Rohan Dennis easily protected his yellow jersey in the final stage of the USA Pro Challenge on Sunday, pushing his BMC teammates to the team’s third consecutive victory. Dennis, the first non-American to win the Pro Challenge, was followed by teammate Brent Bookwalter and SmartStop’s Rob Britton in the overall top three.
The final few minutes of the climactic Denver stage delivered on drama. Greg Daniel of Axeon Cycling led the Pro Challenge peloton for most of the race alongside Danish national champion Chris Anker Sørensen of Russia’s Tinkoff-Saxo team. Daniel, 20, a Cherry Creek High School graduate, lasted until the final six miles of the the 68-mile race from Golden into downtown Denver.
BMC Racing, which rode off the front for most of the stage to protect Dennis, easily reeled in the breakaway as the mass of riders jostled for sprinting position. In final kilometer, a straightaway sprint down Broadway past Civic Center, , Dennis faded into the pack after providing a leadout for teammate Taylor Phinney, who surged. Boulder’s Phinney, trying to bookend his Stage 1 win in Steamboat Springs, could not match the power of UnitedHealthcare’s John Murphy, who eked across the finish line barely a bike length ahead of Phinney, who finished second. Lucas Haedo of Jamie Hagens-Berman took third in the stage.
A chippy peloton
The smack talk in the peloton was fiery in this Pro Challenge. Without a clear leader — a heavy-hitting team that every rider agreed would control the race — the peloton was a messy mass in the first few stages.
It got ugly . Everyone in the peloton agreed to a bathroom break before the climb. Then an unnamed rider from Jamis-Hagens Berman attacked. That’s bad form. When BMC caught up with the rule-bending renegade, BMC’s Rohan Dennis chucked a paper wrapper from his sandwich at the rider. By the time the peloton reached Aspen, the rumor was that Dennis had hurled a full water bottle at the rider. That’s more than bad form.
Further research by BMC director Patrick Stewart revealed it was only a sandwich wrapper.
“It was a guy with a lot of experience correcting a guy with not much experience,” said Stewart, a former racer. “It became this thing, this impression that everyone thought we were being bullies. That wasn’t the case. I understand we are a big team, and I understand people yell and fight … but in Europe, these guys are racing day in and day out. There’s mutual respect and a mutual protocol. This was about inexperienced riders not understanding that.”
Jason Blevins: 303-954-1374, jblevins@denverpost.com or twitter.com/jasonblevins
