Laurent Didier (Trek Factory Racing) won USA Pro Challenge stage 5 in Breckenridge with a decisive attack on the final climb.
Picking up where his teammate Jens Voigt left off on Thursday, Didier rode an aggressive race, attacking early, alone, on the day’s category two climb up Hoosier Pass.
His first attempt was not to be, as three of his early breakaway companions chased him down on the long, wet, cold descent into Breckenridge.
However, the Trek Factory rider had one more chance, and he took it on Boreas Pass, attacking Janier Acevedo (Garmin-Sharp), Ben King (Garmin-Sharp), and Rob Britton (Team SmartStop). The three others could not respond to his effort on the steep pitch above Breckenridge.
Britton and Acevedo chased valiantly on the descent. On the final drag through town, it looked for a moment that Didier would suffer the same indignity that Voigt did — to be caught in the final kilometer — but not this time.
The Luxembourger put his head down, grasped the drops and powered to the win, mere seconds ahead of the two chasers.
Behind the leaders, the GC group also saw some fireworks on the final climb.
Tejay van Garderen (BMC) attacked on Boreas Pass, and Rafal Majka (Tinkoff-Saxo) followed. Both solidified their first and second GC placings, respectively.
On the other hand, Ben Hermans (BMC) was knocked out of his podium position. Serghei Tvetcov (Jelly Belly) now sits third, 37 seconds back. Tom Danielson (Garmin-Sharp) remains fourth, while Matthew Busche (Trek Factory Racing) moved up to fifth overall.
Early escape
A breakaway of 12 riders got away from the field early in the day.
The group included a few notables, such as Acevedo, who won the USA Pro Challenge stage in Beaver Creek last year.
The peloton showed little initiative, allowing the gap to stretch to over four minutes, as the riders faced a cool, rainy day in the Colorado high country.
Jelly Belly’s Luis Lemus won the only intermediate points sprint of the day in Fairplay. Jai Crawford (Drapac) was second, and Richard Handley (Rapha Condor-JLT) was third.
Out of the front group, three leaders forged ahead on Hoosier Pass: King, Didier, and Britton.
As they reached the top of the course, Didier got a small gap and won the king of the mountains sprint.
Acevedo followed close behind the two chasers and caught them shortly into the descent.
Back in the main field, Hoosier Pass took its toll, splitting a small group of 11 riders off the front. Race leader Tejay van Garderen (BMC) safely made the front group, and they were 2:45 behind the leaders at the crest of the climb.
Didier’s advantage over the chasing trio was a mere 10 seconds with nine miles to go, as the descent leveled out on the approach to Breckenridge.
With 8.5 miles remaining, the leader was caught.
Entering Breckenridge, the four frontrunners had 45 seconds over the eight chasers remaining from the early breakaway.
Final test on Boreas Pass
After 100 miles of racing, the leaders faced the day’s final test, a steep, short climb up Boreas Pass.
King attacked on the run-in to the last climb, forcing Didier to chase with Acevedo on his wheel.
As the road pitched up, King had a small gap of 10 seconds.
However, his move didn’t stick, and Didier countered, quickly gapping his three companions.
The Trek Factory rider crested the climb alone, but not out of sight.
After the blazing fast final descent to the finish, Didier had a six-second advantage over Britton and Acevedo with one kilometer to go.
Britton chased hard on the final straight in Breckenridge, but it wasn’t enough to catch Didier, the Luxembourg national time trial champion, who held them off by a few bike lengths.
The drama on Boreas Pass wasn’t exclusive to the leaders. On the final climb, van Garderen attacked the group of GC favorites that had survived the wet, cold ride over Hoosier Pass.
Serghei Tvetcov (Jelly Belly), and Rafal Majka (Tinkoff-Saxo) were able to respond, and rode to the finish with the race leader.
Tom Danielson (Garmin-Sharp) missed the split, but held on to finish only five seconds behind the van Garderen group.
Saturday will see the USA Pro Challenge tackle the storied Vail Pass hill climb time trial, a 10 mile test that finishes at 9,600 feet above sea level.
The post Laurent Didier’s tenacious climbing wins a wet stage 5 at USA Pro Challenge appeared first on VeloNews.com.
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