BEAVER CREEK, Colorado (VN) — Wily veteran Jens Voigt rode alone to victory on Thursday in stage 4 of the USA Pro Challenge.
The RadioShack-Nissan hardman joined an escape on the ascent of Independence Pass as the race left Aspen — and then he discarded it, soldiering on alone over that KOM, through Leadville and over the Battle Mountain KOM.
Bound for Beaver Creek the big German had built an advantage of nearly six and a half minutes over the yellow-jersey group of Christian Vande Velde (Garmin-Sharp), which shrugged its collective shoulders on Battle Mountain, wished the old boy well and set about arranging the overall standings.
Six miles from the line Voigt still held six minutes of his margin. And though the peloton would take a token nibble from it on the way into town, it was only a nibble — Voigt crossed alone for the victory, waving to the cheering crowd, straightening his jersey and grinning from ear to ear.
Adios to Aspen
The 97.2-mile stage from Aspen to Beaver Creek saw a return to foul weather and an early break by Chris Jones (UnitedHealthcare), Rubens Bertogliati (Team Type 1-Sanofi), Craig Lewis (Champion System) and Camilo Castiblanco and Eduard Beltran (EPM-UNE).
They were joined by Voigt, Jesse Anthony (Optum), Andres Diaz Corrales (Exergy), Roman Kreuziger and Fabio Aru (Astana), Lachlan Morton (Garmin-Sharp), Matt Cooke (Exergy), Rory Sutherland (UnitedHealthcare), Carter Jones and Julian Kyer (Bissell), and Ivan Santaromita (BMC).
The large break built a gap of 3:40 on the ascent of Independence Pass before Voigt rolled off the front alone and took a serious advantage over a pair of chase groups, which eventually merged into one pursuit, with the yellow-jersey group further behind.
Voigt led over the KOM of Independence Pass and held to a lead of nearly two and a half minutes over the first chase and four minutes more over the yellow-jersey group.
Wind and rain lashed both hare and hounds, and the jersey group reeled the first chase in just past Leadville. That left only Voigt out front, racing alone in 51-degree temperatures and rain, sans jacket.
With 22 miles to race Voigt held an advantage of nearly four minutes over the Liquigas-Cannondale-led chase. That was the good news. The better news was that he was on dry roads.
Behind, the field sat up, glanced around and shut it down, save for a lone Exergy who rolled off the front, considered trying to make a race of it, then fell back to the bunch.
Voigt began the ascent of Battle Mountain with a gap of more than five minutes and Lars Michelson offering encouragement from the RadioShack team car.
He didn’t need it — as he went over the KOM and began his descent to Minturn he had nearly six minutes on the bunch.
Behind, Castiblanco attacked the field, going for the second-place points at the Battle Mountain KOM, and he got them, ahead of teammate Javier Eduardo Gomez Pineda. That drew out mountains leader Tom Danielson (Garmin-Sharp), who followed the Colombians, took the fourth-place points and got out front to position himself for the final climb to Beaver Creek.
All that made no difference to Voigt. He brought RadioShack what it wanted from the Pro Challenge — a stage win — and having re-signed with the squad for another season, who knows? He may be back for another shot in 2013.
Editor’s note: Stay tuned for more from stage 4 of the USA Pro Challenge.
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