COLORADO SPRINGS — Christian VandeVelde of Boulder-based Team Garmin-Cervelo took second place in the opening prologue of the inaugural USA Pro Cycling Challenge today.
VandeVelde finished the 5.2-mile course from Garden of the Gods to downtown Colorado Springs in 8 minutes, 29 seconds, which was two seconds behind the time of winner Patrick Gretsch (Germany) of HTC-Highroad. American Brent Brookwalter of BMC Racing took third in 8:33.
“The crowd was great,” VandeVelde said. “It’s a Monday afternoon and I didn’t know what to expect. A lot of times on weekends the American crowds are great. Sometimes in the week it’s hard for them to get off. Of course, in Spain you have siesta so nobody works, but here we work. The crowd was awesome.
“It was a great change for all the American riders.”
Garmin-Cervelo’s Tom Danielson, considered a favorite in this race, finished 20th 18 seconds behind Gretsch. Fellow American Levi Leipheimer (Team RadioShack), who just won the Tour of Utah, is seventh 10 seconds ahead of Danielson.
Tour de France winner Cadel Evans finished in ninth place, eight seconds behind Gretsch.
The race was the first international pro race in Colorado Springs since the 1986 Coors Classic went through the Air Force Academy.
Gretsch will wear the yellow jersey for Tuesday’s first full stage, which begins in Salida at 11:45 a.m. and will travel 99.3 miles to the finish at Mount Crested Butte. The leaders should arrive at the finish at about 3:40. The stage includes the first mountain pass, going over Monarch Pass at 11,315 feet.
