Vande Velde Wins USA Pro Challenge With Exceptional Time Trial

Christian Vande Velde of Garmin-Sharp races to second place in the Stage Seven individual time trial to win the General Classification in the USA Pro Challenge, August 26, 2012 in Denver, Colorado. (Doug Pensinger/Getty Images)

Christian Vande Velde proved that consistent excellence can be a winning formula by winning the 2012 USA Pro Challenge cycling race without winning a single stage.

The Garmin-Sharp rider finished second a couple of times, wore the leader’s yellow jersey for a day, but never came in first—not even in the final time trial where he won the race overall. Vande Velde won by never having a bad day through the seven-stage race.

Vande Velde’s rival, BMC rider Tejay Van Garderen, won a stage, wore the yellow jersey in four stages, and cracked on the decisive climb in Stage Six, giving Vande Velde his chance.

The 36-year-old cyclist used the opportunity, clinching his overall win with a second-place performance in the time trial through the streets of Denver, Colorado, finishing just ten seconds behind one of the world’s greats, BMC’s Taylor Phinney, who took Bronze in London.

Throughout the race Van Garderen said he didn’t care if he was a bit behind because he could make it up in the time trial. He did turn in a great effort, finishing third, but it wasn’t enough. Vande Velde put a career’s worth of striving into one nine-mile ride and reaped the rewards.

Vande Velde hadn’t won a major race since 2008; he had come close but fate always seemed to leave him a step down on the podium. “I’ve been bridesmaid so many times in my career and I wasn’t going to let this one slip away,” he told NBC Sports.

Vande Velde creditied his success, rightly, to the Garmin-Sharp team, which attacked the race from the first stage and made repeated herculean efforts to both win stages and wear down the opposition.

“My team did everything—I just had to sweep up at the end,” he explained. “Really, they did the brunt of the work, from Tommy [Danielson] ripping it out of Durango all the way to here today—we’ve been at the forefront.

“We got Tom as the most aggressive rider, Tyler [Farrar] in the sprint jersey—it’s been a great, great week.”

Christian Vande Velde of Garmin-Sharp celebrates on the podium winning the General Classification of the USA Pro Challenge cycling race. (Doug Pensinger/Getty Images)

Vande Velde was too happy to feel regret but he did say he wished he had pushed even harder on the final climb of Stage Six, where he left Tejay Van Garderen behind and opened up his first significant gap over the BMC rider— the two had been exactly even in time throughout the race.

“I really couldn’t believe it,” he said about dropping Van Garderen on the climb. “In hindsight I should have done more—I just didn’t have the confidence.

“Tejay had almost too much confidence, so he did a lot of work and it did him in at the end of the race.”

In the end it was what Vande Velde called a lack of confidence—doing enough to get the job done and no more—which made the difference.

Vande Velde was content to be second in the General Classification, while the younger rider wanted to wear the yellow jersey. Vande Velde was willing to finish a few places back, while the Van Garderen pushed to win stages.

Ultimately, the more experienced Vande Velde saved his energy for the decisive moment and then attacked. When he did, Van Garderen found his account empty—the exertions which won him notoriety early in the race cost him the win in the end.