Leipheimer wins inaugural US Pro Cycling Challenge

Daniel Oss (Liquigas-Cannondale) delivered his team its third consecutive victory on the sixth and final stage of the USA Pro Cycling Challenge. The Italian was given a perfect lead-out from his teammate and double stage winner, Elia Viviani, who placed second on the day. Fast Freddy Rodriguez (Team Exergy) crossed the line third in the final sprint on the streets of Denver.

Levi Leipheimer (RadioShack) secured his third overall victory of the season at the inaugural USA Pro Cycling Challenge. The 37-year-old American won the Tour de Suisse and Tour of Utah earlier this summer.

"I have to say what a great job Garmin-Cervelo did here today," said Leipheimer. "Of course it is their hometown and it took some of the best form in my career to beat Christian [Vande Velde] and Garmin-Cervelo this week. Hats off to them, they are the local favourites and I really appreciate the race they put on.

"This is one of the best victories of my career, just the way it all played out, taking the jersey, losing the jersey, and really having to pull out one my best performances of my career to take the jersey back and hold on to it. Last and most importantly, my team was fantastic."

Christian Vande Velde (Garmin-Cervelo) finished a close second to Leipheimer on general classification, finishing in Denver 11 seconds down on the RadioShack captain, while 23-year-old Tejay Van Garderen (HTC-Highroad) completed an all-American sweep of the podium.

"It was an amazing week from start to finish," said Vande Velde. "It was the three of us battling for the top spots. I had a lot of bridesmaids positions this week and that was kind of hard to swallow. At the end of the day it was great to be standing on the podium next to these three guys."

Vande Velde was realistic about his chances of unseating Leipheimer from the yellow jersey, so the team focused on supporting stagiaire Danny Summerhill on the concluding day of racing.

"He (Summerhill) was nervous all week, nervous in Utah and the kid was terrified that the whole team was riding for him on the front," said Vande Velde "The kid was terrified. He almost pulled it off, he almost got on the podium today. I didn’t see myself getting time bonuses or winning the stage over Viviani, I was pretty realistic about what was going to happen. But Tejay did an amazing attack and it did split it up a little bit. But it would have been pretty historic to come across the finish first today."

Colorado resident Tejay Van Garderen was effusive in his support of the USA Pro Cycling Challenge's inaugural edition.

"I think the racing was probably the most exciting all year," said Van Garderen, who wore the leader's jersey for one stage and claimed the best young rider classification. "The jersey changed hands every day in the first four days. The crowds were incredible, the competition level, it was just unbelievable. It was definitely the funnest race I have done and I’m looking forward to coming back every year."

Infantino dominates Lookout Mountain; Montiel secures KOM jersey

Rafael Infantino (EPM-UNE) won the only King of the Mountain contested during the final day of racing atop Lookout Mountain, a category 3 climb located just 24.2km into the day's route.

The EPM-UNE Colombian crested the climb alone and was pursued by a chase group that included overall race leader Levi Leipheimer (RadioShack), Tejay van Garderen (HTC-Highroad), Christian Vande Velde and Tom Danielson (Garmin-Cervelo), Rafael Montiel (Gobernacion de Antioquia) and Fränk Schleck (Leopard Trek).

Montiel started the day in second place overall in the competition, six points behind the overnight classification leader Walter Pedraza (EPM-UNE). Montiel led the chase group over the KOM line, picking up seven points for second place, and moved into the final Nissan King of the Mountains jersey by one point. Pedraza was dropped on the steep, winding ascent and missed out on the opportunity to defend his jersey.

A chase group caught the leaders on the descent off of Lookout Mountain that included Tour de France winner Cadel Evans (BMC Racing), Stef Clement (Rabobank), Ivan Rovny (RadioShack), Juan Pablo Suarez (EPM-UNE), Robert Gesink (Rabobank) Danny Pate (HTC-Highroad), Peter Stetina and Tom Peterson (Garmin-Cervelo), Laurent Didier (Saxo Bank-Sungard) and teammates Sergio Henao, Oscar Sevilla, and Cristhian Montoya (Gobernacion de Antioquia).

Downtown Denver final circuits led by four men

While the peloton shattered on the ascent of Lookout Mountain, on the run-in to Denver the field re-grouped and a four-man move rode onto the 7.5km finishing circuit with a one and half minute lead. Those riders included Sevilla along with Lachlan Norris (HTC-Highroad), Javier Megias (Team Type 1-Sanofi) and Matt Cooke (Team Exergy). Sevilla was the highest placed rider, 3:16 behind overall race leader Levi Leipheimer (RadioShack).

The crowds went wild when RadioShack escorted Leipheimer onto the first of six circuits in the stage finale. His team set a fast tempo to avoid the onslaught of additional attacks and to manage the time gap to Sevilla. The team allowed the breakaway to gain two and half minutes on the second lap.

Evans, seventh place in the overall, had an untimely flat tire with four laps to go along the blistering circuits but his teammates quickly dropped back to help guide him back up to the front of the field.

Liquigas-Cannondale’s double stage winner Elia Viviani was nestled safely behind his teammates during the closing laps. The team put several riders to the front of the field, including Ivan Basso, to reduce the break's advantage. Another team that had a strong presence was Garmin-Cervelo to keep runner-up Christian Vande Velde in safe position and support Danny Summerhill for the anticipated bunch sprint.

The gap to the four men was reduced to 45 seconds with three laps to go and Megias made one final move to snap away from his breakaway companions. Norris was the lone chaser as the other two men, Sevilla and Cooke, were reabsorbed into the peloton.

UnitedHealthcare moved its riders to the front of the field for its sprinter Robert Förster, who had challenged for victory during stage four into Steamboat Springs, but placed fourth. All breakaway riders were caught by the field with 11km to the finish.

New Zealand national champion Hayden Roulston (HTC-High-Road) jumped off the wheel of his teammate Tejay Van Garderen with nine kilometres to go and opened up a small lead, soon to be joined by Ryan Roth (SpiderTech p/b C10) and Oscar Alverez (Gobernacion de Antioquia). The trio were chased by the previous day’s most aggressive rider Andy Schleck (Leopard Trek), but the Luxembourger could not make contact and was absorbed.

The field was all together with two kilometres to go, however, with Van Garderen on the front, followed by Leipheimer and the pair of Italian sprinters Viviani and Oss. Van Garderen's surge created a slight split at the head of the race as he powered into the finishing straight in pursuit of a stage win, but the duo of Oss and Viviani were again an unbeatable tandem in the Denver finale.

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