August 23, 2012 (Beaver Creek, CO) – Lucas Euser of Team SpiderTech powered by C10 remains 10th overall after the “Queen stage” of the USA Pro Cycling Challenge, Wednesday. The 210-km third stage featured two mountain passes over 3,600 m, and in keeping with the rest of this year’s race it was unrelentingly hard.

An early breakaway of 18 riders went clear in the opening kilometres, but the massive dirt climb over Cottonwood Pass whittled the front group down to just six riders, and by the time the race hit the slopes of Independence pass just two riders remained out front with a three-minute advantage: Tom Danielson (Garmin-Sharp) and Francisco Colorado (EPM).

In the peloton, BMC Racing was working hard to defend Tejay Van Garderen’s yellow jersey, but they paid a heavy price as partway up the climb Van Garderen had no teammates left to help him.

Up front, Danielson dropped Colorado and forged ahead alone in a bid to take the overall lead. Behind, in the rapidly shrinking peloton, Euser went on the attack in an effort to get across to Danielson. His efforts helped reduce the peloton to just 20 riders as they passed through the throngs of spectators at the summit just 1:35 behind Danielson.

A few riders caught back on during the 30-km descent to the finish in Aspen and the peloton picked up speed and began closing the gap to Danielson, but he hung on to win the stage just two seconds ahead of a group of 30 riders. Euser finished 15th on the stage and remains 10th overall.

Caleb Fairly played a key role in SpiderTech’s strategy for the stage, bridging across to the early break and then working to place Euser for the final climb.

“Caleb did an awesome job for me today,” said Euser. “With Brian, Hugo and Ryan in the group behind us, Caleb did a great job for me to help me stay out of the wind as we headed into Independence.”

On Thursday the racers face a 156.4-km stage from Aspen to Beaver Creek which takes them back over Independence Pass before heading north through Leadville. The finish line is at the top of a sharp, 4-km climb that could produce a shuffle in the overall standings.

