Colorado’11 St.2: Hincapie Wins, Van Garderen Leads!
Photo report: Wednesday’s second stage of the USA Pro Cycling Challenge promised a whole lot of high altitude drama, and that’s what we got, along with a friendly dash of inclement weather to make sure things were kept appropriately suspenseful. Read on!
Photography by Darrell Parks – www.darrellparks.com –
Stage 2: Gunnison – Aspen 209.8km
The USA Pro Cycling Challenge’s second road stage was always set to be the queen stage of the first year race, and it lived up to all the hype with two big climbs to over 12,000 feet: first up was Cottonwood Pass followed by Independence Pass, which left only a technical descent into Aspen.
The dirt road of Cottonwood Pass was taken at a respectable speed, but things got hot and heavy (while the weather got wet and nasty) in the final 7.5k of Independence Pass.
Most of the favorites made the elite selection at the front, but that was only the first part – the real selection was to come on the wet descent into Aspen.
An even more select group, populated by some big hitters formed when things got dicey heading downhill: George Hincapie, Tejay Van Garderen, Tom Danielson, Edouard Beltran Suarez, Janier Acevedo Colle, and Bruno Pires.
On the line, it was George Hincapie who took the stage win, while Tejay Van Garderen was right behind to take second and assume overall leadership.
Former leader, Levi Leipheimer, followed in the first chase group three quarters of a minute back.
Up next: the vaunted Vail time trial!
Below are shots from PEZ photog Darrell Parks’ awesome day near the top of Independence Pass. Enjoy!
Definitely NOT Leopard Trek.
Here come the leaders!
Rafael Infantino leads over the top of Independence Pass.
Andy Schleck was not a factor today.
Ivan Basso rode well, but finished just off the back of the first chase group.
Levi Leipheimer was solid over the top of the climb, but found the wet descent to be a bit much. He’ll be a major threat in today’s TT up to Vail Pass. A recent Twitter update from Leipheimer was rather ominous: Can. Not. Wait.
George Hincapie rode a great race and took his first win in a couple years.
Van Garderen’s efforts were good enough to see him out of the Best Young Rider’s jersey and into yellow.
Hincapie, Van Garderen, Danielson.
Stage 2 Results
1. George Hincapie (USA) BMC Racing Team 5:26:10
2. Tejay Van Garderen (USA) HTC-Highroad
3. Thomas Danielson (USA) Team Garmin-Cervelo
4. Eduard Alexander Beltran Suarez (Col) EPM – UNE
5. Janier Alexis Acevedo Colle (Col) Gobernacion De Antioquia
6. Bruno Pires (Por) Leopard Trek
7. Cadel Evans (Aus) BMC Racing Team 0:00:45
8. Lucas Euser (USA) Team Spidertech Powered By C10
9. Levi Leipheimer (USA) Team RadioShack
10. Jeffry Louder (USA) BMC Racing Team
11. Sergio Luis Henao Montoya (Col) Gobernacion De Antioquia
12. Christian Vande Velde (USA) Team Garmin-Cervelo
13. Oscar Sevilla Ribera (Spa) Gobernacion De Antioquia
14. Robert Gesink (Ned) Rabobank Cycling Team
15. Ivan Rovny (Rus) Team RadioShack
General Classification After Stage Two
1 Tejay Van Garderen (USA) HTC-Highroad 10:04:08
2 George Hincapie (USA) BMC Racing Team 0:00:16
3 Thomas Danielson (USA) Team Garmin-Cervelo 0:00:22
4 Levi Leipheimer (USA) Team RadioShack 0:00:34
5 Christian Vande Velde (USA) Team Garmin-Cervelo 0:00:45
6 Cadel Evans (Aus) BMC Racing Team 0:00:51
7 Janier Alexis Acevedo Colle (Col) Gobernacion De Antioquia 0:00:52
8 Robert Gesink (Ned) Rabobank Cycling Team 0:01:04
9 Bruno Pires (Por) Leopard Trek 0:01:08
10 Rory Sutherland (Aus) UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling 0:01:09
11 Jeffry Louder (USA) BMC Racing Team 0:01:15
12 Frдnk Schleck (Lux) Leopard Trek 0:01:16
13 Oscar Sevilla Ribera (Spa) Gobernacion De Antioquia 0:01:18
14 Sergio Luis Henao Montoya (Col) Gobernacion De Antioquia 0:01:19
15 Ivan Rovny (Rus) Team RadioShack 0:01:26
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