Colorado Classic 2017 – Stage 2 [FULL STAGE]

August 11 2017

Colorado Classic 2017 – Stage 2 – Breckenridge : 103 km

The Colorado Classic is a four-stage cycling race to be held for the first time in 2017. The race is designated as 2.HC and will be part of the UCI America Tour. The race will be 313 miles (504 km) in length.

Alex Howes (Cannondale-Drapac) timed his move perfectly Friday during stage 2 at the Colorado Classic, bridging to all-day breakaway rider TJ Eisenhart on the final climb and then out-sprinting the Holowesko-Citadel rider to take the stage victory in Breckenridge.

Trek-Segafredo’s Peter Stetina bridged to Eisenhart with Howes and attacked relentlessly to avoid a sprint against his friend and nemesis Howes, but his efforts came to nought and unable to dislodge the quicker sprinters, he took no risks on the descent and finished third.

“I really wanted to win here today, because I knew whoever takes the win here has a great shot at winning the overall,” Howes said, adding that this race has been on his list of targets since it was announced.

As a Colorado native, Howes noted the lack of a time trial, his personal weakness, and set his sights on the overall classification. But, he said, “you always have a plan, but they usually don’t work out. So when they do, it’s pretty special”.

His last win came in Denver in 2014 at the USA Pro Challenge, where he out-sprinted his friend and rival Kiel Reijnen. In Breckenridge, it was Stetina, another close friend, who caused him the most pain.

“When Pete went I couldn’t tell how many laps it was to go (3 – ed.). His Trek team was doing a turn and burn and Pete launched and I was thinking, ‘what the hell are you doing? We have a long ways to go’. I knew I couldn’t give him any space. So I hung on for dear life, and I did that every time going up – he put the hurt on pretty hard.

“I probably hit a higher heart rate than I have all year,” Howes said. But, he said to himself, “there’s no way you’re dropping me. I’ll throw up and have a heart attack before that happens.”

Fortunately that didn’t happen, and Howes made it through Stetina’s last ditch attack on the final climb, and waited as Eisenhart predictably attacked on the descent. However, because of the sprint bonuses, Howes missed out on the race lead by a single second, with Stetina third at 11 seconds. The next best rider, Manuel Senni (BMC) is over 30 seconds back and likely out of contention for the GC which should be decided on intermediate and final sprint bonuses.

“It’s a good thing I can sprint,” Howes said menacingly. “I think TJ knows he can’t rest on a one second advantage. It’ll be aggressive but it’s a four day race and we came to race for four days.”

Eisenhart was thrilled to be in the race leader’s jersey, though he would have rather come away with the stage victory. “This was the only day the team brought me for,” adding that the team’s usual GC man Robin Carpenter was out with injury.

“With the win from John Murphy yesterday, the team was on a good high. Going into today I knew I wanted to do something special. I tried and tried in Utah, and it wasn’t meant to be. This wasn’t the plan at all,” he said of taking the race lead.

“I’m one second ahead of Alex and Cannondale’s going to go berserk. I’m not too concerned about it. Maybe I’ll worry about it tomorrow, but I’m just stoked to be here right now.”

How it unfolded

The rain held off for most of the second stage of the Colorado Classic, with only a few sprinkles falling on the second and seventh laps. It was a welcome contrast from the deluge that punished the riders on the first stage in Colorado Springs. With only 103km on the menu, the attackers took no time to put in their digs, with Matteo Moschetti (Trek-Segafredo), Daniel Eaton (UnitedHealthcare), TJ Eisenhart (Holowesko-Citadel) and Logan Owen (Axeon Hagens Berman) opening up a gap before the first turn.

Moschetti dropped off the pace as the course turned uphill, and by the top Owen had been distanced, too, helping the breakaway’s chances as the Axeon rider was sitting third overall.

Nigel Ellsay (Silber) chased after the breakaway but was being followed by a larger group, which picked him up by the end of the first lap, making it 13 chasers, including Manuel Senni (BMC Racing), Julien Bernard and Kiel Reijnen (Trek-Segafredo), William Clarke (Cannondale-Drapac), Vegard Stake Laengen (UAE Team Emirates), Miguel Ángel Benito (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA), Luis Lemus (Israel Cycling Academy), Travis McCabe (UnitedHealthcare), Alexander Cowan and Ellsay (Silber ), Serghei Tvetcov and Taylor Shelden (Jelly Belly-Maxxis) and Didier Munyaneza (Team Rwanda Cycling).

