One day after blasting home first into Steamboat Springs, Italian road and track rider Elia Viviani once again showed his speed to outpace Jaime Alberto Castaneda Ortega (EPM – UNE) plus the rest of a 50 man lead group at the USA Pro Cycling Challenge.
A dangerous breakaway move containing Tour de France runner-up Andy Schleck (Leopard Trek), last year’s Giro d’Italia champion Ivan Basso (Liquigas-Cannondale), Laurens Ten Dam (Rabobank) and Tom Peterson (Garmin-Cervélo) was clear for much of the 170.2 kilometre race to Breckenridge but reeled in 700 metres from the line.
Castenada Ortega jumped early to try to steal a march over the others and was quicker than almost everyone else; however Viviani had an extra gear in the legs and overhauled him before the line, bolstering his lead in the points classification. Castenada Ortega took second with Viviani’s team-mate Daniel Oss third; Dennis Van Winden (Rabobank), Jeff Louder (BMC Racing Team) and Tejay Van Garderen (HTC Highroad) completing the top six.
Viviani said that the team plan worked out very well and that this helped him to his success. “The race was very good for Team Liquigas-Cannondale because Ivan was in front all day and me and Daniel Oss were ready for the sprint. In the sprint, Oss made perfect work for me,” he stated.
“With him, we launched a long sprint, a little unusual for my characteristics. I knew I was the fastest and this was no small advantage. I am very happy, but I will not stop here: the finish line in Denver is perfect for the sprinters, and I will try for the treble.”
Overnight race leader Levi Leipheimer (RadioShack) had a relatively straightforward day, although he did come under attack from the Garmin-Cervélo team at several points. Basso was best-placed of the breakaway riders going into the stage. However he was a full six minutes 28 seconds back and there was no serious panic about the move.
Leipheimer rolled across the line in 14th place and remains eleven seconds ahead of Christian Vande Velde (Garmin-Cervélo). Van Garderen is next, 17 seconds back, with Vande Velde’s team-mate Tom Danielson a further four seconds behind.
“You never win a race without a team and you can’t win it without one as strong as RadioShack,” said Leipheimer afterwards. “They weren’t only strong, they were also smart about the situation. We were able to let the breakaway go that had no threats to us. Other teams had to work later so we were able to sit back.
“I need to say that Ivan Rovny did another fantastic job. He pulled the last few kilometers on the last climb [Swan mountain] and when I looked over my shoulder there were less than ten guys left. That is a sign that it was a hard climb and a hard day.”
Early break puts stars centre screen:
Stage five of the USA Pro Cycling Challenge took the riders 170.2 kilometres from Steamboat Springs to Breckenridge, and crossed two climbs. The first, Rabbit Ears, came 20 kilometres after the start while the third category Swan Mountain climb came eight kilometres from the end.
Twenty minutes in, several riders got clear. They were Paul Mach (Bissell Racing), Matt Cooke (Exergy), Bernard Van Ulden (Jelly Belly) and Eduard Alexander Beltran Suarez (EPM – UNE), who was chasing KOM points.
Shortly afterwards, Tour de France champion Cadel Evans (BMC Racing Team) attacked out of the field and was joined by Rafael Infantino (EPM-UNE). However the bunch didn’t want to give the Australian any leeway and brought them back.
Meanwhile up with the break, Cooke and Beltran had distanced Mach and Van Ulden, who were joined very soon afterwards by Tour runner-up Andy Schleck (Leopard Trek). As was the case with Evans, the peloton didn’t give Schleck any leeway and reeled them back in. Cooke managed to stay out front for a while longer and held a 20 second lead heading towards the first climb, but was caught.
Peter Stetina (Garmin-Cervélo) was riding aggressively but was reeled in. Rabobank rider Laurens Ten Dam then kicked clear but he too found it impossible to gain any real time. First to the top of the KOM was Rafael Montiel, who beat Eduard Beltran (UNE-EPM), Laurens Ten Dam (Rabobank) and Walter Pedraza Morales (UNE-EPM) over the prime line.
Soon afterwards, five riders attacked. They were Schleck, Ten Dam, Garmin-Cervélo’s Tom Peterson, Ivan Basso (Liquigas-Cannondale), and Acevedo. Although two of the race’s top names were present, they were given leeway as Basso, the best rider in the break, was six minutes 28 seconds back.
Peterson’s team-mate Dave Zabriskie and Chris Baldwin (Bissell) decided that they wanted a piece of the action and set off in pursuit of the quintet out front, who were almost two minutes clear. However they were hauled back.
Advantage grows out front:
Two hours after the start, the five leaders were three minutes clear. This increased to three minutes 40 seconds with 72 kilometres left, and further grew to over four minutes. However it began to drop after that and with 48 kilometres to go, it was down to 3 minutes 45.
RadioShack was doing much of the chasing, and was then joined by UnitedHealthCare which helped bring the gap down to three and a half minutes with 30 kilometres to go. The leaders went through the intermediate sprint where Schleck rolled over the line ahead of Ten Dam.
United Healthcare was at this point doing much of the chasing but was again joined again at the front by RadioShack. The BMC Racing Team squad of Evans also started pulling as the break reached Swan Mountain. The gap was just over two minutes there, and falling; Schleck realised the danger and drove it hard.
Behind, Garmin-Cervélo tried to set things up for an attack by either Christian Vande Velde or Tom Danielson, and ramped up the speed. This sliced the time advantage down to under a minute and a half, and it further dropped down to almost a heading over the top. There, Schleck soloed over the top and started his bid for the stage victory, opening a 20 second lead.
He initially looked good but with ten kilometres to go, the gap had dropped to ten seconds over the other three and 50 seconds to the Leipheimer group. He was soon caught by Schleck, Petersen and Ten Dam, who started attacking four kilometres from the line and fired off several efforts.
Each jump opened a gap over the others, with Basso being the strongest of those and Petersen getting dropped on several occasions. However each surge was answered and the pace eased back, permitting the Garmin-Cervélo rider to get back on.
The constant stop-go racing played into the hands of the chasing bunch, which was getting closer and closer. The junction was finally made with 700 metres to go, just before the riders rounded a ninety-degree left hand bend, and after they made that turn Castenada jumped hard for the line.
His effort was impressive and it looked like he would hold on, but Viviani was moving even faster and got past him by the line. Leipheimer didn’t sprint and rolled in secure in the knowledge that he had kept the race lead.
The USA Pro Cycling Challenge will conclude tomorrow with a 115.9 kilometre race to Denver. As is often the case with large stage races, the finale is flat and it is expected to conclude with a bunch gallop. Vande Velde, Van Garderen and Danielson will do what they can to dislodge Leipheimer, but it is going to be difficult to do so.
They certainly won’t stop trying, though.