Taylor Phinney (BMC) continued his amazing comeback from his broken leg when he powered down the finishing straight to win the reduced bunch sprint on the first stage of the USA Pro Challenge. Looking like he was doing the lead-out for teammate Brent Bookwalter, he got an immediate gap when he launched his effort and Kiel Reijnen (Unitedhealthcare) could do nothing more than passing Bookwalter to finish the stage in second. Phinney is of course the first leader of the race too.

In May 2014, it looked like Taylor Phinney’s career could potentially be over when he broke his leg in a horrific crash at the American road race championships. Since then he has had a long recovery before he finally managed to return to racing at the Tour of Utah two weeks ago.

The plan for his first race back was just to survive but he exceeded his own expectations when he nearly grabbed the win in the opening stage. A third place with a late attack was far better than most had expected and after he also rode strongly in the break on the final day, he had set himself well up for his home race, the USA Pro Challenge.

Despite the fine showing in Utah, few would have predicted him to get the race off to the flying start that he got by winning the first stage today. In what looked like a lead-out for his teammate Brent Bookwalter, he made an unstoppable effort in the reduced bunch sprint that decided the opener and allowed him to take his first victory since his win at the American TT championships in May 2014.

However, it looked like it was another BMC rider that was going to ride away with the spoils as Rohan Dennis had been part of a strong two-rider move in the finale. The action was started with 16km to go on the descent from a small category 4 climb which had turned out to be much harder than expected. As the GC riders had briefly tested each other, it was a relatively small field that gathered on the front and brought back the last remnant of the early escapees. That opened the door for late attacks and it was impossible to control the situation.

Felix Grossschartner (Tinkoff-Saxo) was the first to try just after Carson Miller (Jamis) had been brought back as the final rider from the early break and he was joined by Marco Canola (Unitedhealthcare) and Jack Bobridge (Budget Forklifts). Later Damiano Caruso (BMC) also made it across while Cannondale started to chase with Davide Formolo.

A very aggressive Dennis joined the move alongside another rider before a bigger group with the likes of Chris Anker Sørensen (Tinoff-Saxo), Boivin and Julian Arredondo (Trek) made it across. However, Unitedhealthcare had now gathered their troops and were starting to chase from the small peloton.

Just as they were about to catch the front group, Grossschartner went again and this time only Dennis and Boivin could match him. Sørensen and another rider tried to bridge the gap but with the BMC rider taking some huge turns it was impossible for them to make the junction. The pace was also too fast for the young Austrian who dropped back to the two chasers.

In the peloton, Unitedhealthcare still had six riders and while they were saving Canola and Reijnen for the sprint, they put Tanner Putt, Danny Summerhill, Janez Brajkovic and Jonathan Clarke on the front. However, the effort was hugely disorganized as gaps were constantly occurring and even though they quickly brought the chasers back, they could see the front duo extend their advantage.

With 10km to go, the gap was 10 seconds and it had gone out to 25 seconds just 3km later At this point, things were looking good for the front duo but their cooperation got a knock when Dennis tried an unsuccessful attack with 6km to go.

Even though Unitedhealthcare were unable to organize the chase well, the gap started to come down. Summerhill and Brajkovic were the only riders left to do the work and they managed to get closer to the leader while also neutralizing a late attack from a Drapac rider. With 3km to go, the gap was down to 15 seconds and as Brajkovic and Summerhill both took one final turn and Boivin had stopped his work in the front duo, the outcome was inevitable.

The group was caught just as they passed the flamme rouge and it was now just a single Unitedheathcare rider on the front. He was unable to respond when a Drapac rider took off and he immediately got a big advantage.

Marco Canola hit the front to do the lead-out for Kiel Reijnen and he had almost brought the late attacker back when Phinney launched his sprint in the opposite ride of the road. With Brent Bookwalter behind him, he powered past the fading Drapac rider and gapped his teammate. Reijnen launched his sprint too late and managed to pass Bookwalter to take second but was not even close to catching the stage winner.

With not bonus seconds in the race, Phinney takes the overall lead in the same time as several riders and he will wear the yellow jersey in tomorrow’s second stage. That will probably end his time in the race lead though as it offers the only summit finish of the race. Right from the start the riders will tackle a category 2 climb and then they head onto flatter roads before they get to the finale. Here there’s an early category 3 climb which is a warm up for the final category 1 ascent that averages 6% over 7.6km and will offer the climbers their best chance to make a difference in the race.

One for the sprinters

The 2015 USA Pro Challenge kicked off with a circuit race around the city of Steamboat Springs. It was made up of two laps of a 78.5km circuit for a total distance of 155.5km as the first 1.5km were neutralized. The first part of the circuit was flat but then the riders would tackle a small category 4 climb 32km from the finish. The road was slightly ascending for another few kilometres but the final part of the race was made up of a long gradual descent to the finish where the fast riders were expected to shine.