Jhonatan Narvaez (Axeon Hagens Berman) attacked from the field on the second lap and bravely fought his way up to the first chasing group over the course of the next two laps.

The two leaders, Eaton and Eisenhart, persisted, holding a two minute lead over the chase of 14 and the peloton, which included race leader John Murphy (Holowesko-Citadel), best young rider Owen, and mountains leader Antonio Molina (Caja Rural).

On lap six, Eaton lost contact on the trip up the Moonstone Road climb and Eisenhart pushed on without him, coming in to the four laps to go sprint alone with 1:55 on the chasers and 3:30 on the bunch, which was being led by Rally Cycling.

Travis McCabe (UnitedHealthcare) made his intentions for the points classification known by taking third in the first sprint behind the two escapees, then second after Eaton was dropped, while Eisenhart won both of the category 3 ascents to overtake Molina for the red mountains jersey.

The seventh lap proved to be the breaking point for both ends of the peloton on Moonstone Road: In the first chase, Tvetcov and Senni attacked the chasing group and set off in pursuit of the solo Eisenhart, and the rest of the group gave little resistance to letting them go. They were soon joining the shattered peloton behind, as numerous riders fought to make the cut, which was ‘not lapped at the end of eight laps’.

Twenty riders hammered off in pursuit of the leaders coming into two laps to go. Up ahead, Eisenhart still led, and Tvetcov had been joined by Senni, while Rally’s Sepp Kuss and Pete Stetina (Trek-Segafredo) and Alex Howes (Cannondale-Drapac) were just a handful of seconds behind them.

The chasers came together, united in their task of chasing down Eisenhart on the penultimate climb, just a minute behind, while a larger chase led by BMC was disorganized but only 30 further seconds back. Hugh Carthy, Brent Bookwalter and McCabe attacked the second chasing group, and Uran quickly bridged across with a Caja Rural rider, while Tvetcov, Senni, Kuss, Stetina (Trek-Segafredo) and Alex Howes (Cannondale-Drapac) congealed into the first chase group.

Eisenhart, turquoise necklace matching his sunglasses, took the bell for the last lap with a 30-second gap with the chasers in hot pursuit.

In the chase behind, Stetina and Howes attacked the first chase and quickly had Eisenhart in sight at the bottom of the final trip up Moonstone. The duo caught Eisenhart at the top of the climb to form a new lead trio on the road. Stetina attacked the leaders multiple times on the false flat before the descent, but he was unable to shake Howes and Eisenhart.

“I’m not a sprinter, and I just know with a short punchy climb like this, it favors a guy like Alex. I had to make it more of an attrition race,” Stetina said of his repeated attacks. “I had to hit them as early and often as possible. I threw everything at them and I couldn’t quite shake them. He had enough of a sprint in his legs. I decided to give everything I had over the top because I’m not going to win a downhill sprint like this. That’s racing.

“I did my homework for this race. I really wanted to take the win today and give it to my team for their confidence in selecting me for the Vuelta. But I was just lacking the super big mountain in this race.”

Eisenhart attacked at the top of the descent, distancing Stetina as Howes trailed closely in pursuit. The lead duo screamed down the descent, swapping turns on the front as they continued to distance Stetina.

Howes led into the finishing straight, looking over his shoulder at Eisenhart. In the end, Howes easily won the sprint, with Eisenhart second and Stetina third.

