VAIL — Riders in the USA Pro Cycling Challenge enter their fourth day of racing today, an individual time trial that race organizers say could all but lock in the winner of the yellow jersey.
The 10-mile stage, which starts in Vail Village and then climbs over the last three miles to the finish on Vail Pass, comes just a day after the week-long event’s “Queen Stage,” which pushed riders over two 12,000-foot passes, the highest in professional cycling history.
That stands in stark contrast to Monday’s net downhill five-mile prologue in Colorado Springs.
Tour de France champion Cadel Evans of BMC Racing and Radioshack’s Levi Leipheimer are expected to be among the contenders for today’s stage win. But don’t count out Tejay Van Garderen, 23, a 10-time junior champion and the overall race leader. He rides for HTC-Highroad.
“I don’t think we have the strongest team on paper here, but once you have the yellow jersey, you can see your teammates get more motivation,” Van Garderen said Wednesday. “They can ride above and beyond their ability one they have the goal of defending the jersey. I expect that’s what’s going to happen here.”
The first rider to push off in today’s race will be American Kai Applequist of Team Exergy. One of 124 remaining riders, he’ll start at 1 p.m., with subsequent riders departing every minute. Van Garderen will cap the event, starting at 3:13 p.m., with the final 10 riders starting 2 minutes apart. They’ll climb from about 8,100 feet to 9,600 feet over the route, a fact that will force teams to decide whether to use a bike strictly for time trialing — bikes that aren’t meant for effective climbing — or something of a hybrid that compromises speed on the course’s early flat parts, but could allows riders to make up ground later.
Daniel Petty: dpetty@denverpost.com or
