Acevedo nets another big win in Beaver Creek

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 Tejay van Garderen (BMC) took control of the USA Pro Challenge during stage 4 Thursday and wrestled the overall lead from Garmin-Sharp's Lachlan Morton after forging an alliance with stage winner Janier Acevedo (Jamis-Hagens Berman) over the top of the penultimate climb.

Acevedo took his second stage in a major US race this year, while van Garderen seized yellow and leads his teammate Mathias Frank by four seconds in the general classification. Acevedo is third, 30 seconds back, while Garmin's Tom Danielson is fourth, 40 seconds down. Morton dropped to fifth, 1:17 back.

The situation for van Garderen is similar to 2011, when he wore yellow into the Vail time trial then lost his lead to Levi Leiphiemer and finished third overall. But van Garderen is a little older and wiser now.

"I'm confident going into tomorrow's time trial, but nothing's ever a given," he said. "I had a 35 second gap in 2011 going into that time trial, and I lost the 35 seconds and a further 11 seconds, so the thing I've learned is to not be too confident. I have to really pace myself tomorrow. I need to just keep my wits about me and try to manage the gap."

Acevedo and van Garderen hurtled themselves and their bikes down the tricky, wet descent off Bachelor Gulch, distancing Garmin's GC hopeful Danielson, who had crossed the summit of the pass with the leaders but fell off the pace as van Garderen and Acevedo took risks Danielson wasn't willing to copy.

"Those guys went really fast down that and I just couldn't go as fast," Danielson said. "They were just taking risks and sliding all over the yellow line and everything. I just couldn't do it."

With Danielson's teammate and race leader Morton even further behind, van Garderen was satisfied to give the stage win to Acevedo in order to earn his cooperation in opening up the lead. Acevedo delivered and was obviously very pleased with his stage win.

"I was feeling very good during the week," he said through a translator. "And I had a tremendous day today. I was feeling confident, and on the second-to-last climb when the guys started to go hard I knew I had the legs to win. I tried to go as fast as I could on the downhill, trying to take no risks on the corners, and then me and Tejay worked together to make it to the line."

How it happened

The 165.6km Queen stage from Steamboat Springs to Beaver Creek started on some difficult terrain, not a big climb like Independence Pass on stage 2, but a lot of little climbs peppered throughout the first half of the stage. Riders faced three category 4 climbs, but the big one came on Bachelor Gulch at 11.7km to go, followed by an uphill finish into Beaver Creek Village.

The racing started in the first few kilometers with a high-profile attack from Tour de France champions Chris Froome (Sky) and Andy Schleck (RadioShack-Leopard), but with Schleck just 1:24 off the overall lead, the escapees were quickly reeled in.

Danny Pate (Sky) initiated another group of nine, but the breakaway reshuffled itself several times before the day's major move took shape about 20km into the stage. Joining Pate off the front in the new break were Saxo-Tinkoff's Timmy Duggan and Mick Rogers; Pate's teammate Kanstantsin Siutsou; Tony Gallopin (RadioShack); Larry Warbasse (BMC); Davide Villella (Cannondale); KOM leader Matt Cooke; and Jelly Belly's Serghei Tvetcov. Both Villella and Tvetcov made the break for the second day in a row.

Gallopin, who started the day just 41 seconds behind overall leader, quickly became the leader on the road as the move built a gap of nearly three minutes just 30km into the stage. Bissell Pro Cycling's Jason McCartney overcame several mechanicals and successfully bridged to the group after the first sprint line in Oak Creek, making it an escape of 10 off the front.

With Garmin setting tempo in the field, the gap hovered around four minutes until the break hit the slopes of the third KOM of the day. The gap dropped to 2:35 with about 60km remaining, prompting Siutsou to attack. The Sky rider brought Gallopin, Warbasse, Rogers and Villella with him, while the others dangled in no-man's land.

The gap almost immediately jumped back to more than four minutes, but it wasn't enough to hold off the Garmin-led peloton, and the field reeled in the escapees on the slopes of Bachelor Pass, which topped out about 11km from the finish.

With the GC battle ramping up to full bore and Garmin going ballistic on the lowers lopes, a select group of four formed that included Danielson, van Garderen, Acevedo and Frank.

"Garmin's goal was to make it hard up the climb, maybe to try and drop me," van Garderen said. "And they did a good job. They definitely whittled the field down to nothing. But I think they underestimated me and my team a little bit, because I still had Mathias up there, and I was able to sit pretty comfortably on the wheel."

Danielson repeatedly attacked the group, eventually dropping Frank near the top of the climb, but on the descent van Garderen and Acevedo slowly peeled away from Danielson, who was caught by Frank on the descent and had to settle for fourth on the day.

"As soon as the descent started and it was wet and tricky, Janier went into one corner pretty hot," van Garderen said. "Danielson looked like he was a little timid. So I thought, OK, let's go for it. Janier showed his skill on the descent, and we were able to get a good gap."

The gap held to the line, where both leaders earned their rewards, while Danielson's and his team's hard work on the Bachelor Gulch climb didn't pay off like they had hoped.

"Obviously I'm frustrated," Danielson said. "I'm strong, but tomorrow is the time trial and it looks like I've got some time to make up. [The descent] wasn't that bad, but there were a couple points that were slippery, and that's the best I could do."

Van Garderen said he could understand his rival's frustration, but any weakness a rider in the peloton has is going to be exploited.

"If you have the skill set that Janier and myself have on wet descents, then you have to take advantage of it," the race leader said. "Vincenzo Nibali has won or podiumed in Grand Tours based on his descending skills, so it's part of the game."

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