Voigt takes solo stage win in Beaver Creek

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Jens Voigt (RadioShack-Nissan) soloed to a magnificent win Thursday during stage 4 of the USA Pro Challenge from Aspen to Beaver Creek. The 40-year-old broke clear on Independence Pass, the first climb of the 156.4 kilometre stage, shedding his breakaway companions a few miles later and staying clear until the finish line.

In the race for yellow, Tejay Van Garderen (BMC) finished three places ahead of Christian Vande Velde (Garmin-Sharp) but with the same time to reclaim the race lead on total points for stage placings over the first four days. However, there was no disputing the stage victory with Voigt’s performance giving him his first victory since 2010.

"I was nervous until basically 1 km to go," Voigt said immediately after the finish. "And then my director came up and said, 'You still have five minutes.' That looks pretty safe then. So I had a little time to slow down a little bit and enjoy it, you know, wave to the crowd and soak up the emotions."

Back to the future for stage 4

Thursday's stage from Aspen to Beaver Creek started with an ascent of the same category 1 Independence Pass climb that riders tackled on the stage 3. But this time they rode it in reverse, climbing from the west side and dropping back into the valley below before heading though Leadville and making their way to the category 3 climb of Battle Mountain. From there the route steadily descended to Beaver Creek and the final 5.8 km category 3 ascent to the finish line at the ski area above town.

A day after BMC heavily criticized RadioShack-Nissan's mostly passive week of racing, Voigt flew the team's colors in a long solo move after jumping away from a breakaway that formed leading up to the lower slopes of Independence Pass. Joining Voigt in the original breakaway were Peter Stetina and Lachlan Morton (Garmin-Sharp); Rafael Infantino and Camilo Castiblanco (EPM-Une); Johann Tschopp and Ivan Santaromita (BMC); Carter Jones and Julian Kyer (Bissell Pro Cycling); Rory Sutherland and Chris Jones (UnitedHealthcare); Roman Kreuziger (Astana); Craig Lewis (Champion Systems); Rubens Bertogliati (Team Type 1-Sanofi); and Andres Diaz (Team Exergy).

The gap climbed to 3:40 going up Independence Pass before Voigt slipped the rest of the group's grasp and set out on his own. "It was almost like you had a voice talking to you," Voigt said. "It's like, 'Go now,' and that's what happened."

Kyer, the 24-year-old who signed with Bissell just before the Tour of Utah, said the rest of the leader tried to stick with Voigt when he made his move, but the wily veteran hit them at the perfect time and they were helpless to try and counter.

"Going up Independence Pass, there were a couple little drops, and he just came flying by," Kyer said. "He was at the back, and I guess coming down one of the little rollers he just hit it really hard and got this huge gap on everybody. Nobody could really do anything about it. He's just an animal."

Voigt drove his gap to about two minutes on his former break mates and more than five minutes over the field as he made the first KOM on the summit of the pass and then slung himself down the descent with a full head of steam.

Kyer said they tried to chase going up the climb, but it was quickly apparent the effort would be futile. "He was just clobbering us," Kyer said. "Kreuziger was trying to chase, but he was just going a little bit above everybody else's level, and there wasn't much we could do to contribute. It was just trying to keep the pace and make it over. About 4 or 5 km from the top if Independence Pass everybody just kind of stopped smashing it."

With the chase group throwing in the towel, Voigt got another lucky break when heavy rain started to batter the peloton for the first time this week heading through Leadville about 91 km into the race. Voigt had lost some time by the sprint in leadville but still held onto a gap of 2:40 over the first chase and 2:55 over the field, which, led by RusVelo, eventually reeled in the chase group with about 46 km to go.

"It rained after the downhill, and there was wind," Voigt said. "So whatever makes the race sticky and nasty is good for me because it hurts the others more than me."

Voigt opened his gap again to four minutes as he descended from Leadville to Battle Mountain while the two teams that have been
volleying back and forth with the yellow jersey - Garmin-Sharp and BMC - played a little poker at the front of the peloton. Van Garderen said his team needed a day off and was ready to call some of the other teams' bluff.

"Our team has had to ride the front almost everyday now," the current overall race leader said. "And Garmin's been doing a good job with that, but the thing is we can't kill the team. So we were saying, 'Okay, you don't want to defend, well we don't want to defend either,' and I think that some of the other teams saw that that's what was going on between the two of us. And they were just like okay, we're not playing around."

Liquigas amassed on the front to lead the chase. But the Italian team managed to take only 10 seconds out of Voigt's lead over the following 18 km as the powerful German mashed his big ring toward the lower slopes of Battle Mountain, which topped out about 132 km into the race. Liquigas eventually backed off the front, and the field bunched up as riders, still wearing their rain capes, appeared to begin a discussion on the front.

Voigt's advantage then ballooned to 5:10 as he hit the penultimate climb and rode out of the precipitation. He crested Battle Mountain with a 5:55 advantage and appeared guaranteed of his first stage win in the US since 2007 at the Tour of California as he flew down the descent toward Beaver Creek, just 23 km away. Once in town, the popular German soaked in the adulation from the spectator-packed roads up to the beaver Creek Village and crossed the line exhausted but obviously elated with is win.

"I'm more than happy that I actually entertained the people a little bit today," he said. "Not only to talk the talk, but also to walk the walk."

RadioShack-Nissan team director Lars Michaelson, who had urged his veteran rider on from the team car, pulling alongside Voigt several times in the closing kilometers to show him just how close he was to the finish, was also ecstatic about the win. "He deserves it," Michaelson said. "Now nobody can just say he won by coincidence. This is just pure power and will. Most of all will." Nearly three minutes after Voigt's finish, his teammate Andreas Kloden led the bunch home, followed closely by van Garderen, RadioShack-Nissan's Oliver Zaugg and then Vande Velde, pushing van Garderen back into yellow. The 24-year-old BMC team leader was happy to be back in yellow, but he appeared to be even more impressed by Voigt's ride.

"Jens is the only guy in the world who could pull that off," van Garderen said. "He's just that crazy. It was an impressive day. When we saw that there was a break going up the road I thought that Jens was in it, and then we heard that he was ahead, and I thought why is he doing that. But then he stuck it, and that was pretty impressive."

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