It was a perfect day for bike racing when the riders gathered for the start. One rider was absent as Keegan Swirbul (Axeon) never got the chance to see what he could do in the Colorado race.

A big group gets clear

The race got off to a fast start and it was a dangerous 10-rider group that escaped after 5km of racing. Manuel Senni (BMC), Edward Beltran (Tinkoff-Saxo), Calvin Watson (Trek), Antonio Molina (Caja Rural), Summerhill, Martin Kohler (Drapac), Andzs Flaksis (Hincapie), David Wiliams (Jamis), Steve Fisher (Jelly Belly) and Brodie Talbot (Budget Forklifts) managed to build an advantage of 20 seconds that they fought hard to maintain for a while. Julian Arredondo (Trek), Evan Huffman (SmartStop), Tom Zirbel (Optum), Toms Skujins (Hincapie) and Greg Daniel (Axeon) managed to bridge the gap but it was all back together after 12km of racing.

Riders were getting dropped as they tackled a small climb and here Janier Acevedo (Cannondale), Michael Schär (BMC), Bruno Pires (Tinkoff-Saxo), Summerhill, William Clarke (Drapac), Javier Megias (Novo Nordisk), Emerson Oronte (Smartstop), Carson Miller (Jamis), Taylor Shelden (Jelly Belly), James Oram (Axeon) and Brendan Canty (Budget Forklifts) escaped. Those 11 riders got an advantage of 20 seconds while two chase groups formed but it was all back together at the 20km mark.

The break is formed

The pace had split the field in three different groups and the chaos allowed Boivin, Oronte, Miller, Oram and Michael Torckler (Budget Forklifts) to get clear. Jonathan Clarke and Jordan Kerby (Drapac) joined them to form a seven-rider group and as the peloton finally slowed down they quickly had an advantage of a minute.

After 30km of racing, the gap had already gone out to 3 minutes and so there was plenty of time for Tommy Nankervis (Budget Forklifts) to rejoin the peloton after a mechanical. Meanwhile, Clarke attacked on the climb but it was Torckler who led him over the top to take maximum points, with Oram in third and Miller in fourth.

BMC in control

At the bottom of the climb, the gap had reached a maximum of 4.30 but now BMC had hit the front. Kilian Frankiny set the pace on the front on the front and at the 50km mark, he had already reduced the gap to 2.45. However, they slowed down again and 95km from the finish, the gap had gone out to 4 minutes.

Boivin beat Oram and Torckler in the intermediate sprint at the first passage of the line and Frankiny was now getting some assistance from Kristoffer Skjerping (Cannondale-Garmin). The pair trading pulls to slowly reduce the gap which was down to 3.10 with 60km to go.

Clarke wins the sprint

With 52km to go, it was 2.55 and at this point a crash briefly split the field, with a few Novo Nordisk, Budget Forklifts and Drapac riders being involved. However, Frankiny and Skjerping were not slowing down and continued to bring the break back.

As the climbing started, BMC decided to make things hard and it was Manuel Senni and Damiano Caruso who tightened the screws. Further up the road, Oronte tried to make things hard before Miller launched an attack. Only Oronte, Boivin, Clarke and Torckler could keep up with him and then it was Clarke who launched a strong sprint to take maximum points ahead of Torckler, Miller and Boivin. After a brief attack from Boivin, the five riders started to cooperate again while Kerby and Oram would never regain contact.

BMC split the field

In the peloton, Caruso was doing some huge damage and suddenly less than 20 riders were left in the main group that had splintered to pieces. The two chasers were quickly caught and the fast pace meant that the escapees were just 55 seconds ahead.

Brajkovic and Dennis both took some huge turns on the front before they managed to escape alongside Tao Geoghegan-Hart (Axeon). Those three riders managed to bridge the gap to the breakaway moments after Miller had taken off in a solo move.

The break is caught

Lachlan Morton (Jelly Belly) and Ivan Rovny (Tinkoff-Saxo) also made it across but there was no big cohesion in the group as Brajkovic and Clarke refused to do any work. Hence, Miller was able to maintain a 15-second advantage and instead it was constant attacks, with Morton, Rovny and Geoghegan-Hart all trying solo moves.

Further back, a regrouping had taken place and it was the Trek team that had taken control with Leonardo Basso and Julien Bernard. With 25km to go, they caught the chase group and Miller was now just a few seconds ahead. Dennis briefly tried to attack again but the only effect was that Miller was brought back. Instead, Grossschartner took off to kick start the finale.