Colorado Classic: Dygert-Owen wins stage 1

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Chloe Dygert-Owen (Twenty20 Sho-Air) took control of the Colorado Classic on the opening stage, jumping clear of a select group on the stage's final climb to solo in for the stage win and first leader's jersey of the race.

Whitney Allison (Hagens Berman-Supermint) led home a group 44 seconds later, just ahead of Brodie Chapman (Tibco-SVB) from the 12-rider chase group.

"I’ve come back from several injuries this year, so this is probably one of the first races where I felt sort of back to my normal self," Dygert said in the post-stage press conference. "I’ve had some really good training leading up to this race, and I’ve been at altitude the last couple of days. I’m using this race as a really good training block for future goals, so I'm really happy with how today played out, and I’m looking forward to the rest of the week."

Dygert went over the top of the final QOM with a small group, then quickly distanced them as another chase group formed behind. The Sho-Air Twenty20 rider railed the gravel descent and continued to build her lead.

"I knew there was a downhill section on the gravel, but I didn't know what it was like," Dygert said. "I heard there was one kind of sharpish turn. I got to that and I almost ate it. But not knowing it kind of made it better for me, I guess. I just kind of sent it.

"Before the race we had a plan, depending how everybody felt on top of the climb, to see if I could attack," she said. "I lucked out and had some pretty good legs today. I saw everybody suffering. I looked back and saw there was a little bit of a gap and everyone was spread out. I knew that was my only chance, so I attacked, was able to hold it and keep it."

Chapman, who was not in the front group when  Dygert attacked, quickly got word who was up the road and knew that the chasers had their work cut our for them.

"When I got back to the group with my teammate Lauren and we heard that Chloe Dygert was up the road, I think my reaction was, ‘Oh, man, this is going to be hard'," Chapman said. "We tried to motivate the group to roll, and at least reduce the time to Chloe, but she was just on fire. She’s hard one to reel in, that’s for sure. Mad respect."

How it unfolded

The opening stage of the 2019 Colorado Classic started in Steamboat Springs and covered 85.8km before the finish in the same start location. Along the way, the peloton tackled an intermediate sprint and two QOMs.

The intermediate sprint, with time bonuses of 3, 2, and 1 second, came in Oak Creek 33km into the day, followed by QOMs at 35.7km and again at 68.9km. Bonuses of 10, 6 and 4 seconds went to the top three at the finish. The route also featured about 10km of hard-packed gravel.

Rachel Langdon (Fearless Femme) was the first rider to escape the peloton's clutches, riding away with 62.5km to go. She was soon joined by Emily Newsom (Tibco-Silicon Valley Bank), and the 2019 race had its first breakaway.

The duo had a minute on the peloton as Langdon took the Oak Creek sprint ahead of Newsom, while Ariadna Gutierrez (Swapit-Agolico) grabbed the final spot.

Newsom and Langdon then split up on the climb up Colorado Hwy 27, with Newsom going solo, Gutierrez in hot pursuit and Langdon trailing. The peloton lingered at 55 seconds back.

Newsom collected top points at the QOM, followed by Gutirrez and Langdon, who faded back into the field with 45km remaining. Hagens Berman-Supermint took up chasing in the field, supported by Canyon/SRAM. Gutirrez was next to be pulled back into the fold, as Newsom had 30 seconds over the peloton.

The road claimed its first victim when Newsom punctured. A wheel change from neutral service wasn't enough to help her maintain her advantage, however, and the Tibco rider was back in the field with 38km to go.

A Hagens Berman-Supermint rider was next to shake the peloton, as Liza Rachetto built a gap of 15 seconds. Without anyone willing to join her up the road, however, she faded back into the bunch as the road pitched up to the second and final QOM of the day.

The peloton hit the gravel section inside 25km to go, and the peloton quickly split into several groups as the gradient and wind started separating the riders. Most of the top teams were represented in the front group as the QOM approached with just over 26km remaining.

Chloe Dygert (Sho-Air Twenty20) took maximum points at the QOM ahead of Marcelo Prieto (Swapit-Agolico), Flavia Oliveira (Fearless Femme), Maddy Ward (Amy D. Foundation) and Omer Shapira (Canyon/SRAM).

Dygert pressed her advantage over the QOM and opened a small gap on the descent back toward Steamboat with a quartet of riders in tow. Dygert quickly dropped her fellow escapees and was powering away solo with a select chase group behind.

Despite a furious chase, Dygert kept carving out an even bigger gap, smoothly time trialling in for the win 44 seconds ahead of the next group on the road.

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