USA Pro Challenge 2014: Elia Viviani wins Stage 4 bunch sprint
At Thursday’s fourth stage of the USA Pro Challenge, Elia Viviani claimed an emphatic sprint victory for his Cannondale team.
The short, 113-km stage featured a ceremonial start at The Broadmoor Resort before making its way toward Colorado Springs for four laps of a hilly 26-km circuit through the Garden of the Gods.
Early on, a group of 12 broke clear featuring Jens Voigt and Laurent Didier of Trek Factory Racing, NetApp Endura’s Gregor Mühlberger, Ruben Zepuntke of the Bissel Development Team, Steve Fisher of Jelly Belly presented by Maxxis, Ben Jacques-Maynes of Jamis-Hagens Berman, Adam Phelan of Drapac, UnitedHealthcare’s Danny Summerhill, Oscar Clarke and Toms Skujins of Hincapie Sportswear, Martin Verschoor of Novo Nordisk, and Canadian Rob Britton of Team SmartStop.
The move gained a maximum advantage of three minutes before the domestic squads organized a chase behind.
Ben Jacques-Maynes used the break’s advantage to earn points for the mountain classification, crossing the line first on each of the first three categorized climbs to move into the climber’s jersey. Likewise, Danny Summerhill won each of the intermediate sprints to move into second in the sprint classification.
Jens Voigt attacked the group over the top of the third climb, setting out on a solo bid for glory in the last race of his career. For the next 40 km, Voigt was alone, his bike rocking underneath him in trademark style.
The peloton was not interested in gifts. With 750 m to go, Voigt was caught by the charging bunch.
Viviani ducked and dodged. Two hundred metres from the finish, he went, leaving his rivals several bike lengths in arrears. Martin Kohler of BMC was the next-best finisher. Serghei Svetcov of Jelly Belly presented by Maxxis finished third. Ryan Anderson (Optum presented by Kelly Benefit Strategies) was the top-placed Canadian in the finish in 10th. He’s also the top Canuck in the GC in 31st.
The lead of general classification was left unchanged, with Tejay van Garderen in first for BMC and Rafal Majka of Tinkoff-Saxo in second, 20 seconds behind. Eight riders sit within a minute of van Garderen’s lead, so fans can expect some fireworks on Friday’s fifth stage, which runs through the mountains from Woodland Park to Breckenridge.
