Colorado Classic: Murphy wins wet and wild opener in Colorado Springs

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John Murphy (Holowesko-Citadel) won the rain-battered opening stage of the Colorado Classic Thursday, out-kicking Travis McCabe (UnitedHealthcare) and Logan Owen (Axeon Hagens Berman) in downtown Colorado Springs after a tough day of racing in inclement weather.

Murphy's Holowesko-Citadel team joined with Trek-Segafredo and UnitedHealthcare to pull back a trio of escapees that slipped away from the bunch in the final 15km after the day-long breakaway had been brought back into the fold. The field absorbed the leaders in the finishing straight as the sprint teams set about delivering their speedsters to the line.

Murphy powered up the centre of the road to get the best of McCabe and claim the first stage win of the inaugural race - and the first leader's jersey. Owen blasted through a small opening at the line to claim the final podium spot.

"It was pretty wet and wild out there," Murphy said. "We had really good position coming into the last turn, a little more than 1km to go. Joe Lewis and Miguel Bryon were shepherding me through the last kilometre. I was the last guy, I yelled at them to start the sprint around 450m, and they paced me to 250m and did my sprint, it was a perfect lead-out, textbook. I'm super happy to be able to hold the power all the way through the finish."

The finale played out much as it had in the women's race, where sprint lead-out trains came apart and sprinters lost their lead-outs. McCabe came detached from his UnitedHealthcare train, but said the key was staying patient with the long finishing straightaway into a headwind. "I was in good position behind Murphy, he was just faster today. It was pretty chaotic today," McCabe said.

"The sprint was pretty chaotic, because we have fewer riders, it gets pretty crazy. Murphy had three guys leading him out. I came off his wheel and it was a drag race to the finish."

Murphy was coincidentally the winner of the last stage ever held in the USA Pro Challenge in Denver in 2015, and now picks up where he left off adding the race leader's jersey and the sprint jersey to his collection.

Antonio Molina (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA) won both of the day's climbs from the early breakaway to earn the first mountains jersey of the race. Owen claimed the jersey for best young rider, and Cannondale-Drapac's Alex Howes finished stage 1 as the best Colorado rider. His teammate Taylor Phinney escaped the bunch briefly with just over a lap to go, staying away solo to the bottom of the final climb and earning the 'most combative' prize for his efforts.

How it unfolded

The 150.4km opening stage started and finished in downtown Colorado Springs on a loop that took the peloton up to and through the red rock formations in Garden of the Gods. Six laps of the loop led to the fast, flat finish in town.

A lead group of five formed on the first lap, with Evan Huffman (Rally Cycling), Antonio Molina (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA), Giacomo Berlato (Nippo-Vini Fantini), Joe Schmalz (Elevate-KHS) and Angus Morton (Jelly-Belly-Maxxis) snapping the elastic and opening a gap. Team Rwanda's Jean Bosco Nsengimana chased in no-man's land as the breakaway's gap to the field ballooned to four minutes.

Nsengimana eventually caught the leaders after the KOM on lap 2, making it a group of six when the breakaway's gap was holding at 3:30. As the race descended back to the start/finish in Colorado Springs under gathering dark clouds, the gap shrunk to 2:45.

Race radio warned of impending severe weather about to hit Colorado Springs, directing spectators to consider taking cover, and perhaps spurred on by the news, the peloton picked up its pace and narrowed the leaders' advantage to just 2:15.

As light rain hit the race, the gap continued to come down, first to 1:50 and then back up to 2:10 with UnitedHealthcare leading the chase for McCabe. Nsengimana lost contact with the leaders with a mechanical the third time up the climb, but by then the field had closed the gap to 1:30 just over halfway through the day.

Molina attacked the leaders with 70km to go, snatching up the maximum KOM points for the second time, and the 26-year-old Spaniard dangled briefly in front of the leaders before thinking better of his effort and allowing the others to catch back up.

The run for the mountain points gave the leaders a little bit of a boost, and the gap went back out to two minutes with just over two laps and 60km to go and increasingly heavier rain.

Trek-Segafredo and Caja Rural threw riders into the chase, and the gap was soon down to 1:30 with 45km to go. The heaviest weather first hit Garden of the Gods, where rain and wind battered riders as they ascended the climb for the penultimate time.

Time splits were hard to come by in the inclement weather, but the field flew up the climb and quickly had the leaders within sight. The leaders succumbed to the chase on the descent, and new lead group of 13 split off the front, dangling just out of reach of the field.

Cannondale-Drapac, Trek-Segafredo, Holowesko-Citadel, Rally Cycling, UAE Team Emirates, Jelly Belly-Maxxis and UnitedHealthcare were among the teams represented in the new group, but the move was too dangerous, and the field quickly shut it down.

Taylor Phinney (Cannondale-Drapac) jumped out of the bunch from there and soloed away on the final run to the start/finish, taking the bell for the final 25km lap with a 30-second lead. The hardest rain eventually hit downtown, adding another element for the riders to deal with as the race kicked into high gear.

UnitedHealthcare, Trek and Holowesko sent riders to the front, while Phinney's teammates conserved in the field. The weather continued to worsen, with bouts of hail pounding down on sections of the course and thunder echoing through the town.

Phinney's gap was down to 25 seconds with 20km to go as the Colorado native bore down in time trial mode while the mountain weather battered both rider and machine.

The weather and the chase eventually had Phinney's number, however, as the field caught him at the bottom of the final climb with about 16km to go.

As water built up and poured over the streets of downtown Colorado Springs, turning them into mini rivers in spots, the peloton rushed headlong through Garden of the Gods and eventually turned back toward the finish.

Three riders braved the elements to jump out of the pack, with Manuel Senni (BMC Racing), Simone Petilli (UAE Team Emirates) and Ivan Santaromita (Nippo-Vini Fantini) trying to sneak away.

Trek-Segafredo jumped to the front to try and set up a sprint finish for Reijnen, and with 10km to go the trio up front had just 10 seconds on the field. The leaders held a slight gap with 8km to go, taking the turn into town through ankle-deep water as the rain finally stopped, but were soon caught by the lead-out trains. Holowesko-Citadel led with surprisingly little resistance from the other teams as rain made the riders more hesitant.

"We thought it was going to be dry for the finish, because it was dry the last couple of laps, but then we saw the death cloud as we came through the finish line," Owen said. "I knew it was going to be pretty gnarly, but it actually made it easier for me, because it's kind of scary to fight to be up there, and there wasn't a huge swarm or anything."

Racing continues on Friday in Breckenridge for a much different stage - at just 103km in length, taking place on a 10km circuit at 10,000 feet, it will be a lung-buster and certainly not one for the pure sprinters.

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