Giacomo 1 

A pretty exciting opening stage today in Steamboat Springs.

It looked to be a classic sprint finish, but no team seemed to have a good leadout. United Health Care with their sprinter, Kiel Reijnen, looked the best coming into the last 500 or so meters, but Taylor Phinney made a stunning move up the right side from way back and overtook the field for a very convincing win. I was shocked by Phinneys speed and he made it look easy. Reijnen came in a distant second.

You could see that Phinney's left leg, the damaged leg, looked far smaller with less muscle mass than his healthy right leg. But it certainly didn't seem to bother him today. Really good to see him coming back so strong.

The field is rather weak this year without Danielson, TJ or any other really big European names. Danielson must be kicking himself, because he would have been the class of this field. It will give an unknown a real shot to shine in a big race, so maybe it's not such a bad thing. Brent Bookwalter looked strong today and took 3rd, so he might be the guy to beat in the overall...

PepeM

That was good from Phinney. It also seemed for a while that Denis could get away with that, but the other fella didn't seem too eager to work for it. Good start to the race all in all.

Giacomo 1 

That other guy was totally gassed!

His mouth was wide open and searching for oxygen!

TCR Rider

Great to see Taylor Phinney take the win today. That alone was worth watching the stage.

bengreen79

Didn't he just fail a drug test for synthetic testosterone?

PepeM

He did.

LUW

I managed only to see the last 10 minutes of the race. At the end things looked a bit sedated but then came that finishing sprint, awesome! Even more so after knowing that just a year ago there was talks that Phinney would never ride again.

PepeM

It was funny, seemed like no one had any gas left to set up a proper sprint. Then he appeared from the back like a rocket.

TCR Rider

Could be the altitude. Unless I'm mistaken Phinney is from Colorado is he may be more acclimated to the thin air. That being said, still an outstanding win after what he's been through.

Giacomo 1 

Nice mountain top win by Brent Bookwalter today!

But really, it was set-up by his teammate, Rohan Dennis, who drove the peloton forward up the mountain to close on the breakaway and eventually dropped almost all of them by his scalding pace. Bookwalter was one of the very few that was able to keep his wheel, and eventually went around him. Dennis might have the biggest engine in the peloton these days.

Nice to see a hard worker like Bookwalter get his day in the sun. He is going to be tough to beat in the overall to. Maybe America has discovered another GT contender?

TCR Rider

Nice to see a hard worker like Bookwalter get his day in the sun. He is going to be tough to beat in the overall to. Maybe America has discovered another GT contender?

TeJay, TeJay who? BMC doesn't seem to miss him so far this week.

PepeM

That was a dominating performance from Dennis. Talk about a monster pull.

Leinster

Let's not get carried away here. This i not the strongest field in the history of the US Pro Challenge. It's not like Dennis or Bookwalter droped the hamer on a bunch of Grand Tour mountain stage winners.

TCR Rider

Of course you are correct I was just stirring the pot a bit. I think you would agree that it does bode well for BMC going forward with TeJay as the GC man and Richie Porte coming on board.

On an unrelated note, as beautiful and awesome as Colorado is I just don't find the course very interesting. I'd love to ride my bike there but aside from the altitude the course is not technical at all. It's a war of attrition. I just watched the Ennico Tour and found the racing much more compelling. Almost like a week of classics with the parve and punchy climbs. But that's just me.

Giacomo 1 

Yeah, I don't think TJ has anything to worry about from Bookwalter, but it is good to see a hard worker like him do well.

I agree.

The wide roads don't help create much action either, although I'm sure the riders appreciate the breathing room.

Giacomo 1 

Today was the highest stage anywhere in the world as they went through Independence Pass. Not the steepest climb, but long and steady, but it didn't give anyone any real fits that I could see.

It actually came down to a bunch sprint and Kiel Reijnen came out best with a nicely timed final 200 meters. Rohan Dennis came in second even after doing an awful lot of work all day. Bookwalter was never in trouble and retains yellow. Phinney wasn't in the sprint and loses the green jersey to Reijnen, who is now tied with Sagan for the most stage wins ever in this tour.

Giacomo 1 

Wow, Rohan Dennis takes todays mountain stage and the yellow jersey!

Bookwalter got into a little bit of trouble on the last climb, so Dennis took off and blew away the field. But on the downhill finish Bookwalter caught up to the second place rider, Robbie Squire, but did the right thing and didn't push to catch Dennis. So Bookwalter second place. I'm a bit surprised Dennis didn't help Bookwalter get up that climb, but Bookwalter didn't see it as a problem and thought Dennis did the right thing. Gracious.

Tomorrow is the TT, and Rohan should really solidify his position in the yellow, and likely can take this race now.

PepeM

I was thinking Dennis would take the lead during the TT (and keep it until the end) but it looks like he decided to take it even earlier. Definitely the strongest rider in the field.

I would have liked to see at least one summit finish.

Leinster

Eh? By my count Reijnen has 2 (1 this year, 1 last) to Sagan's 4 (all in 2013). Tejay has 4 as well, Viviani has 3, and there's a few others (Levi, Farrar included) with 2.

Giacomo 1 

I saw a blurb come on screen that showed both Sagan and Reijnen had 5 each of something, which I thought were wins, but maybe it wasn't wins?

Sorry for the mistake, but now I wonder what they meant? Number of appearances maybe?

TCR Rider

I saw that as well. I was just trying to find out who has the most stage wins but I had no luck.

Giacomo 1 

Thanks!

Thought I was going nuts!

jsk

I think it was stage podium finishes, not stage wins.

Giacomo 1 

Thank you!

Giacomo 1 

Yikes!

Rohan Dennis destroyed the field today in the TT! He is now solidly in first place by 44 seconds. Bookwalter had the ride of his life and took 3rd, and remains in second overall, but I can't help but think that he really wanted to win this race, but it's not likely now. Dennis is like a seasoned pro riding against amateurs here and it seems like he's toying with these guys. He was so strong going uphill today, that he didn't even have to go hard downhill and still won convincingly.

Onto the Veulta...