Didier Rides Through Wet Stage 5 to Claim Victory in Colorado

Aug 22, 2014 – Luxembourg’s Laurent Didier won Friday’s fifth stage of the USA Pro Challenge cycling race, while American Tejay Van Garderen finished ninth to maintain his 20-second overall lead. Trek racer Didier captured the 167.6-kilometer (104.14-mile) stage from Woodland Park to Breckenridge in three hours, 50 minutes and 38 seconds with Colombian Janier Alexis Acevedo Colle second and Canada’s Rob Britton third, both in the same time.

AFP/Darrell Parks

“I didn’t feel that good in the beginning. The first 40k was quite hard,” Didier said. “The really big thing here is the altitude. I have not won a lot of races, but the ones I have won have always been in the rain! So in the middle part of the race when there was a lot of rain, I stayed focused, put on my rain jacket and gloves, so I was prepared for the finale.”

Van Garderen was 1:33 off the pace in ninth but that was enough to keep the BMC Racing rider’s margin over second-place overall rider Rafael Majka of Poland, who placed 10th in the stage just behind the American.

“It was definitely a tough day,” van Garderen said. “The breakaway took a really long time to get along and my team had to control it the whole time. That, coupled with the cold and the rain, made it pretty hard, especially on my team because they had to pull all day.”

Romanian Serghei Tvetcov jumped from fifth to third in the overall competition but remained 37 seconds adrift of van Garderen. American Tom Danielson was fourth, 39 seconds off the pace, with countryman Matthew Busche another 12 seconds back.

Saturday’s penultimate stage is a 10-mile (16.1-kilometer) individual time trial in Vail that follows along the Vail Pass and features a steep climb up the final three miles.

Results of the fifth stage of the USA Pro Challenge cycling race: 167.6-kilometers (104.14-mile) from Woodland Park to Breckenridge:

Stage 5
1. Laurent Didier (LUX/TFR) 3hrs 50mins 38secs
2. Janier Alexis Acevedo Colle (COL/GRS) same time
3. Rob Britton (CAN/SSC) s.t.
4. Ben King (USA/GRS) at 15 seconds
5. Jose Joao Pimenta Costa Mendes (POR/TNE) at 1:11
6. Dan Eaton (USA/BDT) at 1:26
7. Serghei Tvetcov (ROM/JBC) at 1:33
8. Richard Handley (GBR/RCJ) s.t.
9. Tejay Van Garderen (USA/BMC) s.t.
10. Rafael Majka (POL/TCS) s.t.

Overall standings
1. Tejay Van Garderen (USA/BMC) 16hr 55min 56sec
2. Rafal Majka (POL/TCS) at 20 seconds
3. Serghei Tvetcov (ROM/JBC) 37
4. Tom Danielson (USA/GRS) 39
5. Matthew Busche (USA/TFR) 51
6. Joseph Rosskopf (USA/HSD) 1:14
7. Carter Jones (USA/OPM) 1:22
8. Bartosz Huzarski (POL/TNE) 1:28
9. Ben Hermans (BEL/BMC) 1:49
10. Julian Kyer (USA/SSC) 1:55