairly (USA) Spidertech powered by C10 40:09
62 Artem Ovechkin (Rus) RusVelo 42:05
63 Javier Megias Leal (Esp) Team Type 1 - Sanofi 42:06
64 Fabio Aru (Ita) Astana Pro Team 43:21
65 Ivan Santaromita (Ita) BMC Racing Team 44:13
66 Evgeny Petrov (Rus) Astana Pro Team 44:23
67 Martin Velits (Svk) Omega Pharma-Quickstep 44:52
68 Georg Preidler (Aut) Team Type 1 - Sanofi 46:58
69 Tyler Farrar (USA) Garmin - Sharp 50:11
70 Jeroen Hoorne (Bel) Omega Pharma-Quickstep 50:33
71 Taylor Phinney (USA) BMC Racing Team 52:12
72 Valerio Agnoli (Ita) Liquigas-Cannondale 54:33
73 Arkimedes Arguelyes Rodriges (Rus) RusVelo 56:56
74 Rubens Bertogliati (Sui) Team Type 1 - Sanofi 57:04
75 Nathan Haas (Aus) Garmin - Sharp 58:44
76 Julien El Fares (Fra) Team Type 1 - Sanofi 1:00:41
77 Ivan Basso (Ita) Liquigas-Cannondale 1:01:13
78 Yevgeniy Nepomnyachshiy (Kaz) Astana Pro Team 1:02:02
79 Joey Rosskopf (USA) Team Type 1 - Sanofi 1:02:02
80 David Zabriskie (USA) Garmin - Sharp 1:03:24
81 Brian Vandborg Bach (Den) Spidertech powered by C10 1:03:37
82 Jeremy Vennell (NZl) Bissell Cycling 1:04:25
83 Matt Cooke (USA) Team Exergy 1:04:49
84 Hugo Houle (Can) Spidertech powered by C10 1:04:58
85 Ryan Eastman (USA) Bontrager Livestrong Team 1:05:29
86 Biao Liu (Chn) Champion System Pro Cycling Team 1:06:13
87 Ryan Roth (Can) Spidertech powered by C10 1:07:12
88 Robert Förster (Ger) UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling 1:07:53
89 Ben Jacques-Maynes (USA) Bissell Cycling 1:11:50
90 Morgan Schmitt (USA) Team Exergy 1:11:51
91 James Oram (NZl) Bontrager Livestrong Team 1:12:01
92 Daniel Summerhill (USA) UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling 1:12:30
93 Frank Pipp (USA) Bissell Cycling 1:13:22
94 Lachlan David Morton (Aus) Garmin - Sharp 1:19:12
95 Matt Brammeier (Irl) Omega Pharma-Quickstep 1:24:01
96 Sergey Klimov (Rus) RusVelo 1:26:37

 


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