Tom Danielson again conceded a few seconds to Tejay van Garderen in the final mountain stage of the USA Pro Challenge. The Tour of Utah tips his hat for his rival and says that it would have been hard for anyone to beat the BMC leader on this course.

Going into the race with a recent win in th Tour of Utah, Tom Danielson was hopeful that he would finally be able to win the USA Pro Challenge. However, he has lost time in all major mountain tests and goes into the final time trial in fourth overall.

Yesterday he lost another 5 seconds to the Tejay van Garderen and he admits that it is now impossible to win the race overall.

“Just a real bike race out there," he told Velonews after the stage. "It was — we wanted guys in the break to go for the stage win. We missed the break a couple times and had to bring it back … then it became really cold and rainy. And sleeting or whatever.

"I was pretty much hypothermic the whole day. Just shivering. I was lucky I even rode all right in the final. I really suffered a lot today with the cold. And the last climb, you know, I didn’t want it to come down to the jump that it did, and it did, and those guys pulled away from me. I think they got a few seconds on me.

“I’m still right there. Tomorrow’s the time trial. I’m going to give it my all. Obviously Tejay’s super strong, and there’s nothing you can say about that. Fantastic performance by him, every day. So you can’t, I can’t really see too many people in the world, anyone in the world, beating him on a course like this.

"Just being there and trying to win every day is what I’m doing. You know, he’s fantastic. He’s riding so strong… He’s just so, so, so good, what are you doing to do?

“I love it. I mean it’s just, I just wish I could win. But it’s a tough route for me every year. I just give it my all and I love doing it in front of these fans. They’re the best fans in the world and I’m going to continue to do it until maybe some day I win.”

While Danielson was involved in the GC battle, his teammates Ben King and Janier Acevedo came up short in the battle for the stage win against Laurent Didier.

"It was a plan from the beginning to have Janier and I in the break together, but the break really didn't want to go," said King, who earned the jersey for most aggressive rider on the merits of his late-race attacks.

"It took about 60km and was just a constant reshuffling," he said of the breakaway. "So it was pretty cool the way it worked out to have both Janier and I in the 12-man breakaway. I thought Janier had the best climbing legs in the race, especially in the breakaway, so I had to try and do a bit of extra work throughout the day to make sure the breakaway had the best chance to stay away.

"The most aggressive rider jersey is a consolation prize in some ways. At one point I thought I was going to win. It's not often I have that feeling in a race. I looked back and had 15 seconds on the three chasers. But then they came over me with 300m to the top of the last climb, and I couldn't even hold onto the wheels.

"I was teammates with Laurent, and he's really strong. He's a deserving winner. It's quite disappointing to be so close and to not win."