BMC Racing Team's Rohan Dennis and Brent Bookwalter remained 1-2 in the overall standings after Saturday's penultimate stage of the USA Pro Challenge.
Dennis finished 15th and Bookwalter was 16th as the two arrived in the peloton 44 seconds after Roman Kreuziger (Tinkoff-Saxo) won the 164.5-kilometer race out of a five-man breakaway.
"The general classification is getting pretty set here and we just had a few people to watch, plus there were a lot of other teams motivated to win the stage today," BMC Racing Team Sport Director Jackson Stewart said. "We were happy to see other teams control it and go for the stage win and help us out."
Dennis also kept his lead in the king of the mountains competition but conceded the sprint jersey.
"The first 33 kilometers there were two sprints and UnitedHealthcare, with Kiel Reijnen, was able to take that green jersey off of me," Dennis said. "We let them (UnitedHealthcare) control it and just sat behind them. The attacks came after that, but we just rode our own tempo and brought back anything that was dangerous."
The BMC Racing Team still leads team classification but lost Peter Stetina when he withdrew midway through the race, suffering from a sore achilles tendon. Earlier this month, Stetina made his return to racing fewer than 17 weeks after breaking his right tibia and patella and five ribs in a crash in Spain.
"It is a shame not to finish, but we have to look forward and take the safer-rather-than-sorry route," Stetina said. "I am proud to have actually helped the guys and be a part of the race versus being a pack-filler in order to finish. Unfortunately, it (the achilles) was not getting any better. But it was real positive because the knee and the muscles never hurt; they were actually getting stronger. I was climbing higher and higher in the group every day. So the fact that the knee held up and there was no pain is great."
Sunday's final stage begins in Golden and finishes with circuits near the Colorado State Capitol Building. Dennis, who won Thursday and Friday's stages and finished second on Tuesday and Wednesday, leads Bookwalter by 44 seconds. Gavin Mannion (Jelly Belly presented by Maxxis) is third, 91 seconds back.
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