EventServices

There are a lot of cool stories going on in this year's USAPC.

The BYR jersey competition between the two Caja Rural guys and Tao Geoghan Hart.
Jelly Belly holding on to 2nd place in the Team GC. Unheard of.
The local kid from Breck riding as a stagiare and setting a new best time in the TT for a spell.
The Axeon team (none of whom are older than 22) having great results.
The 40mph speeds on the flats and 12mph on the dirt.
The reception of the Cycling Academy team.
Peter Stetina riding his bike seemingly fine, yet he needs to walk with a cane to and from his hotel room.
Kyle Murphy getting picked up from tiny Lupus Racing and moving to Caja Rural and getting in the breakaway.
Still drawing good crowds in little towns like Leadville is a sign that people are still behind the race. The crowd in Breck was incredible. And a remote location like Independence Pass had a good crowd, on a Thursday no less.

Granted, it's not a stacked field. Many of the teams brought their stagiares in order to give them experience. But even that has been exciting to watch.

Giacomo 1 

What a great sprint finale to end the race!

Everything looked to be in order until Dennis wearing yellow decided to make a late move and it looked like it might stick and blow the sprint finish. But UHC clawed back and caught Dennis and took the lead with 2 riders. Coming around the last turn Phinney made a nice move on the inside and looked poised to take the win, but John Murphy from UHC was to strong and to fast and took Phinney at the line. Well done!

So Rohan Dennis takes the overall and becomes the first non-American to win this race, and he is now being touted as a TDF GC contender.

I still feel bad for Bookwalter who took second overall, but I thought it would be good to see him take the win.

Seeing Phinney looking so strong was really nice to.

All-in-all, not a bad race with good competition and some good racing, but it wasn't a deep field either. Hope they can get back to drawing some of the better talent and teams in the coming years...

TCR Rider

I enjoyed seeing UHC take a couple of stages from BMC. Murphy earned it today and timed his move perfectly. Also very happy for Phinney, baring a setback he should only get stronger.

Broodax

Was NBC's coverage of this just horrific? First, the coverage started after the climb at the beginning of the final stage had already finished. The break had already happened, and there was 1.5 hours of almost nothing to watch as the break stayed 0:45 to 2:00 ahead, back and forth. Second, one of the announcers referred to the end of the race as happening in "downtown Colorado". And finally, I'm relatively certain that even though they were not broadcasting live, they were displaying live tweets from racers that spoiled the end of the race!

bengreen79

I didn't catch much of it but I saw the tweets...how dumb.

Leinster

He is? By who?

PepeM

Not too sure he can keep up with the top climbers. Maybe if we went back to 100k time trials.

WCroadie

Let me first say that any racing coverage in the US is better than no coverage, but NCBSN's coverage of cycling sucks which is why I almost always watch the Euro coverage.

I too hope this race continues to grow and attack more talent. I went out to Breckenridge last year and watched the stage and met up with my friend who raced for dinner after the stage, then vacationed in Brek for a few days. My Dad went out this year and saw the stages in Breck and Denver, I decided not to go this time because I am going to worlds. I plan to go back out to Colorado for some stages next year.

Giacomo 1 

@Leinster the whole Universal crew talked it up

Went on for a few minutes. Even asked Dennis himself.

SpeshulEd 

So I went to the pro challenge this year and took some photos. It was awesome and I want to move to Breckenridge.

Rohan Dennis climbing the last KOM before the finish in Breckenridge.


Brent Bookwalter closely behind:


Taylor Phinney's back! (pun!):


It was kind of comical watching tourists climb this hill all morning at about 5mph and then watching the pros fly up it at 20mph or so...and this guy riding a wheelie up it:


A well-deserved beer:


Ted King up front, Phil Gaimon in the orange:


Time Trialing in Breckenridge the following day:


Rohan destroying the field:


Hauling ass through Denver, I think they were hitting speeds close to 40mph that day:




There's a pile of other photos here...this was my first bike race so I went a bit overboard. Definitely a fun time and will probably go back next year. I totally got a bottle too, which was pretty exciting.
https://speshuled.smugmug.com/Bikes/...-Challenge-CO/

TCR Rider

Nice shots. Thanks for sharing.