Tejay van Garderen claimed stage 6, the individual time trial, of this year’s USA Pro Challenge today.
The American rider not only beat his closest rival by almost a minute, but set a course record as well.
Meanwhile, Tom Danielson finished in second place, with an excellent time of 12:43 – which served to unseat Michael Rogers, who up until Danielson – held the fastest time.
“I’ll be honest. I was definitely a little bit insecure. I haven’t done a good TT this year,” he said. “I gotta think back to my last time trial in Tour of Suisse or whatever … it was nice to get that monkey off my back. Once I got out there I felt really strong … and the crowd was incredible. Colorado crowds are second to none”, said van Garderen.
“I think I was assisted by a bit of tailwind, that helped. Rain and cold didn’t help. Whether or not I set the record, it was a win-win today,” said van Garderen. “Having experience on this course was huge. The first one I did, I blew sky high. On the second one, I was good, but the pacing was off. This one I was perfectly smooth the whole way.”
“Superman over here just came flying through,” said Danielson, referring to van Garderen.
“He’s the best guy in the race. To be second to him is a big honor. I’m very, very happy with my performance today.”
On the overall, van Garderen confirmed his grip on the yellow jersey. Danielson had moved into second at 1:31, while Tvetcov sat third at 1:45. Rafal Majka (Tinkoff), who started the day in second overall, slipped to fourth at 1:48.
Stage 6 Results
USA 1 VAN GARDEREN, Tejay (BMC RACING) 24:26 USA 2 DANIELSON, Thomas (GARMIN SHARP) + 52 MDA 3 TVETCOV, Serghei (JELLY BELLY P/B MAXXIS) + 1:08 POL 4 MAJKA, Rafal (TINKOFF-SAXO) + 1:28 AUS 5 ROGERS, Michael (TINKOFF-SAXO) + 1:39 BEL 6 HERMANS, Ben (BMC RACING) + 1:54 POL 7 HUZARSKI, Bartosz (NETAPP – ENDURA) + 2:07 USA 8 ROSSKOPF, Joseph (HINCAPIE SPORTSWEAR DEVELOPMENT) + 2:17 USA 9 BUSCHE, Matthew (TREK FACTORY RACING) + 2:20 USA 10 JONES, Carter (OPTUM P/B KELLY BENEFIT STRATEGIES) POL 11 POLJANSKI, Pawel (TINKOFF-SAXO) + 2:21 USA 12 GAIMON, Phillip (GARMIN SHARP) + 2:32 POR 13 PIRES, Bruno (TINKOFF-SAXO) + 2:33 LUX 14 SCHLECK, Frank (TREK FACTORY RACING) + 2:34 GER 15 ZEPUNTKE, Ruben (BISSELL DEVELOPMENT TEAM) + 2:42
General Classification after Stage 6 USA 1 VAN GARDEREN, Tejay (BMC RACING) 17:20:22 USA 2 DANIELSON, Thomas (GARMIN SHARP) + 1:31 MDA 3 TVETCOV, Serghei (JELLY BELLY P/B MAXXIS) + 1:45 POL 4 MAJKA, Rafal (TINKOFF-SAXO) + 1:48 USA 5 BUSCHE, Matthew (TREK FACTORY RACING) + 3:11 USA 6 ROSSKOPF, Joseph (HINCAPIE SPORTSWEAR DEVELOPMENT) + 3:31 POL 7 HUZARSKI, Bartosz (NETAPP – ENDURA) + 3:35 USA 8 JONES, Carter (OPTUM P/B KELLY BENEFIT STRATEGIES) + 3:42 BEL 9 HERMANS, Ben (BMC RACING) + 3:43 POR 10 PIRES, Bruno (TINKOFF-SAXO) + 5:34 USA 11 KYER, Julian (TEAM SMARTSTOP) + 5:50 FRA 12 CHEVRIER, Clement (BISSELL DEVELOPMENT TEAM) + 6:30 USA 13 HOWES, Alex (GARMIN SHARP) + 7:06 POL 14 POLJANSKI, Pawel (TINKOFF-SAXO) + 7:17 AUT 15 ZOIDL, Riccardo (TREK FACTORY RACING) + 7:34
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