BRECKENRIDGE — The crowds keep getting bigger and the stages keep getting tighter, but for Colorado’s Team Garmin-Cervelo, the story line isn’t getting any better.
After six days of racing in the USA Pro Cycling Challenge, 11 seconds still separate Christian VandeVelde from Team RadioShack’s race leader, Levi Leipheimer. Only Lookout Mountain remains in the way of Leipheimer standing victorious near the state Capitol building today.
Saturday was Garmin-Cervelo’s last chance. A climb from Steamboat Springs up endless Rabbit Ears Pass. A final 25-mile climb up grueling Swan Mountain heading into Breckenridge. Nearly a week at high altitude.
The mountains offered hope. Instead, Garmin-Cervelo’s last reasonable hope went up in the thin air of 11,000 feet.
No one cracked. No one who mattered anyway. A four-man breakaway, including Garmin-Cervelo’s Tom Peterson, got swallowed up in the last mile and VandeVelde, fourth-place teammate Tom Danielson and Leipheimer all finished together in front of a massive throng along Main Street.
Italian Elia Viviani of Liquigas-Cannondale (Italy) won the final sprint for the second consecutive day, but the main event offered no real suspense.
“It was just a really strange day,” said Danielson, still 21 seconds behind.
The plan was to make Leipheimer’s RadioShack team work as hard as possible. Garmin-Cervelo attacked on Rabbit Ears Pass but it only produced a four-man break.
RadioShack, with Ivan Rovny doing much of the dirty work, kept Leipheimer protected and in striking distance if Garmin-Cervelo ever got away.
Only Peterson did.
“It would’ve been better if the break was a little bit bigger,” said Jonathan Vaughters, CEO of Garmin-Cervelo. “Through Dillon and coming up Swan Mountain we wanted to throttle it to just get it down to as small group as possible so Levi didn’t have support and then have Christian and Tommy each try to attack.
“It was a little bit of a head wind coming up Swan Mountain.”
According to Danielson and VandeVelde, they didn’t get a lot of help. They expected the climbers from Colombia to attack on Rabbit Ears Pass but they did little, forcing Garmin-Cervelo riders to take matters into their own hands later in the race.
“The team went to the front and we were going to attack and it became clear there was a head wind,” Danielson said. “I tried something in the last 10K and when I saw the Colombian team bring me back I realized, ‘OK, this is ridiculous.’ “
The only bright moment left for the local crowd would be if Peterson or the wildly popular Andy Schleck won the stage. With 50 kilometers left, the breakaway had nearly a five-minute lead on the peloton. Italian star Ivan Basso (Liquigas-Cannondale), Dutchman Laurens Ten Dam (Rabobank-Holland), Peterson and Schleck agreed to work together until a mad sprint to the finish.
However, Schleck attacked with less than 2 miles left. It wasn’t enough. As they made the left-hand turn down Main Street, the peloton caught the foursome and Viviani outraced the world again to the finish line.
“The final climb suited me,” Schleck said. “But I couldn’t get more than 15 seconds out of it.”
The question now is if Garmin-Cervelo can win the race by breaking Leipheimer on a Lookout Mountain that accountants and bartenders climb every day. It’s a 4.5-mile climb with a 1,228-foot elevation gain at a 5.1 percent grade. That’s a speed bump compared with Cottonwood and Independence passes and then it’s 30 miles of flat terrain to 14th and Broadway.
VandeVelde is a former Boulder resident who has ridden Lookout countless times. Danielson owns the world record of 16:02. But Leip-heimer has never tended bar in his life. Can Garmin-Cervelo have any hope?
“You can’t because the finish isn’t on Lookout,” VandeVelde said. “I think we’ll have something similar to (Saturday) where it’s going to go ape and it’s going to be horrible going up Lookout. There are going to be groups everywhere but it’s so far from the finish, it’ll be like pounding your head against the wall.”
John Henderson: 303-954-1299, jhenderson@denverpost.com,
Stage 5 recap
Winner: Elia Viviani of Italy claimed his second straight sprint stage finishing Saturday’s fifth stage in 4 hours, 4 minutes, 31 seconds.
Best of Garmin-Cervelo: Christian VandeVelde continues to lead the team, finishing 10th for second place overall (11 seconds behind American Levi Leipheimer). His teammate Tom Danielson is fourth overall (21 seconds back).
See it. Best places to watch, street closure info and more.
70.9 miles from Golden to Denver
Start: 10:45 a.m.
Finish: 1:30-1:45 p.m.
Best way to watch:
The King of the Mountain will be decided on the crushing climb up Lookout Mountain. The start line in Golden will see racers pass three times, marking one of the more coveted viewing spots of the race. But the grind up Lookout Mountain should be equally memorable for spectators.
In Denver, the racers will navigate six laps of a 5-mile circuit along Speer Boulevard, 13th Avenue and Broadway next to the Capitol. Expect the riders to hit the circuit about 12:15 p.m.
A grand party is slated for Denver’s Civic Center Park at the finish line, which is on Broadway at 14th Avenue.
Road closures include:
• Lookout Mountain Road will close at 5 a.m.
• Off-ramps closed at Interstate 25 and Speer Boulevard (noon-1 p.m.)
• Colfax Avenue closed from Logan to Kalamath Streets and Speer Boulevard from Auraria Parkway to Bannock Street (10 a.m.-3 p.m.)
• North-south access to Auraria Parkway from Market and Larimer streets will be affected only during the 30-minute race period.
• Rolling closures on 29th Avenue and Speer Boulevard for 30 minutes starting at 11:45 a.m.
