USA Pro Challenge Stage 5: Laurent Didier wins, Canadian Rob Britton third

Friday at the USA Pro Challenge, Trek Factory Racing’s Laurent Didier won Stage 5 with a powerful attack out of the breakaway, finishing solo, just ahead of Garmin-Sharp’s Janier Acevedo, and Canadian Rob Britton of Team SmartStop.

Run through the mountains from Woodland Park to Breckenridge, the 168-km stage was marked by frigid temperatures, rain and hail.

It took 50 km of hectic racing after the start before a group finally broke clear, with Janier Acevedo and Ben King of Garmin-Sharp, Cannondale’s Cristiano Salerno, Jose Pimenta of NetApp-Endura, Jai Crawford of Drapac, Hincapie’s Chris Butler, Richard Handly of Rapha-Condor, Daniel Eaton of Bissel, Luis Lemus of Jelly Belly presented by Maxxis, Laurent Didier and Rob Britton included in the move.

Didier destroyed the group with an attack over the summit of the second to last climb, the 3,500-m Hoosier Pass.

King, Acevedo and Britton managed to latch on to the Luxemburger on the descent, forming a four-man group to fight for the finish.

Inside the 10-km-to-go banner, King took off and for a moment it looked like he might stay away. Didier had other thoughts, however, and, on the final climb, he set off in pursuit. The Trek rider caught King, dropped the others, and held on over the top. Britton and Acevedo chased furiously down the descent, but the Trek rider’s speed was too much. Didier crossed the line to win alone, with Acevedo in second and Britton third, just metres behind.

Tejay van Garderen of BMC consolidated his lead in the general classification, putting a few seconds into challenger Tom Danielson of Garmin-Sharp. Van Garderen’s BMC teammate Ben Hermans lost time on the stage, dropping off the podium to ninth place.  Tinkoff-Saxo’s Rafal Majka remains second on GC, 20 seconds back, while Serghei Tvetcov of Jelly Belly presented by Maxxis has moved into third on the overall, 37 seconds behind.

Saturday’s Stage 6 is a 16-km time trial in Vail.