Results :
1 Alex Howes (USA) Cannondale-Drapac Pro Cycling 2:51:17
2 Taylor Eisenhart (USA) Holowesko-Citadel p/b Hincapie Sportswear
3 Peter Stetina (USA) Trek-Segafredo 0:00:04
4 Manuel Senni (Ita) BMC Racing Team 0:00:21
5 Serghei Tvetcov (Rou) Jelly Belly-Maxxis 0:00:40
6 Brent Bookwalter (USA) BMC Racing Team 0:01:34
7 Miguel Ángel Benito (Esp) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA 0:01:35
8 Rigoberto Uran (Col) Cannondale-Drapac Pro Cycling 0:01:37
9 Vegard Stake Laengen (Nor) UAE Team Emirates
10 Hugh Carthy (GBr) Cannondale-Drapac Pro Cycling 0:01:41
11 Simone Petilli (Ita) UAE Team Emirates 0:01:49
12 Sepp Kuss (USA) Rally Cycling 0:02:00
13 Edward Ravasi (Ita) UAE Team Emirates 0:02:03
14 Travis McCabe (USA) UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling
15 Ivan Santaromita (Ita) Nippo-Vini Fantini 0:02:12
16 Gavin Mannion (USA) UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling 0:02:58
17 Joey Rosskopf (USA) BMC Racing Team
18 Jonathan Clarke (Aus) UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling 0:03:00
19 Nigel Ellsay (Can) Silber Pro Cycling
20 Christopher Butler (USA) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA
21 Joseph Lewis (Aus) Holowesko-Citadel p/b Hincapie Sportswear 0:03:11
22 Ruben Companioni (Cub) Holowesko-Citadel p/b Hincapie Sportswear
23 William Clarke (Aus) Cannondale-Drapac Pro Cycling 0:03:47
24 Julien Bernard (Fra) Trek-Segafredo 0:04:07
25 Robert Britton (Can) Rally Cycling 0:05:36
26 Antonio Molina Canet (Esp) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA 0:07:22
27 Alexander Cowan (Can) Silber Pro Cycling
28 Taylor Shelden (USA) Jelly Belly-Maxxis
29 Jhonnatan Manuel Navaez Prado (Ecu) Axeon Hagens Berman
30 Eder Frayre Moctezuma (Mex) Elevate-KHS Pro Cycling 0:08:11
31 Daniel Eaton (USA) UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling 0:08:18
32 Silvan Dillier (Swi) BMC Racing Team 0:09:08
33 Taylor Phinney (USA) Cannondale-Drapac Pro Cycling
34 Gregory Daniel (USA) Trek-Segafredo
35 Daniel Jaramillo (Col) UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling
36 Robin Carpenter (USA) Holowesko-Citadel p/b Hincapie Sportswear
37 Gonzalo Serrano Rodriguez (Esp) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA
38 Kiel Reijnen (USA) Trek-Segafredo 0:09:12
39 Martin Elmiger (Swi) BMC Racing Team
40 Tom Bohli (Swi) BMC Racing Team
41 Justin Oien (USA) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA
42 Didier Munyaneza (Rwa) Team Rwanda Cycling
43 Laurent Didier (Lux) Trek-Segafredo
44 Jacob Rathe (USA) Jelly Belly-Maxxis 0:09:47
45 John Murphy (USA) Holowesko-Citadel p/b Hincapie Sportswear 0:09:53
46 Guillaume Boivin (Can) Israel Cycling Academy 0:13:11
47 Tyler Williams (USA) Israel Cycling Academy
48 Greg Henderson (NZl) UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling 0:15:23
49 Logan Owen (USA) Axeon Hagens Berman 0:15:35
50 Julien Gagne (Can) Silber Pro Cycling
51 Valerio Conti (Ita) UAE Team Emirates 0:15:39
52 Umberto Poli (Ita) Team Novo Nordisk
53 Seid Lizde (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
54 Jean Paul Rene Ukiniwabo (Rwa) Team Rwanda Cycling
55 Angus Morton (Aus) Jelly Belly-Maxxis
56 Jean Claude Uwizeye (Rwa) Team Rwanda Cycling
57 Manuel Sola Arjona (Esp) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA 0:15:40
58 Alex Hoehn (USA) Elevate-KHS Pro Cycling 0:16:12
59 Dennis Van Winden (Ned) Israel Cycling Academy 0:16:17
60 Edward Anderson (USA) Axeon Hagens Berman
61 Christopher Blevins (USA) Axeon Hagens Berman
62 Keegan Swirbul (USA) Jelly Belly-Maxxis 0:16:46
63 Guy Niv (Isr) Israel Cycling Academy
64 Michael Rice (Aus) Axeon Hagens Berman
65 Miguel Bryon (USA) Holowesko-Citadel p/b Hincapie Sportswear
66 Ulises Alfredo Castillo Soto (Mex) Jelly Belly-Maxxis
67 Alan Marangoni (Ita) Nippo-Vini Fantini
68 Damiano Cima (Ita) Nippo-Vini Fantini
69 Mihkel Räim (Est) Israel Cycling Academy
70 Matteo Moschetti (Ita) Trek-Segafredo
71 Marco Canola (Ita) Nippo-Vini Fantini
72 Yuma Koishi (Jpn) Nippo-Vini Fantini
73 Colin Joyce (USA) Rally Cycling
74 Evan Huffman (USA) Rally Cycling
75 Danny Pate (USA) Rally Cycling
76 Innokenty Innokenty (USA) Elevate-KHS Pro Cycling 0:16:50
77 Ryan Roth (Can) Silber Pro Cycling 0:20:28
78 Gasore Hategeka (Rwa) Team Rwanda Cycling 0:20:34
79 Jose Alfredo Rodriguez Victoria (Mex) Elevate-KHS Pro Cycling 0:20:58
80 Lawson Craddock (USA) Cannondale-Drapac Pro Cycling 0:21:13
81 Stephen Clancy (Irl) Team Novo Nordisk 0:21:43
82 Sam Brand (GBr) Team Novo Nordisk
83 Henrikus Van Ijzendoorn NED Team Novo Nordisk
84 Giacomo Berlato (Ita) Nippo-Vini Fantini
85 Shane Kline (USA) Rally Cycling
86 James Piccoli (Can) Elevate-KHS Pro Cycling 0:21:49
87 Luis Lemus (Mex) Israel Cycling Academy
88 Joseph Schmaltz (USA) Elevate-KHS Pro Cycling 0:21:51
89 Fabio Calabria (Aus) Team Novo Nordisk
90 Bonaventure Uwizeyimana (Rwa) Team Rwanda Cycling 0:24:58
91 Jonathan Brown (USA) Axeon Hagens Berman 0:25:04
OTL Reid McClure (Can) Team Novo Nordisk 0:53:44
DNF Yousif Mirza Alhammadi (UAE) UAE Team Emirates

