Oftentimes when competitors compliment their rivals it's either a psychological ploy or an effort to say the right thing in front of the press. But when a notoriously genuine fellow like USA Pro Challenge stage 3 winner Kiel Reijnen (UnitedHealthcare) interrupts the usual press conference banter to praise a rider from another team, it's worth taking notice.
Before answering a question about the final climb and the final kilometres of Wednesday's stage win, Reijnen stopped the press to give a shout out to BMC's race leader Brent Bookwalter.
"I would be remiss if I didn't say how deserving a leader Brent is," Reijnen told the assembled journalists. "It's really awesome to see. I think there's a lot of people in the peloton who are happy for him. It's rad, and it's one of the cool things about being in this race."
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Bookwalter, 31, finished with the lead group in ninth during stage 3 to preserve his six second lead over teammate Rohan Dennis and 10 seconds over Jonny Clarke (UnitedHealthcare) and Hugh Carthy (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA).
Over a decade of racing professionally, Bookwalter has notched a handful of wins. He took the opening stage at the Tour of Qatar in 2013 and wore the leader's jersey for two stages before ceding it to Mark Cavendish and finishing second overall. He was second to Bradley Wiggins in an individual time trial at the 2010 Giro d'Italia, and he finished second to Dennis at the 2013 Tour of Alberta.
Bookwalter finished fourth in July of this year at the Tour of Austria, and he was third earlier this month at the Tour of Utah, where he finished second on two stages. He took over the race lead in Colorado on Tuesday after Dennis paced the lead group up the final climb to Arapahoe Basin, providing a perfect launching pad for Bookwalter's race-winning move.
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