Van Garderen crushes the opposition in Colorado mountain TT

Tejay van Garderen (BMC) left no reason to doubt his superiority in the USA Pro Challenge when he crushed the opposition to take a hugely dominant victory in the uphill time trial in Vail. The American set a new course record to distance runner-up Tom Danielson (Garmin-Sharp) by a massive 52 seconds and solidify his positional at the topof the overall standings with just one sprint stage to go.

All race Tejay van Garderen has clearly proved that he is the strongest rider in the USA Pro Challenge. Today he underlined his position at the top of the hierarchy in the American race when he dominated the final important GC stage, the famous uphill time trial in Vail.

Already at the 9.7km mark, van Garderen proved that he was on fire as he had put 20 seconds into key rival Tom Danielson (Garmin-Sharp) in the first flat section of the race and distanced runner-up Rafal Majka (Tinkoff-Saxo) by even more. However, it was his performance in the final 6.4km uphill section that really raised eyebrows as he managed to put at least 30 seconds into all his rivals in that short climb.

Danielson produced a fantastic ride but at the finish, he had conceded 52 seconds to the race leader. Serghei Tvetcov (Jelly Belly) continued his excellent performance by taking third while Majka could only manage 4th and dropped to a similar position in the overall standings.

The stage took place on the traditional 16.1km course in Vail that brought the riders over flat roads before they started to climb up towards the ski resort. With the second half being up a pretty hard climb, the stage traditionally suits climbers more than powerful TT specialists.

The first rider down the ramp was Aaron Perry (Novo Nordisk) but he was quickly passed by Jonathan Freter (Jelly Belly) who set the early mark. However, Nathan Van Hooydonck (Bissell) did even better tand his time of 29.32 put him at the top of the standings for a fe minutes.

Michel Koch (Cannondale) was the first rider to go below the 29-rider mark but he was quickly pushed into second by Rick Zabel (BMC) who led the stage until Leopold König (NetApp) set a time of 27.40 to beat the German by a massive 36 seconds. The Czech led the stage for a long time while Yannick Eijssen (BMC) and Scott Zwizanski (Optum) both slotted into the top 5.

König got his first scare when Kirk Carlsen (Jelly Belly) crossed the line but the American was 2 seconds from taking the lead. For a long time, no one was able to crack the top 5 and it seemed that König had done a very good ride.

However, Ben Day (UnitedHealthCare) was on a roll in the final time trial of his professional career and he stopped the clock in a time that was 7 seconds faster than König’s. Robin Carpenter (Hincapie) slotted into fourth but all eyes were on Michael Rogers (Tinkoff-Saxo) who had crushed the opposition at the time split. The Australian crossed the line in a time of 26.06 that would see him top the rankings for most of the day.

Jose Mendes (NetApp-Endura) had been passed by Rogers and had used the Australian to pace him into the provisional second. However, he was quickly relegated by Lachlan Norris (Drapac) before Phil Gaimon (Garmin-Sharp) did even better by becoming the second rider to go below the 27-minute mark.

Laurent Didier (Trek) again put his great form on show by slotting into fourth but he was bested by teammate Jens Voigt who set the third best time in the final time trial of his career. However, he was relegated by another Garmin-Sharp rider, Ben King, who set a time of 27.12.

Ruben Zepuntke (Bissell) continued his great performance in the race by setting the third best time but he was knocked off the podium less than two minutes later by Frank Schleck who was just 2 seconds off Gaimon’s time. The good climbers had now hit the course in large numbers and it didn’t take long for Pawel Poljanski to make it a provisional 1-2 for Tinkoff-Saxo.

Bruno Pires slotted into fourth, making it three riders from the Russian team in the top 4, but everybody was now waiting for Ben Hermans who had been close to Rogers at the time split. The Belgian made it into second, 15 seconds off Rogers’ time.

Bartosz Huzarski (NetApp) slotted into third before the two young Americans Carter Jones (Optum) and Joey Rosskopf (Hincapie) both set the fourth best time in quick succession. Matthew Busche (Trek) took fifth but everybody was now waiting for Danielson who had crushed the opposition at the intermediate check.

The Garmin captain lowered the mark by a massive 47 seconds before Tvetcov slotted into second. Majka had a disappointing ride and could only manage third.

The Pole was almost passed by van Garderen who had his key rival in sight on the finishing straight. The American stopped the clock in 24.26 to take a hugely dominant victory and convincingly set a new course record.

Van Garderen now leads Danielson by 1.21 and takes than comfortable buffer into tomorrow’s final stage. After a hilly start that brings the riders up Lookout Mountain, they descend to Denver where they finish the race by doing laps on a completely flat circuit that should suit the sprinters.