Alex Howes (Cannondale-Drapac) timed his move perfectly Friday during stage 2 at the Colorado Classic, bridging to all-day breakaway rider TJ Eisenhart on the final climb and then out-sprinting the Holowesko-Citadel rider to take the stage victory in Breckenridge.
Trek-Segafredo's Peter Stetina bridged to Eisenhart with Howes and attacked relentlessly to avoid a sprint against his friend and nemesis Howes, but his efforts came to nought and unable to dislodge the quicker sprinters, he took no risks on the descent and finished third.
"I really wanted to win here today, because I knew whoever takes the win here has a great shot at winning the overall," Howes said, adding that this race has been on his list of targets since it was announced.
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As a Colorado native, Howes noted the lack of a time trial, his personal weakness, and set his sights on the overall classification. But, he said, "you always have a plan, but they usually don't work out. So when they do, it's pretty special".
His last win came in Denver in 2014 at the USA Pro Challenge, where he out-sprinted his friend and rival Kiel Reijnen. In Breckenridge, it was Stetina, another close friend, who caused him the most pain.
"When Pete went I couldn't tell how many laps it was to go (3 - ed.). His Trek team was doing a turn and burn and Pete launched and I was thinking, 'what the hell are you doing? We have a long ways to go'. I knew I couldn't give him any space. So I hung on for dear life, and I did that every time going up - he put the hurt on pretty hard.
How it unfolded
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