Colorado Classic: Dygert-Owen wins stage 2

Chloe Dygert-Owen (Sho-Air Twenty20) won her second stage in as many days at the Colorado Classic Friday in Avon. The 22-year-old bridged to and then passed a two-rider breakaway on the final Bachelor Gulch climb of the queen stage 2 and took a solo victory. Brodie Chapman (Tibco-SVB) finished second, and Omer Shapira (Canyon-SRAM) was third.

Dygert-Owen, who also took a solo victory on the opening stage 1, increased her lead in the overall classification as the race heads to Golden for stage 3 on Saturday.

The stage win on Friday was a surprising result for Dygert-Owen, who has a fast finish and is an accomplished track rider, but who is not necessarily known for her climbing prowess. The ascent through Beavercreek to Bachelor's Gulch was a serious climb at altitude, but Dygert-Owen made quick work fo the ascent and then reailed the descent to open the gap over Chapman that she carried to the finish line."

"Definitely not," Dygert-Owen said when Cyclingnews asked if she was confident coming into the stage. "I came up to altitude a little early, and I’ve been climbing well lately, so I’m happy with today. I saw everybody’s faces, and I knew they were hurting, so that was my moment."

USA Cycling's Katie Hall, on loan to the national team from her Boels Dolmans trade team, was a pre-race favourite because of her climbing ability, but the winner of the 2018 Tour fo California suffered at altitude and had no answer when Dygert-Owen jumped away from the select chase group and bridged to the leaders.

"I think I didn’t get my altitude prep quite right, and I really suffered today," Hall told Cyclingnews. "Kudos to Chloe. It was a really good ride. I didn’t have quite enough time at altitude, but it is what it is."

How it unfolded

Stage 2 at the 2019 Colorado Classic started and finished in the ski resort community of Avon. The 80.5km stage began with seven laps of a short urban circuit in town, then at just over 55km into the day the peloton headed up through the Aspen groves and affluent homes of Beavercreek on the climb through Bachelor's Gulch.

The 9.6km climb gained nearly 550 metres of elevation before topping out 13.8km from the finish and leading to a very technical descent back to Avon, where riders covered almost the entire circuit again before the finish.

Unlike the opening stage, when the peloton seemed to ease into the stage, attacks on stage 2 started flying immediately. Hagens Berman-Supermint was active on the front, driving up the pace on the first lap, which the peloton covered in less than 11 minutes.

The riders sprinted for points and time bonuses at the end of the second lap, where Holly Breck (Fearless femme) claimed maximum points and a three-second time bonus ahead of Tanja Erath (Canyon-SRAM) and Emma White (Rally UHC).

DNA Cycling's Heather Fischer took advantage of a lull after the sprint to attack an open a gap. She was quickly joined by Anna Hernandez (Durango-Specialized) tow form a two-rider move off the front. Hernandez then dropped Fischer, however, and without cooperation both riders were soon back in the fold.

The peloton continued to be stingy as they approached the start finish for the start of lap 5, where a crowdfunded prime of $9,855 was waiting to be split between one lucky rider and a local charity.

Rally UHC went to the front to set up Emma White, but she was jumped just ahead of the line by Jennifer Valente (Sho-Air Twenty20), who collected nearly $5,000 for the effort. Lily Williams (Hagens Berman-Supermint) was second and White third.

With the big bonus lap out of the way, the peloton finally allowed some escapees to slip off the front. In the move were DNS's Fischer, Lindsay Goldman (Hagens Berman-Supermint) and Erica Clevenger (Sho-Air Twenty20). With no one in the move posing a real that to Dygert-Owen's overall lead, the breakaway built a quick gap of 20 seconds.

The leaders began lap 6 of the starting circuits with 23 seconds over the peloton, and their gap was up to 32 seconds. The gap continued to go up, and with 30km remaining the leaders had 1:05 on the peloton.

The leaders headed through the Beavercreek gates and started the Bachelor Gulch climb within sight of the bunch, which was being powered by Tibco.

Clevenger, who had been sitting on in the breakaway, continued on alone as both Goldman and Fischer faded back the field, where a selection was already being made. About 20 riders were in the first chase group as the rest of the peloton was quickly out of site.

Dygert-Owen was present in the group as they caught Clevenger, as were most of the pre-stage favourites, including Katie Hall (USA Cycling), Omer Shapira (Canyon-SRAM), Brodie Chapman (Tibco-SVB), Krista Doebel-Hickok and overall runner-up Whitney Allison (Hagens Berman-Supermint).

Chapman countered a small dig by Shapira and launched her own attack, which Shapira quickly latched onto. The group started coming apart as they lifted the pace to chase down Chapman, and Dygert-Owen attacked to try and bridge to the leaders. Dygert-Owen made contact with the leaders with 17.5km to go.

Chapman wasn't pleased with the race leaders' presence at the front and picked up the pace, causing Shapira to struggle while Dygert-Owen looked strong and steady. Chapman rode several bike lengths ahead of Dygert-Owen, with Shapira lingering just behind.

Hall appeared to be suffering in the altitude and lost the pace of the chase group, getting passed by several riders. The climb topped out at 2,834 metres, and Hall didn't appear to have the oxygen to keep up with her rivals.

Up front, Chapman continued to lead Shapira and Dygert-Owen, who teamed up to try and track down the Tibco rider in the lead.

Dygert-Owen dropped Shapira and pulled back Chapman about 1km from the top, then quickly distanced Chapman to take over the front of the race. Chapman and Shapira kept Dygert-Owen close, however.

Chapman dropped Shapira and made contact with Dygert-Owen just ahead of the QOM line, and then beat Dygert-Owen by a bike throw to take maximum points. Dygert-Owen took the lead down the descent and slowly opened up the gap to Chapman, crossing the finish line with her second consecutive win.

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