General Classification after Stage 2 :
1 Taylor Eisenhart (USA) Holowesko-Citadel p/b Hincapie Sportswear 6:24:36
2 Alex Howes (USA) Cannondale-Drapac Pro Cycling 0:00:01
3 Peter Stetina (USA) Trek-Segafredo 0:00:11
4 Manuel Senni (Ita) BMC Racing Team 0:00:32
5 Serghei Tvetcov (Rou) Jelly Belly-Maxxis 0:00:51
6 Brent Bookwalter (USA) BMC Racing Team 0:01:45
7 Miguel Ángel Benito (Esp) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA 0:01:46
8 Rigoberto Uran (Col) Cannondale-Drapac Pro Cycling 0:01:48
9 Vegard Stake Laengen (Nor) UAE Team Emirates
10 Hugh Carthy (GBr) Cannondale-Drapac Pro Cycling 0:01:52
11 Simone Petilli (Ita) UAE Team Emirates 0:02:00
12 Travis McCabe (USA) UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling 0:02:05
13 Sepp Kuss (USA) Rally Cycling 0:02:11
14 Edward Ravasi (Ita) UAE Team Emirates 0:02:14
15 Ivan Santaromita (Ita) Nippo-Vini Fantini 0:02:23
16 Joey Rosskopf (USA) BMC Racing Team 0:03:09
17 Gavin Mannion (USA) UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling
18 Christopher Butler (USA) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA 0:03:11
19 Jonathan Clarke (Aus) UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling
20 Nigel Ellsay (Can) Silber Pro Cycling
21 Joseph Lewis (Aus) Holowesko-Citadel p/b Hincapie Sportswear 0:03:22
22 Ruben Companioni (Cub) Holowesko-Citadel p/b Hincapie Sportswear
23 William Clarke (Aus) Cannondale-Drapac Pro Cycling 0:03:58
24 Julien Bernard (Fra) Trek-Segafredo 0:04:18
25 Robert Britton (Can) Rally Cycling 0:05:47
26 Antonio Molina Canet (Esp) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA 0:07:31
27 Jhonnatan Manuel Navaez Prado (Ecu) Axeon Hagens Berman 0:07:33
28 Taylor Shelden (USA) Jelly Belly-Maxxis
29 Alexander Cowan (Can) Silber Pro Cycling
30 Eder Frayre Moctezuma (Mex) Elevate-KHS Pro Cycling 0:08:22
31 Daniel Jaramillo (Col) UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling 0:09:19
32 Gonzalo Serrano Rodriguez (Esp) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA
33 Kiel Reijnen (USA) Trek-Segafredo 0:09:22
34 Justin Oien (USA) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA 0:09:23
35 Martin Elmiger (Swi) BMC Racing Team
36 John Murphy (USA) Holowesko-Citadel p/b Hincapie Sportswear 0:09:54
37 Didier Munyaneza (Rwa) Team Rwanda Cycling 0:10:00
38 Taylor Phinney (USA) Cannondale-Drapac Pro Cycling 0:10:01
39 Jacob Rathe (USA) Jelly Belly-Maxxis 0:10:35
40 Gregory Daniel (USA) Trek-Segafredo 0:11:25
41 Guillaume Boivin (Can) Israel Cycling Academy 0:13:51
42 Silvan Dillier (Swi) BMC Racing Team 0:14:01
