Tejay van Garderen (BMC) claimed stage 3 of this year’s USA Pro Challenge today, after breezing across the finish line atop Monarch Mountain.
Today’s victory not only netted van Garderen the stage victory, but moved the BMC rider into the overall race lead.
The Finale
An elite group of riders made their way up the final ascent of the east side of Monarch Pass at the end of today’s 96-mile stage from Gunnison to Monarch Mountain.
A flurry attacks came from within the lead group, beginning with Janier Acevedo (Garmin-Sharp) and Daniel Jaramillo (Jamis-Hagens Berman). From there, Bruno Pires (Tinkoff-Saxo). Carter Jones (Optum-Kelly Benefit Strategies) and Matthew Busche (Trek Factory Racing) also tried their luck with solo moves.
However, none of them were successful in getting clear, until the race passed under the "red kite’ banner. At that point, van Garderen decided to make his move, with only Rafal Majka (Tinkoff-Saxo) able to follow.
Majka would then try to over take the American rider the final ramp. But, van Garderen found the reserves to fend-off the Tinkoff rider until the line.
“I don’t know that wasn’t really the plan,” said van Garderen. “We were kind of thinking, ‘let’s just keep it on same time,’ and you know because I’m pretty confident for the TT, but when I saw Danielson’s attacks were getting weaker toward the end, I could sense he was getting a little tired, and I just went for it.
“.
“GC is the most important you’re not going to give it away.”
Meanwhile, Majka, Serghei Tvetcov (Jelly Belly) finished third.
Stage 3 Results USA 1 VAN GARDEREN, Tejay (BMC RACING) 3:50:41 POL 2 MAJKA, Rafal (TINKOFF-SAXO) MDA 3 TVETCOV, Serghei (JELLY BELLY P/B MAXXIS) + 20 BEL 4 HERMANS, Ben (BMC RACING) + 24 USA 5 DANIELSON, Thomas (GARMIN SHARP) USA 6 JONES, Carter (OPTUM P/B KELLY BENEFIT STRATEGIES) + 30 USA 7 ROSSKOPF, Joseph (HINCAPIE SPORTSWEAR DEVELOPMENT) + 39 USA 8 BUSCHE, Matthew (TREK FACTORY RACING) + 45 POL 9 HUZARSKI, Bartosz (NETAPP – ENDURA) + 51 FRA 10 CHEVRIER, Clement (BISSELL DEVELOPMENT TEAM) + 1:06 USA 11 KYER, Julian (TEAM SMARTSTOP) + 1:09 POR 12 PIRES, Bruno (TINKOFF-SAXO) + 1:18 AUT 13 ZOIDL, Riccardo (TREK FACTORY RACING) + 1:21 POL 14 POLJANSKI, Pawel (TINKOFF-SAXO) + 1:47 USA 15 EUSER, Lucas (UNITEDHEALTHCARE) + 1:57 LUX 16 SCHLECK, Frank (TREK FACTORY RACING) USA 17 BOOKWALTER, Brent (BMC RACING) USA 18 HOWES, Alex (GARMIN SHARP) COL 19 JARAMILLO DIEZ, Daniel Alexander (JAMIS – HAGENS BERMAN) + 3:07 COL 20 ACEVEDO COLLE, Janier Alexis (GARMIN SHARP) + 4:20 GER 21 ZEPUNTKE, Ruben (BISSELL DEVELOPMENT TEAM) + 5:36 LUX 22 DIDIER, Laurent (TREK FACTORY RACING) + 6:47 SUI 23 SCHÄR, Michael (BMC RACING) + 9:49 GER 24 VOIGT, Jens (TREK FACTORY RACING) + 11:55 USA 25 SQUIRE, Robbie (JAMIS – HAGENS BERMAN) + 12:58 USA 26 KING, Benjamin (GARMIN SHARP) AUS 27 NORRIS, Lachlan (DRAPAC) USA 28 BUTLER, Chris (HINCAPIE SPORTSWEAR DEVELOPMENT) CAN 29 ANDERSON, Ryan (OPTUM P/B KELLY BENEFIT STRATEGIES) USA 30 GAIMON, Phillip (GARMIN SHARP) ESP 31 MEGIAS LEAL, Javier (NOVO NORDISK) AUT 32 MUHLBERGER, Gregor (NETAPP – ENDURA) USA 33 STETINA, Peter (BMC RACING) USA 34 PUTT, Tanner (BISSELL DEVELOPMENT TEAM) ESP 35 DE LA CRUZ MELGAREJO, David (NETAPP – ENDURA) CAN 36 BRITTON, Rob (TEAM SMARTSTOP) AUS 37 DAY, Benjamin (UNITEDHEALTHCARE) POR 38 MACHADO, Tiago (NETAPP – ENDURA) USA 39 ZIRBEL, Tom (OPTUM P/B KELLY BENEFIT STRATEGIES) DEN 40 GULDHAMMER, Rasmus (TINKOFF-SAXO)
General Classification after Stage 3 USA 1 VAN GARDEREN, Tejay (BMC RACING) 10:34:53 POL 2 MAJKA, Rafal (TINKOFF-SAXO) + 20 BEL 3 HERMANS, Ben (BMC RACING) + 23 USA 4 DANIELSON, Thomas (GARMIN SHARP) + 34 MDA 5 TVETCOV, Serghei (JELLY BELLY P/B MAXXIS) + 37 USA 6 BUSCHE, Matthew (TREK FACTORY RACING) + 46 USA 7 JONES, Carter (OPTUM P/B KELLY BENEFIT STRATEGIES) + 49 USA 8 ROSSKOPF, Joseph (HINCAPIE SPORTSWEAR DEVELOPMENT) + 55 POL 9 HUZARSKI, Bartosz (NETAPP – ENDURA) + 1:09 USA 10 KYER, Julian (TEAM SMARTSTOP) + 1:22 FRA 11 CHEVRIER, Clement (BISSELL DEVELOPMENT TEAM) + 1:23 USA 12 HOWES, Alex (GARMIN SHARP) + 1:45 POR 13 PIRES, Bruno (TINKOFF-SAXO) + 2:28 USA 14 BOOKWALTER, Brent (BMC RACING) + 2:37 AUT 15 ZOIDL, Riccardo (TREK FACTORY RACING) + 2:47 POL 16 POLJANSKI, Pawel (TINKOFF-SAXO) + 4:06 USA 17 EUSER, Lucas (UNITEDHEALTHCARE) + 4:10 LUX 18 SCHLECK, Frank (TREK FACTORY RACING) + 5:20 COL 19 ACEVEDO COLLE, Janier Alexis (GARMIN SHARP) + 6:02 GER 20 ZEPUNTKE, Ruben (BISSELL DEVELOPMENT TEAM) + 7:00
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