Hincapie Surprise Winner After Daring Descent in USA Pro Cycling Challenge Stage Two

BMC Veteran George HIncapie descended over wet roads to win Stage Two of the USA Pro Cycling Challenge.

George Hincapie crosses the finish line just ahead of Teejay Van Garederen to win Stage Two of the 2011 USA Pro Cycling Challenge. Doug Pensinger/Getty Images

Everyone expected tremendous attacks on the gigantic Cat One climbs in Stage Two of the USA Pro Cycling Challenge; instead, the decisive move came on the final rainy 60-mph descent, as a group of courageous riders including elder statesman George Hincapie overtook the race leader and sprinted for the win.

The 38-year-old BMC veteran edged Best Young Rider Tejay Van Garderen at the line, but the 23-year-old HTC-Highroad rider gained enough time to take the race leader’s yellow jersey.

“There were four away at the top of the climb and I helped Cadel come back,” Hincapie told Versus. “Then I thought, ‘You know, I might as well take a chance.’ And I bridged up to the two guys away. Once it was five of us I know I had a real good chance of winning and it worked out perfect.”

RadioShack’s Levi Leipheimer started the day in yellow and defended the jersey brilliantly up the final climb over the 12,095-foot Independence Pass, taking the stage lead on the descent.

Leipheimer, riding with Tejay Van Garderen, Garmin Cervelo’s Christian Vande Velde, and EPM-UNE’s Rafael Infantino, had a 30-second lead at the top of the very fast final descent, but then the rain came.

As the lead four slowed a bit, a chase group of many of the General Classification leaders, including Robert Gesink and Cadel Evans, closed the gap.

Hincapie, having helped teammate Evans catch the yellow jersey, was free to attack at will, and he did.

Hincapie, Van Garderen, Tom Danielson of Garmin Cervelo, Bruno Pires of Leopard Trek, Javier Acevedo of Gobernacion, and Eduard Beltran of EPM-UNE proved to be the bravest descenders; they gapped the yellow jersey group and raced for the stage win.

Van Garderen, who had attacked near the crest of the final climb, tried his best to win the stage, but Hincapie had a bit more left in the legs. Still, winning yellow was a huge reward for the young American’s efforts.

Van Garderen agreed; “Just to take second after doing all that work is a good result—I am thrilled at the jersey,” he told Versus.

Had the rain not fallen, it is unlikely Levi Leipheimer would have let Van Garderen get a gap; the wet roads favored the daring of youth over the circumspection of experience.

Van Garderen is the best young American rider on the Pro Tour, and the future of American cycling.

Hincapie, who rode with Lance Armstrong on his seven Tour de France wins, and Leipheimer, at 39, represents the Old Guard of American cycling.

In Stage Two, Van Garderen made it clear that while the Old Guard might not yet be ready to pass the torch, the Young Gun is almost ready to take it anyway.

Levi Leipheimer lost time, but could make it all back on Stage Three, the uphill Individual Time Trial.

Lance Armstrong Weighs In

Cycling legend Lance Armstrong, who was instrumental in getting the USA Pro Challenge started, told Versus, “Look at the stage today—you have a young kid like Tejay van Garderen assert himself you see an old veteran like George win the stage. This is what this is about.”

When asked about his former teammate Levi Leipheimer, Armstrong expressed confidence. “We’ve got the TT [time trial]—that’s his specialty.

“He proved he has a lot of power yesterday. Perhaps today was a little technical—my heart goes out to him because I know I Hate descending in the wet. It’s just one of those things where you’re you hit the brakes a little too much and then all of a sudden the gap opens and it’s over.

”He’ll come back with a vengeance tomorrow; he’ll be ready.”

Before the race started, Leipheimer, looking over the route, told usaprocyclingchallenge.com, “I think that the time trial is definitely one of my strengths, an uphill time trial—it’s always been my strength ever since I started riding bikes.

“I think that is the stage that will decide the race.”

Next: Two Titanic Climbs  

Two Titanic Climbs

The day started with a Cat Three climb to prepare the riders for the long dirt road leading up to the 12,126-foot, Cat One Cottonwood pass. This climb was not especially steep but was exceedingly long and rose to very high altitude—the highest peak of the race, in fact.

Attacks were attempted frequently throughout the first 37 milers, but the peloton wasn’t interested in letting anyone get away.

At the 37-mile mark, a serious crash distracted the peloton—Team Type One’s Daniele Callegarin hit a cattle grate and crashed hard, breaking his face and both hands. United HealthCare’s Davide Frattini and Exergy’s Carlos Alzate also hit the deck hard. Liquigas rider ivasn basso, who surely has strong GC hopes, fell and hurt his right wrist.

All the riders except Callegarin were able to continue—the TT1 rider was airlifted to Denver hospital.

