Tinkoff-Saxo’s Bruno Pires took a step in the right direction towards the top ten in the overall classification at USA Pro Challenge after a challenging 14k time trial in Breckenridge. Pires is now 13th overall, while Kreuiziger and Grossschartner also delivered satisfying performances. 

A 24th place on the 14k time trial on stage 5 was enough for Bruno Pires to move to 13th in the overall standing at USA Pro Challenge.

“After losing Rovny yesterday, while Beltran also had difficulties after his crash, we can be okay with today’s effort. Roman shouldn’t necessarily go for it today but he was 13th in today’s time trial, while Felix Grossschartner was 15th just 3 seconds slower. It was a very tough time trial, as the riders faced a climb on the parcours with sections between 10 and 15 percent”, says Lars Michaelsen, sports director of Tinkoff-Saxo.

“Bruno Pires tried his very best. He’s not a specialist when it comes to time trials but he managed to gain some positions and he closed in on the GC top ten”, adds Michaelsen.

BMC’s overall race leader Rohan Dennis secured the win on stage 5 thereby retaining his race lead. Michaelsen notes that it will be difficult to further improve Pires’ position in the GC but underlines that the squad will try.

“We have to keep our focus and look at the possibilities that arise. We must stay attentive and see if we can create some situations that we can benefit from. Tomorrow is probably the last day of doing that, as we have a hard finale into Fort Collins”, finishes Lars Michaelsen.