Five riders to watch at the 2011 USA Pro Cycling Challenge
- By Neal Rogers
- Published Aug. 15, 2011
BOULDER, Colo. (VN) — Nearly 140 riders will start the USA Pro Cycling Challenge next Monday, but only one can win. Here’s a look at five that pose the biggest threat to take victory in Denver.
Cadel Evans (Australia, BMC Racing)
A mountain-bike racing prodigy during his teenage years, the 34-year-old reigning Tour de France champion is enjoying a renaissance during the second half of his road-racing career.
After second-place finishes at the 2007 and 2008 Tours, Cadel Evans was perceived as a talented stage racer who was more prone to following than attacking, and wholly incapable of closing the deal at the biggest races. The reality, however, was that Evans had been hampered both by crashes that were no fault of his own, and by a Lotto team that was not purpose-built for supporting a Tour contender.
Things turned around quickly for Evans beginning with the 2009 world road championship in Switzerland, where the Aussie launched a thrilling, perfectly timed attack in the final kilometers, surprising the favorites and holding them off on a grueling uphill finish. His prize was the world champion’s rainbow jersey, and he defended it with honor in 2010, racing valiantly with his new BMC Racing team. He won the one-day classic Fleche Wallonne, and placed fifth at the Giro d’Italia, where he won a rainy, muddy stage and held the race lead for two days. He went on to wear the yellow jersey at the 2010 Tour de France for a day, but on the same day that he’d earned the jersey he’d gone down in a pile-up and broken his elbow. His Tour dream was, once again, over.
The 2011 season has been Evans’ best yet. He chose to come into the season with fewer racing days, opting out of the Giro, and instead focused on select stage races. He won the Italian stage race Tirreno-Adriatico, with a stage win, won Switzerland’s Tour de Romandie (for a second time in his career), and placed second overall at the Tour warm-up Critérium du Dauphiné.
In July Evans took the biggest prize of his career, the top podium step at the Tour de France, with a near-perfect race. He avoided the crashes that marred the first week of the race, he stayed on top of the pre-race favorites in the mountains, he took the initiative to chase down dangerous moves, and he delivered a demonstrative time trial that proved he was the strongest of the overall contenders. It was the crowning achievement not only of the 2011 season, but also of a bike-racing career that began nearly two decades earlier.
FILED UNDER: News / Road / USA Pro Cycling Challenge
Neal Rogers
An interest in all things rock 'n' roll led Neal into music journalism while attending UC Santa Cruz. After several post-grad years spent waiting tables, surfing and mountain biking, Neal moved to San Francisco, working stints as a bike messenger and at a software start-up. He moved to Colorado in 2001, taking an editorial internship at VeloNews. He never left, and is now Velo's editor in chief. When not traveling the world covering races, Neal can be found riding his bike, skiing, cooking, or attending a concert. Follow him on Twitter at @nealrogers.