Stage 7 brought the race to an exciting conclusion with eight circuit laps around Downtown Denver. In another thrilling sprint finish, Peter Sagan took the final stage win (his fourth of the race) and Colorado resident Tejay van Garderen took home the Smashburger Leader Jersey.
Race start heading towards downtown Denver.
The break included Ben King, Christopher Juul Jensen, Chun Kai Feng, Lucas Euser, David Riba, Carson Miller and Tyler Wren. They escaped during the first lap and stayed away for most of the race.
Peloton racing by the Denver Art Museum.
Chris Froome abandoned the race after the second lap.
Van Garderen and Sagan racing side by side.
Peter Sagan racking up his fourth win of the race.
Race winners Matt Cooke, Peter Sagan, Tejay Van Garderen, Lachlan Morton and Ben King.
Van Garderen, Danielson, Frank with champagne
BMC Team Celebrating with champagne
Tejay van Garderen won the overall, teammate Mathias Frank was runner-up and the BMC Racing Team took home the team classification Sunday to cap the USA Pro Challenge Sunday.
‘I Wanted It Badly’
Van Garderen earned the second stage race victory of his professional career after taking the race lead following a runner-up finish on Thursday. He won Friday’s uphill time trial in record time to increase his lead to 1:30 over Frank and 1:42 over Tom Danielson (Garmin-Sharp). That proved to be his winning margins over the pair in the race that saw him finish third overall in 2011 and runner-up last year. With the crowd in his adopted home state of Colorado chanting his name during his appearance on the podium, van Garderen said he was motivated to add another title to the one he earned in May at the Amgen Tour of California. “It feels great,” he said. “I’ve been so close here multiple times. So to finally get the win is really amazing. This is a race that sometimes is hard to be motivated for after July. With this race on the calendar, it wasn’t a question of whether or not I was going to stay focused and stay motivated. This is my hometown race and I wanted it badly.”
Goal Simply To Help Tejay
Frank’s runner-up placing was his best finish in a stage race in four years. He soloed to victory on Tuesday in Breckenridge but said the high altitude – not a podium position – was on his mind. “I knew I was in good shape, but I didn’t really have that much time at attitude, so I didn’t how I could handle it,” he said. “But actually, I was going pretty good. We had a super strong team here and our goal was to win this race with Tejay. We rode really smart, with good tactics and I won a stage here, so being second was just awesome.” BMC Racing Team’s Greg Van Avermaet finished sixth on the final stage that saw Peter Sagan (Cannondale Pro Cycling) earn his fourth victory of the week-long race. “Tejay did a good last lead-out,” Van Avermaet said, describing the yellow jersey’s show of strength in the final kilometer. “I tried to be in third position coming into the last corner. But I was a little bit blocked by the guy from Cannondale, who was leading out Sagan. “
Fifth Team Title Of 2013
The BMC Racing Team added the team classification to team titles it won with van Garderen at the Amgen Tour of California and the Tour de San Luis and also at the Tours of Oman and Qatar. Joining van Garderen, Frank and Van Avermaet on the winning team were Brent Bookwalter, Steve Cummings (who was forced to withdraw with breathing problems Saturday), Swiss road champion Michael Schär, Julien Taramarcaz and Larry Warbasse. BMC Racing Team Assistant Director Jackson Stewart, who directed van Garderen in California, said he saw a difference between the two races for the 2012 best young rider at the Tour de France. “The difference between here and California was that he had more confidence from winning California,” Stewart said. “I also think he had a lot more motivation coming in after the Tour de France after not really meeting his objectives there.”
Stage 7 Results
· First – Peter Sagan (SVK) of Cannondale Pro Cycling
· Second – Ryan Anderson (CAN) of Optum Presented by Kelly Benefit Strategies
· Third – Alessandro Bazzana (ITA) of UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling Team
GC Standings
· First – Tejay van Garderen (USA) of BMC Racing Team
· Second – Mathias Frank (SUI) of BMC Racing Team
· Third – Tom Danielson (USA) of Team Garmin-Sharp
Jersey Winners
· Smashburger Leader Jersey – Tejay van Garderen (USA) of BMC Racing Team
· Clif Bar Sprint Jersey – Peter Sagan (SVK) of Cannondale Pro Cycling
· Nissan King of the Mountains Jersey – Matt Cooke (USA) of Jamis-Hagens Berman p/b Sutter Home
· FirstBank Most Courageous Rider Jersey – Ben King (USA) of RadioShack Leopard Trek
· Colorado State University Best Young Rider Jersey – Lachlan David Morton (AUS) of Team Garmin-Sharp
