I couldn't make it to the Tour of Utah this year, but I did get the chance to check out Stage 6 of the USA Pro Challenge from Golden, CO to Boulder, CO. This was probably the most anticipated stage of all with the finish at Sunrise Amphitheater on Flagstaff Mountain.
I started the day as I usually do at a race, by hanging out in the team bus area before the start.
Welcome to Golden
One of the first things I saw was Phil Liggett's favorite, the Clean Bottle.
Clean Bottle
Most teams don't have the huge team buses like we're used to seeing at the big races in Europe. Most teams make do with what appear to be rented RVs.
The Champion System team "bus".
Even a big team like Omega Pharma-Quickstep has to do without their normal team bus in North America. Here is Levi Leipheimer outside his "bus," ready for his interview with Bob Roll.
Leipheimer
Speaking of Bob Roll, he is always very popular with the US fans. He gets a ton of requests for photos and/or autographs, and he is always generous with his time. Today he was especially nice to the younger fans, telling one set of kids that they made is day and telling another kid that if he told his teacher he was friends with Bob Roll, he'd get straight A's. I tend to follow Roll around for a while because he gets all the big interviews and it's an easy way to see some of the big names without spending a lot of time waiting in front of the buses hoping someone will come out.
Bob Roll making the fans smile.
The team bus area is a good place to see both riders and equipment. As for the riders, along with Leipheimer above, here are a few I saw along the way.
Fast Freddie Rodriguez
Ivan Basso
Craig Lewis
A blurry Dave Zabriskie
Joe Dombrowski
Race leader TeeJay Van Garderen
There are also some other familiar faces.
Vaughters, doing an interview in French
Jim Ochowicz with a few sacks of Jimmy John's
Some of the gear:
Alexander Mironov's BMC
Astana's team bikes
BMC team car
Lightweights casually sitting by the curb
Tom Danielson provided one of the most memorable moments of the day. He came out of the Garmin team bus wearing a cowboy hat and high-fiving the fans.
Danielson
Danielson
Danielson
Danielson wanted to do his interview with Bob Roll with his cowboy hat on, but his handlers made sure he traded it out for the standard team hat. They have to keep the sponsors happy.
With about 15 minutes before the start of the stage I headed towards the start line and the sign-in area. I caught interviews with Timmy Duggan, Levi Leipheimer, Taylor Phinney, Tom Daneilson, and George Hincapie. This was Hincapie's final race before retirement, and the fans were there to thank him for the memories.
US Champion Tim Duggan
Danielson continued to be fired up for the day, expressing how happy he was to be riding such a big race in Colorado and vowing to "kick ass" on the day. Unfortunately, he finished the day in 26th place, 1:56 down on stage winner Rory Sutherland. The good news is that his teammate, Christian Vande Velde, finished well on the day and ended up winning the race with a strong time trial on the following day in Denver.
Golden was packed with fans and I didn't leave the sign-in area until the last minute, but luckily I was able to find a good spot along the road to watch the opening two laps through town.
Team cars lined up at the start
After the start I made my way through Boulder (packed) towards the final KOM at Lee Hill Rd. I got to watch the riders descend on a pretty tricky corner on the Lee Hill Rd descent. That final KOM must have done some damage, because there were quite a few different groups on the way down.
It was a great day out there and we are lucky to have such high-level racing in America with the Tour of California, the Tour of Utah, and the USA Pro Challenge. I hope the fans continue to support these races and that they are able to survive for the long term.
I'll leave you with a picture of a Mario Cipollini wannabe.
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