Murphy wins final USA Pro Challenge stage in Denver

John Murphy (UnitedHealthcare) outkicked BMC’s Taylor Phinney in the final metres of stage 7 to take the closing win of the USA Pro Challenge Sunday in Denver. Phinney held on for second ahead of Lucas Haedo (Jamis-Hagens Berman) in Third.

Rohan Dennis (BMC) attempted a last-kilometre move for the line but came up short of the stage win, finishing safely in the field to seal his overall win ahead of teammate Brent Bookwalter and Team SmartStop’s Rob Britton.

After the race Murphy said UnitedHealthcare's ability to lock up Kiel Reijnen's green points jersey the day before freed him up to go for the stage win on the final day. The team worked hard to put him into position for the win, and when a gap opened up behind him and Phinney after an acceleration by lead-out man Marco Canola, the race was truly on.

"Coming in with 500 metres to go, when Brent [Bookwalter] wasn’t able to follow Marco’s acceleration, there was a little gap between me and Taylor," Murphy said. "I kind of used all the road to close it, so as soon as we came into the corner I was just on the wheel. As soon as I came out of the corner I was able to start off his wheel. It wasn’t easy to come around him, but in the end I was able to do it by a few centimetres."

With his overall win, Dennis became the first non-American to win the 2.HC race. 

"I didn't actually know that until about two days ago," he said. "So it's a little bit special to be the first non-American. Hopefully I can come back next year and do it again. I've got to take my hat off  to the team, really. They didn't put any pressure on me. I came here to help Brent initially and sort of found my legs and ended up in the yellow jersey. I'd like to thank him for quietly supporting me GC-wise and backing me."

How it unfolded

Sunday’s final 109.7km stage took riders from Golden to Denver with a quick trip over Lookout Mountain and the last KOM of the race. The climb topped out 53km from the finish, with one intermediate sprint as the race arrived in Denver for the first of four urban circuits.

In the group of six were Chris Anker Sørensen (Tinkoff-Saxo), Jaime Roson (Caja Rural), Samuel Spokes (Drapac), Alexandr Braico (Jelly Belly-Maxxis), Gregory Daniel (Axeon) and Janier Acevedo (Cannondale-Garmin).

Spokes took maximum points on the climb ahead of Roson, Sørensen, Daniel and Braico, and the breakaway flew down the descent toward Denver, building a gap of 1:45 over the peloton with Dennis and his yellow jersey.

As the leaders approached Denver to start their finishing circuits, Acevedo suffered a mechanical and dropped from the group. Daniel attacked and pulled Roson and Sørensen along with him to form a new lead trio, but Braico and Spokes clawed their way back as the group was on the first Denver Circuit.

Daniel attacked again, this time shedding all but Sørensen as the three others faded back into the peloton. Daniel and Sørensen held a gap of 40 seconds on the first circuit, while UnitedHealthcare picked up the chase, hoping stage 3 winner Kiel Reijnen could close out the week with another win.

At the end of the first circuit, Daniel and Sørensen had 10 seconds on Roson, Braico and Spokes, while the peloton was 25 seconds back. The elongated course included 10 corners and two long straightaways where the leaders passed the peloton on opposite sides of the road.

The peloton swallowed up the three chasers on the next circuit, but the bunch seemed content to let Daniel and Sørensen hang out front, with the duo holding a 10 second gap near the end of the third lap.

"It was hard but it was fun with Sørensen," Daniel said. "I think me and him were feeling good so we just kept pulling through. So I knew if we stayed together we might have a chance, but the peloton seemed pretty motivated, so it was hard."

The peloton caught the leaders just before the field took the bell for the final circuit, and Jamis-Hagens Berman went to the front to set up sprinter Haedo. Trek Factory Racing’s Calvin Watson tried to jump away, but UnitedHealthcare came to the front and immediately shut Watson down.

Axeon and Cannondale moved some riders to the front to share the workload with UnitedHealthcare, while Hincapie began to gather behind.

BMC also appeared to be itching for a final stage win as the red-and-black jerseys moved to the front with 6km to go. Dennis sat third in line on the BMC train ahead of stage 1 winner Phinney.

With Michael Schar driving the pace for BMC, any attacks were negligible as the bunch sprint appeared inevitable. Dennis made it inside the 3km safety zone and so sealed up the overall win, but he was still itching to race, going to the front and opening a gap with just over a kiloemtre to go.

UnitedHealthcare brought Dennis back, but Phinney surged to the front and led through the final corner. From there it was a one-on-one battle as Murphy got on terms with Phinney, building his speed to the line while the BMC rider faded in the final metres.

UnitedHealthcare's Reijnen, who won the overall points classification, said the final sprint went perfectly for his team.

"We wanted Murphy to win," Reijnen said. "I was just sweeping his wheel and Marco went and even opened a gap, so I was pretty confident we had it from a ways out. I was just hanging on wheels to make sure the green jersey was safe, but super happy. Murph's done a lot of work for me the last two races, so I'm pumped."

Full Results