Independence Pass came early from Aspen to Breckenridge. There was a short-lived break nearing the top of the pass surrounded by silly costumed-fans.
Following two neutral laps around the City of Aspen under bright blue skies, the riders were off for Stage 2 of the 2013 USA Pro Challenge, which would provide a harsh introduction to the mountainous terrain of Colorado with three big Nissan King of the Mountains (KOM) competitions. After a series of unsuccessful initial attacks, Michael Schär (SUI) of BMC Racing Team finally launched one that stuck. He was soon joined by Matt Cooke (USA) of Jamis-Hagens Berman p/b Sutter Home and Luis Lemus (MEX) of Jelly Belly p/b Kenda.
The gap continued to grow as the riders climbed the familiar battleground of Independence Pass, which at 12,000 ft. is the highest point reached in any professional cycling race. The well-known, epic climb drew fans from all around the world to cheer on the riders as they suffered to the top. With enthusiastic costumed fans running alongside, Schär crested the pass first, followed by Cooke and Lemus.
Leading into the approach to the Feed Zone, hitting speeds of more than 35 mph, David Millar (GBR) of Team Garmin-Sharp and Kanstantin Siutsou (BLR) of Sky Procycling pulled away from the peloton to start the chase and eventually reached the three out front to form a break of five riders. As they zoomed through Buena Vista and crossed the first Clif Bar sprint line of the day, Lemus hit the line first, then Schär and Millar.
Mathias Fränk (SUI) of BMC Racing Team took the win and Lachlan David Morton (AUS) of Team Garmin-Sharp is in the yellow jersey.
As the break approached the second and final sprint of the day in Fairplay, Van Avermaet attacked and crossed the line first, followed by Schleck and Beyer. With two more climbs and 26 miles to go to the finish in Breckenridge, it was still anybody’s stage.
On the climb up to the next Nissan KOM competition of the day at Hoosier Pass, riders began to drop off the break. Morton however saw an opportunity and started pulling away to take the maximum KOM points, followed by Fränk and Craddock. Taking the descent at speeds around 50 mph, the three riders grouped together with a few members of the original break following behind and the peloton still on the chase.
Reaching the final Nissan KOM of the day at Boreas Pass, Fränk rode through the sea of fans to crest the summit first, followed by Morton and Craddock. Now, with only 2.5 miles to go, the pressure was really on. Knowing it was now or never, Peter Sagan (SVK) of Cannondale Pro Cycling, Tejay van Garderen (USA) of BMC Racing Team, Tom Danielson (USA) of Team Garmin-Sharp and Darwin Atapuma (COL) of COLOMBIA made a move out of the peloton to catch the break. And in a sprint through Breckenridge, Fränk took the stage win, followed close behind by Morton and Sagan.
“I really had one shot, and today I knew that I could make it there on the short, steep climb,” said Fränk. “I definitely had the plan to go for the stage win today. The altitude here really got to me. I really had to go super deep there at the finish. Now I have a stage win here and I’m really happy with that.”
David Morton Lachlan in yellow in Breckenridge.