While race radio crackled with messages about the crash, six riders snuck off the front and established a break—Dany Pate (HTC,) Rafael Montiel (Gobernacion,) Walter Pedraza (EPM-UNE,) Andre Steesen (Saxo Bank,) Sander Oostlander (Skil-Shimano,) and Jeremy Powers (Jelly Belly) opened a gap of about 4:30 with 88 miles to go in the 130-mile stage.

This group escaped at the base of the Cottonwood climb. They were joined by Gobernacion rider Alejandro Ramirez, who probably hoped to steal the King of the Mountain points. After a strong two-mile ride across a four-minute gap, it was another Colombian, Walter Pedraza, who snatched up the KOM points.

Saxo Bank’s André Steenson attacked at ther base of the final climb, the 12,095-foot Cat One Independence Pass. A few riders tried to catch him, but the peloton, driven by RadioShack, rode them down within eight miles.

The first serious attack cam eform Christian Vande Velde, halfway up the climb. Riders from SpiderTech, Gobernacion, and EPM followed him, but Andy Schleck and Levi Leipheimer shut them down. Then EPM’s Rafael Infantino attacked; Leipheimer and the other GC leaders let him go.

Rabobank’s Peiter Weening and Garmin’s Peter Stetina were the next to try their luck, but the next successful attack came from Tejay Van Garderen in his blue Best Young Rider jersey. Van Garderen got away and tried to catch Infantino before the crest of the climb.

Eight-tenths of a mile later, Levi Leipheimer and Christian Vande Velde had apparently recovered sufficiently to offer chase.

Andy Schleck, however, learned a hard lesson about riding at altitude. Schleck was never able to recover from the one burst he made to ride down the early attack. The Leopard trek rider almost certainly lost any chance at a podium finish, dropping back almost four minutes.

The Descent

Vande Velde and Leipheimer caught Van Garderen and Infantino near the start of the 20-mile descent to Aspen. It looked as though Leipheimer would defend his jersey and the only fight would be for the time bonuses at the finish line. Then the rain came.

While the leaders were reacting to the rain, Fränk Schleck and George Hincapie were whipping a group up and over the crest and down after the yellow jersey group.

After the two groups merged, a couple of riders attacked. Hincapie, seeing this, decided to take a stab, as did Van Garderen. Eventually a stable group of skilled (or reckless) descenders formed: Hincapie, Van Garderen, Garmin’s Tom Danielson, EPM’s Edouard Beltran, Gobernacion’s Javier Acevedo, and Leopard trek’s Bruno Pires.

“People just started attacking and it looked like some of the people were timid in the wet corners and I just went for it,” Van Garderen told Versus.

Hincapie had the advantage of not having to work hard once Van Garderen joined the group—no one wanted to help the young HTC rider take the stage win and the yellow jersey. This might have made the 23-year-old American just tired enough not to be able to respond when big George Hincapie cut around him during the final sprint to surge two bike-lengths ahead to win the stage.

“Once Tejay caught up it was up to Tom [Danielson] and Tejay to do most of the work, because they were going for the overall and I had Cadel behind me, so I didn’t want to help them to get too much of a lead,” Hincapie explained to Versus.

“I was able to sit back a bit in the last three, four kilometers. Tejay did a strong pull there in the last kilometer got a gap in the corners I bridged up to him and just went around him.

“It was very dodgy I was hoping that I wouldn’t go down, but the bike was working great and I felt goods and I was in a good group there all the guys could handle their bikes really well we took some big risks but we stayed up and it worked out well for me.”

Van Garderen explained one possible reason fior his prowess on the descent: “My fiancée Jesscia Philipps was born her so I come up here a lot I’ve ridden the stage once or twice.”

He seemed confident he could keep his yellow jersey.“That’s the goal. I have a pretty comfortable lead and normally I go pretty well in Time Trials so I hope I can hold on.”

Next: The Results     

2011 USA Pro Cycling Challenge Stage Two					General Classification after Stage Two
1	George Hincapie	BMC	5:26:10		1	Tejay Van Garderen	HTC-Highroad	10:04:08
2	Tejay Van Garderen	HTC-Highroad	5:26:10		2	George Hincapie	BMC	0:00:16
3	Thomas Danielson	Garmin Cervelo	5:26:10		3	Thomas Danielson	Garmin-Cervelo	0:00:22
4	Eduard Beltran	EPM UNE	5:26:10		4	Levi Leipheimer	RadioShack	0:00:34
5	Janvier Acevedo	Gobernacion	5:26:10		5	Christian Vande Velde	Garmin-Cervelo	0:00:45
6	Bruno Pires	Leopard Trek	5:26:10		6	Cadel Evans	BMC	0:00:51
7	Cadel Evans	BMC	0:00:45		7	Javier Acevedo	Gobernacion	0:00:52
8	Lucas Euser	Spidertech	0:00:45		8	Robert Gesink	Rabobank	0:01:04
9	Levi Leipheimer	RadioShack	0:00:45		9	Bruno Pires	Leopard Trek	0:01:08
10	Jeffry Louder	BMC	0:00:45		10	Rory Sutherland	UnitedHealthcare	0:01:09