USA Pro Challenge: Taylor Phinney wins in Steamboat Springs

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Taylor Phinney (BMC Racing) scored his first win after 14 months of recovery from injury Monday during the opening stage of the USA Pro Challenge in Steamboat Springs, Colorado.

The Colorado native launched his sprint in the final few hundred metres to win the bunch sprint ahead of Kiel Reijnen (UnitedHealthcare). Phinney’s teammate Brent Bookwalter finished third. Phinney is now the first yellow jersey wearer of the 2015 race. Phinney finished third last week in Utah during his very first race back in competition, but the win in his home state was obviously quite a bit more special.

"I was pretty much blown away crossing the finish line," the 25-year-old American said in the post-race press conference. "I think it’s going to take a little while to process fully the whole day. I can tell you the feeling crossing the finish line and the roar of the crowd was really special and really emotional. It was kind of that electric moment we all live for."

UnitedHealthcare led into the final kilometre of the stage after chasing down a late attack from BMC's Rohan Dennis and Optum Pro Cycling's Guillaume Boivin, the lone survivor of the day's breakaway. The last-ditch effort cost Reijnen's team, however, as his sprint train ran out of steam in the finale and was unable to respond to the late attacks.

"I think I had the most guys of any team there," Reijnen said of the final few kilometres. "They rode phenomenally to bring Rohan back and Guillaume. That was a really powerful move, and you saw how much it cost us."

Bookwalter said the finish was chaotic, which may have aided his and Phinney's podium efforts.

"There were fair few teams in there with decent sprinters and a few teammates left," Bookwalter said."UHC did a good job trying to get the sprint organised. Daminao [Caruso] and I tried to get together as best as we could. I caught Taylor's wheel with maybe 400 metres and he was shooting up the side in pursuit style like he does. I thought this will be an awesome lead out, but then I had a bump with a few riders who were fighting me for his wheel."

At that point Bookwalter stopped his sprint, helping to create the gap that his teammate would hold to the line.

How it unfolded

Monday’s opening stage consisted of two laps of a 77km circuit that started and finished in the ski and resort town of about 11,000 people. The course featured two categorized climbs at 35.3km an 113.7km. The only intermediate sprint of the day came in Steamboat at the end of the first lap.

The day’s main breakaway slipped away about 15km into the stage. The seven-rider group included Jonny Clarke (Unitedhealthcare), Jordan Kerby (Drapac), Guillaume Boivin (Optum Pro Cycling), Emerson Oronte (Team SmartStop), Carson Miller (Jamis-Hagens Berman), James Oram (Axeon) and Michael Torckler (Budget Forklifits).

The gap quickly jumped up to 4:30 as the leaders approached the fist KOM of the race. Torckler was the first breakaway rider to stretch his legs a bit at on the climb, collecting maximum mountains classification points ahead of Clarke, Oram and Miller.

The gap started to come down during the descent back into Steamboat Springs, and as the leaders approached 20km from the end of the first lap they had a 3:40 advantage.

Boivin took the intermediate sprint in Steamboat and earned the race’s first points classification jersey. BMC was controlling the front as the race passed through town, with Cannondale-Garmin, Tinkoff and Drapac lined up behind them.

The escapees increased their gap to four minutes on the climb back up to the KOM on the second lap, but the peloton was keeping them close enough to pounce before the race returned to Steamboat for the finish.

Oram and Kerby lost contact with the leaders as the escapees began attacking ahead of the KOM. Clarke eventually took the win ahead of Torckler, creating a tie in the competition with each rider at seven points.

The peloton sensed the end of the stage nearing at that point and started the chase to the five leaders in earnest. The gap came down precipitously on the descent back down to Steamboat, with the leaders carrying just 55 seconds with 30km to go.

Miller felt the imminent catch and jumped away from the breakaway, but his former companions appeared hardly concerned and let him ride away.

"I kind of saw it coming, but I knew there was a kicker coming up," Miller said. "I had kind of previewed stand I was comfortable on the corner. They had told us the group was only 30 seconds behind, so there's a good chance to try and get ahead on the GC. You gotta try. I'm definitely not a sprinter, but the only way to do it is to go long."

The last-gasp attack was short-lived, however, as Dennis and a pair of riders bridged up to the group. Dennis spurred the chase that eventually brought back Miller, then he and Boivin escaped the group with Tinkoff-Saxo’s Ivan Rovny.

The BMC and Optum rider put their heads down and rode Rovny off their wheels, setting up a two-rider lead group ahead of the charging peloton. The duo built a lead of 25 seconds, but it wasn’t enough to hold off the chase, which was led by UHC for Reijnen. Phinney remained tucked in behind the UnitedHealthcare train, and he was ready to pounce when the bunch made contact with Dennis and Boivin.

UnitedHealthcare led into the final kilometre, but the earlier efforts had played out their sprint train, and when a Drapac rider attacked they were unable to respond. Phinney jumped way up the right side of the road and quickly passed the Drapac rider as he built the winning gap he held to the line.

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