43 Robin Carpenter (USA) Holowesko-Citadel p/b Hincapie Sportswear
44 Tom Bohli (Swi) BMC Racing Team 0:14:05
45 Laurent Didier (Lux) Trek-Segafredo
46 Logan Owen (USA) Axeon Hagens Berman 0:15:42
47 Jean Paul Rene Ukiniwabo (Rwa) Team Rwanda Cycling 0:15:50
48 Seid Lizde (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
49 Jean Claude Uwizeye (Rwa) Team Rwanda Cycling
50 Valerio Conti (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
51 Manuel Sola Arjona (Esp) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA 0:15:51
52 Alex Hoehn (USA) Elevate-KHS Pro Cycling 0:16:23
53 Christopher Blevins (USA) Axeon Hagens Berman 0:16:28
54 Edward Anderson (USA) Axeon Hagens Berman
55 Dennis Van Winden (Ned) Israel Cycling Academy
56 Mihkel Räim (Est) Israel Cycling Academy 0:16:57
57 Marco Canola (Ita) Nippo-Vini Fantini
58 Miguel Bryon (USA) Holowesko-Citadel p/b Hincapie Sportswear
59 Colin Joyce (USA) Rally Cycling
60 Keegan Swirbul (USA) Jelly Belly-Maxxis
61 Yuma Koishi (Jpn) Nippo-Vini Fantini
62 Tyler Williams (USA) Israel Cycling Academy 0:18:04
63 Daniel Eaton (USA) UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling 0:18:49
64 Greg Henderson (NZl) UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling 0:20:16
65 Julien Gagne (Can) Silber Pro Cycling 0:20:28
66 Angus Morton (Aus) Jelly Belly-Maxxis 0:20:30
67 Umberto Poli (Ita) Team Novo Nordisk 0:20:32
68 Gasore Hategeka (Rwa) Team Rwanda Cycling 0:20:45
69 Ryan Roth (Can) Silber Pro Cycling 0:21:03
70 Evan Huffman (USA) Rally Cycling 0:21:33
71 Alan Marangoni (Ita) Nippo-Vini Fantini 0:21:39
72 Danny Pate (USA) Rally Cycling
73 Ulises Alfredo Castillo Soto (Mex) Jelly Belly-Maxxis
74 Stephen Clancy (Irl) Team Novo Nordisk 0:21:54
75 Shane Kline (USA) Rally Cycling
76 James Piccoli (Can) Elevate-KHS Pro Cycling 0:22:00
77 Henrikus Van Ijzendoorn NED Team Novo Nordisk 0:26:36
78 Sam Brand (GBr) Team Novo Nordisk
79 Luis Lemus (Mex) Israel Cycling Academy 0:26:42
80 Joseph Schmaltz (USA) Elevate-KHS Pro Cycling
81 Guy Niv (Isr) Israel Cycling Academy 0:27:20
82 Michael Rice (Aus) Axeon Hagens Berman
83 Damiano Cima (Ita) Nippo-Vini Fantini
84 Matteo Moschetti (Ita) Trek-Segafredo
85 Innokenty Innokenty (USA) Elevate-KHS Pro Cycling 0:27:24
86 Giacomo Berlato (Ita) Nippo-Vini Fantini 0:29:11
87 Jonathan Brown (USA) Axeon Hagens Berman 0:29:57
88 Jose Alfredo Rodriguez Victoria (Mex) Elevate-KHS Pro Cycling 0:31:32
89 Lawson Craddock (USA) Cannondale-Drapac Pro Cycling 0:31:47
90 Fabio Calabria (Aus) Team Novo Nordisk 0:32:25
91 Bonaventure Uwizeyimana (Rwa) Team Rwanda Cycling 0:43:28