The crowd got loud for Tejay van Garderen before the USA Pro
Challenge leader took off from the start house of Stage Five, a time trial in
Vail. By the end of his run he’d earned the roars.
Van Garderen (BMC Racing) charged up the Vail slope in
25:01, eclipsing the time set by Garmin-Sharp rider Andrew Talansky by four
seconds. Talansky had held the first spot for the majority of the day, despite
ranking 48th overall.
Stage Five was a time trial that saw riders take off from
Vail and follow I-70 up a slope east toward Vail Pass. The afternoon time trial
was free of the sudden rain that poured down on the end of Stage Four.
No rider came within a minute of Talansky’s time until Tom
Danielson finished 58 seconds behind Talansky. The Boulderite, starting the stage
in fourth, rode to enthusiastic cheers from the crowd. Danielson finished the
time trial in 26:03; he appeared ready to take the top spot through the early
part of the course, then dropped his pace.
The stage victory by van Garderen extends his overall lead
ahead of teammate Mattias Frank. Frank finished 10th in the stage, putting him just
12 seconds ahead of Danielson overall. After Danielson overall is Colombian Janier
Acevedo (Jamis-Hagens Berman), who finished 38 seconds behind Danielson.
Lachlan Morton (Garmin-Sharp), wearing the best young rider
jersey, came in sixth, just ahead of teammate Christian Vandevelde. Morton has
finished in the top 10 twice in the group riding stages and was the race leader
in stages two and three. He now sits in fifth overall, 2:34 behind van
Garderen.
But by the end of the race, it was van Garderen’s BMC Racing
with three of the top five places. Stephen Cummings and Lawrence Warbasse took
fourth and fifth. In the team standings, BMC holds a 5:30 lead over
Garmin-Sharp.
