Hincapie triumphs in Aspen

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George Hincapie (BMC) hasn't won a race since his 2009 US professional road championship, but the 38-year-old American picked quite a day to return to the top step of the podium with his victory in stage 2 of the USA Pro Cycling Challenge in Aspen, Colorado. The three-time American champion out-sprinted his five breakaway companions to triumph in the event's 209.8km queen stage.

Best young rider Tejay Van Garderen (HTC-Highroad) led out the sprint but couldn't quite hold off Hincapie and finished second, while Tom Danielson (Garmin-Cervelo) rounded out the top three. The remaining members of the break, Eduard Beltran (EPM-UNE), Jánier Acevedo (Gobernacion de Antioquia) and Bruno Pires (Leopard Trek), took fourth through sixth respectively, all in the same time as Hincapie.

The winning break formed on the long, wet descent from Independence Pass, gaining 45 seconds over an 18-man chase group containing race leader Levi Leipheimer (RadioShack). Aspen resident Tejay Van Garderen became the new yellow jersey holder and Hincapie moves into second overall at 16 seconds down. Danielson, third on the stage, now also hold third overall and lies 22 seconds behind Van Garderen.

"I feel great [about the win]," said Hincapie. "I thought that I was in pretty good shape coming into this race and yesterday I fully bonked coming into the finish. I didn't eat enough. Today I ate like Paris-Roubaix and as much for a World Cup. It ended up paying off because I felt a lot better.

"I knew that Tejay was going to be one of the fastest guys, I didn't know the Colombian guys but they are always a wild card, super-good climbers and some of them can sprint as well. I was confident that I could win. Tejay got a gap in some of the corners and I had to sprint around Tom Danielson to catch up to Tejay. But once I caught him I knew that it was over and that I was going to win the stage."

Van Garderen took full advantage of his knowledge of the road from the summit of Independence Pass into Aspen and capitalized on his descending prowess to claim the GC lead.

"There is no big summit finish or big day that will separate a lot of time so you have to take time where ever you can," said Van Garderen. "All due respect to Levi [Leipheimer], he’s not the strongest descender and he sometimes loses his nerve a little bit. That is one of my strong suits, I can..I have balls. I just went for it and when I saw I had a gap I just drove it."

Fast and furious out of Gunnison

The race started like a rocket out of Gunnison, and with favourable winds and the first intermediate sprint only 15.4km into the stage the sprinters' teams kept the tempo extremely high into Almont. Fred Rodriguez (Team Exergy) showed he still has a quick turn of speed as he edged Elia Viviani (Liquigas-Cannondale) and Robert Förster (UnitedHealthcare) for top honours.

The pace soon cooled off and the peloton stayed together up the wooded valley road in Gunnison National Forest on CR 742. At 29 kilometres into the stage the peloton negotiated the first of several cattle guards on the race route and a serious crash occurred while crossing. Five riders went down, including Andrew Randell (SpiderTech p/b C10), Sergio Hernandez (Jelly Belly p/b Kenda), Davide Frattini (UnitedHealthcare), Daniele Callegarin (Team Type 1-Sanofi) and Ivan Basso (Liguigas-Cannondale). Frattini and Basso were able to continue, but the remaining three riders were taken to the hospital for treatment.

A momentary truce was called in the peloton as riders either involved in or caught behind the crash made their way back into contact with the field, but racing resumed in earnest approximately five kilometres later.

As the road continued its steady ascent to the first KOM six riders escaped from the peloton: Sander Oostlander (Skil-Shimano), Walter Pedraza (EPM-UNE), Rafael Montiel (Gobernacion de Antioquia), Andre Steensen (Saxo Bank Sungard), Danny Pate (HTC-Highroad) and Jeremy Powers (Jelly Belly).

By the time the escape reached the category three KOM on CR 742 nearly 50 kilometres into the stage, where Oostlander took maximum points, their advantage over the peloton had grown to 4:30.

Cottonwood Pass kicks off the day's 12,000 foot double feature

That climb would be a mere prelude to the ascent of Cottonwood Pass, a 20-kilometre dirt road ascent and at 12,126 feet the highest elevation encountered in the event.

Eight kilometres after the first KOM, the pavement transitioned to dirt and under a light drizzle the six escapees steadily made their way up the switchbacks, through sections scattered with gravel and mildly washboarded. The peloton kept the break pegged at 4:30 as the GC favourites seemed content to await the day's third and final categorised climb of Independence Pass to go for broke.

One rider not content to remain in the peloton, however, was Alejandro Ramirez (Gobernacion de Antioquia) and the 30-year-old Colombian bridged crossed the 4:30 gap to the break with astonishing ease, making contact several kilometres prior to the KOM line at kilometre 77.7.

The rain ceased on the upper slopes, but the damage had been done to the dirt road, which grew steadily sloppier near the summit. Despite the remote location, heavy crowds witnessed Pedraza claim the maximum points on Cottonwood Pass, which coupled with his second place finish on the first KOM put the EPM-UNE Colombian into the mountains classification jersey.

After a white-knuckle descent off of Cottonwood Pass, through sharp switchbacks on wet roads, the now seven-man break reached Buena Vista still maintaining its advantage of 4:30 on the peloton. As the leaders turned left onto US 24, they faced a stiff headwind as they would head north for the next 30 kilometres, before making a left hand turn for run-in to Independence Pass.

Showdown on Independence Pass

At the base of the 28-kilometre grind to Independence Pass, with its 12,095-foot summit providing a fearsome one-two punch to the stage finale, Steensen jumped away from the break, whose lead had been halved by the RadioShack-led peloton.

"Before the climb there was a lot of headwind and not everyone wanted to work in the group," said Steensen. "We were caught back quickly by the peloton and I had to go by myself. We had two minutes right before the climb and I gave it everything just to see if I could make it."

For his efforts Steensen would be awarded the day's most aggressive rider award, but his solo bid for victory ended 6.5 kilometres from the Independence Pass summit. Rafael Infantino (EPM-UNE) soon jumped clear from the rapidly diminishing lead group, provoking a strong reaction in his wake from Tejay Van Garderen, Levi Leipheimer and Christian Vande Velde (Garmin-Cervelo).

Making his way through dense crowds, many of whom had camped out the previous evening to garner prime viewing locations. Infantino crossed the summit alone, but was soon joined by the chasing trio on the descent. The precipitous 13.7km drop into Aspen would be a challenge on dry roads, but a steady rain provided a supreme test of the riders' technical skills

"I had good legs and got away with Levi and Christian," said Van Garderen. "We got caught by a group and it started pouring rain. It was whoever had the nerve to take the corners in the pouring rain who ended up in the front group. Some of the guys who were timid ended up back.

"I was in the break with Tom, George and a few others. It was mainly Tom and I that were doing most of the work because I was about to take the jersey and the other guys didn't want to help me because they had teammates for GC in the group behind."

The best young rider in the race couldn't quite hold off the sprint of Hincapie, and had to be content with second on the stage, while he was consoled by taking the race lead.

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