Duggan wins US professional road championship

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Tim Duggan (Liquigas-Cannondale) captured the USA Cycling Professional Road Race after attacking out of group of five in the closing smaller circuits of downtown Greenville, South Carolina.

"This was one of the most satisfying days of my career," said Duggan. "We had to do everything right and take every opportunity me had. There's only so much we could do with two guys.

"When the moment was right, go all out and there was no in between," he continued. "You can't look back. And that's what I did."

Frank Pipp (Bissell Pro Cycling Team) won the sprint for second ahead of Kiel Reijnen (Team Type 1-Sanofi), both finished 26 seconds back.

The 95 riders would race for 181 kilometers which included four, 35.4km loops with the ascent of the 3.5km Paris Mountain and then closing with three loops of a six kilometer course that would circumnavigate the downtown Greenville area. Paris Mountain has been the deciding factor in the race, eliminating many riders on its steep slopes, and it was the case again in the 2012 edition.

A group of 28 riders escaped early on. That selection contained riders from Garmin-Barracuda, notably Tom Danielson, Competitive Cyclist, Jamis-Sutter Home and the solo BMC represented rider in the break Tejay van Garderen (BMC Racing) along with Tim Duggan.

"We kind of caused a field split. I was just trying to bring the bunch back together because a dangerous group had gone away," explained van Garderen of this early move.

With Garmin-Barracuda well represented within the race van Garderen had the luxury of sitting on forcing the Argyle Army to do the work.

Doing a huge amount of work at the front of the break was Tom Peterson (Garmin-Barracuda). Stretched out into an aerodynamic position with his forearms on the tops of the bars and keeping the speed high, Peterson deserved to be named the Most Valuable Player of the day for the squad.

However, Tyler Wren (Jamis-Sutter Home) was the first rider over the summit the climb, earning him maximum points in the Volkswagen King of the Mountain competition. This was a new competition at the USA Pro Cycling Championship with the first five riders over the top of Paris Mountain earning points and the winner receiving a thousand dollars and a blue polka-dotted jersey for their effort.

As the rest of the peloton made their way over the top, the gap grew to the chasers to over three minutes. In the chase group was Greenville resident and perennial favorite George Hincapie (BMC Racing).

Once off of the Paris Mountain Garmin-Barracuda continued to show their strength by leading the break throughout the second loop with Jamis-Sutter home and Competitive Cyclist also contributing a rider to keep it moving.

At the bottom of the climb of Paris Mountain for the second time of the day the pace quickened and weaker riders started to drop off the back. Again, Wren was the first over the top of Paris Mountain, taking maximum points in the KOM contest. However, the time gap started to drop between the break and the chasing group.

As the break was down to 25 riders and it was started to seem like it could go the distance.

As the break completed their third long lap it was the same scenario as the previous laps: Garmin-Barracuda's Tom Peterson at the front. And just like before, as the break climbed Paris Mountain, Wren was the first over the top for the third time. This made his lead in the KOM competition mathematically unbeatable.

As expected the fourth time up Paris Mountain was going to further eliminate the riders. Danielson attacked and with him went four other riders: Matt Busche (RadioShack-Nissan), Ben Jacques-Maynes (Bissell Pro Cycling Team), van Garderen, and Duggan.

"In the town some were refusing to work, there was no harmony. Duggan never really attacked. He just took advantage of that strange situation. Moreover, everybody was tired," said defending champion Busche.

It was in this situation when the group all looked at each other and Duggan rolled away.

With each completion of the smaller circuits Duggan widened his gap on the four chasers, who in the last lap were caught by another group.

Zipping up and crossing the line with his arms aloft Duggan claimed his first professional national road championship.

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