Results

1. Jens Voigt (Ger) RadioShack-Nissan 3:54:00
2. Andreas Klöden (Ger) RadioShack-Nissan 02:58
3. Tejay van Garderen (USA) BMC Racing Team
4. Levi Leipheimer (USA) Omega Pharma-Quickstep
5. Oliver Zaugg (Sui) RadioShack-Nissan
6. Christian Vande Velde (USA) Garmin-Sharp
7. Ivan Rovny (Rus) RusVelo
8. Joseph Lloyd Dombrowski (USA) Bontrager Livestrong Team
9. Janez Brajkovic (Slo) Astana Pro Team
10. Ramiro Rincon Diaz (Col) EPM-Une 03:03
11. Peter Stetina (USA) Garmin-Sharp
12. Damiano Caruso (Ita) Liquigas-Cannondale
13. Javier Eduardo Gomez Pineda (Col) EPM-Une
14. Matthew Busche (USA) RadioShack-Nissan
15. Jakob Fuglsang (Den) RadioShack-Nissan
16. Thomas Danielson (USA) Garmin-Sharp
17. Lucas Euser (USA) Spidertech Powered By C10
18. Christopher Horner (USA) RadioShack-Nissan 03:08
19. Gavin Mannion (USA) Bontrager Livestrong Team
20. Mathias Frank (Sui) BMC Racing Team
21. Benjamin Day (Aus) UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling Team 03:11
22. Alessandro Bazzana (Ita) Team Type 1-Sanofi
23. Michael Creed (USA) Team Optum p/b Kelly Benefit Strategies
24. Freddy Orlando Piamonte Rodriguez (Col) EPM-Une
25. Francisco Jarley Colorado Hernandez (Col) EPM-Une 03:11
26. Chris Butler (USA) Champion System Pro Cycling Team 03:15
27. Kiel Reijnen (USA) Team Type 1-Sanofi 03:18
28. Dmitry Kozontchuk (Rus) RusVelo 03:23
29. Christopher Baldwin (USA) Bissell Cycling 03:25
30. Serghei Tvetcov (Mda) Team Exergy 03:31
31. Cameron Wurf (Aus) Champion System Pro Cycling Team 03:34
32. Ivan Santaromita (Ita) BMC Racing Team 03:37
33. Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Liquigas-Cannondale 03:47
34. Robigzon Leandro Oyola Oyola (Col) EPM-Une
35. Timothy Duggan (USA) Liquigas-Cannondale 03:58
36. Tom Zirbel (USA) Team Optum p/b Kelly Benefit Strategies 04:25
37. Sergey Firsanov (Rus) RusVelo
38. Jorge Camilo Castiblanco Cubides (Col) EPM-Une
39. Michael Schär (Sui) BMC Racing Team 04:36
40. Rafael Infantino Abreu (Col) EPM-Une
41. Rory Sutherland (Aus) UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling Team 04:39
42. George Hincapie (USA) BMC Racing Team
43. Georg Preidler (Aut) Team Type 1-Sanofi
44. Eduard Alexander Beltran Suarez (Col) EPM-Une 04:50
45. Andrew Bajadali (USA) Team Optum p/b Kelly Benefit Strategies 05:00
46. George Bennett (Nzl) RadioShack-Nissan 05:08
47. Benjamin King (USA) RadioShack-Nissan
48. Caleb Fairly (USA) Spidertech Powered By C10
49. Alexander Mironov (Rus) RusVelo
50. Michael Friedman (USA) Team Optum p/b Kelly Benefit Strategies
51. Roman Kreuziger (Cze) Astana Pro Team 06:42
52. Paolo Longo Borghini (Ita) Liquigas-Cannondale
53. Martin Velits (Svk) Omega Pharma-Quickstep
54. Daniel Summerhill (USA) UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling Team
55. Peter Velits (Svk) Omega Pharma-Quickstep
56. Evgeny Petrov (Rus) Astana Pro Team
57. Pengda Jiao (Chn) Champion System Pro Cycling Team
58. Fabio Aru (Ita) Astana Pro Team
59. Tanel Kangert (Est) Astana Pro Team
60. Taylor Phinney (USA) BMC Racing Team
61. Christopher Jones (USA) UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling Team
62. Valerio Agnoli (Ita) Liquigas-Cannondale
63. Alex Howes (USA) Garmin-Sharp
64. Gang Xu (Chn) Champion System Pro Cycling Team
65. Yevgeniy Nepomnyachshiy (Kaz) Astana Pro Team
66. Cadel Evans (Aus) BMC Racing Team
67. Julien El Fares (Fra) Team Type 1-Sanofi
68. Alexander Candelario (USA) Team Optum p/b Kelly Benefit Strategies
69. Rubens Bertogliati (Sui) Team Type 1-Sanofi
70. Javier Megias Leal (Esp) Team Type 1-Sanofi
71. Moreno Moser (Ita) Liquigas-Cannondale
72. Lachlan David Morton (Aus) Garmin-Sharp
73. Johann Tschopp (Sui) BMC Racing Team
74. Jeffry Louder (USA) UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling Team
75. Craig Lewis (USA) Champion System Pro Cycling Team
76. Robert Förster (Ger) UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling Team
77. Jeroen Hoorne (Bel) Omega Pharma-Quickstep
78. Joey Rosskopf (USA) Team Type 1-Sanofi
79. Andres Diaz Corrales (Col) Team Exergy 07:02
80. Ivan Basso (Ita) Liquigas-Cannondale 07:04
81. Hugo Houle (Can) Spidertech Powered By C10 08:10
82. Brian Vandborg (Den) Spidertech Powered By C10
83. Jake Keough (USA) UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling Team
84. Jeremy Vennell (Nzl) Bissell Cycling
85. Carter Jones (USA) Bissell Cycling
86. Arkimedes Arguelyes Rodriges (Rus) RusVelo
87. Julian Kyer (USA) Bissell Cycling
88. Ryan Eastman (USA) Bontrager Livestrong Team
89. Tyler Farrar (USA) Garmin-Sharp 09:04
90. David Zabriskie (USA) Garmin-Sharp
91. Nathan Haas (Aus) Garmin-Sharp
92. Ryan Roth (Can) Spidertech Powered By C10 09:07
93. James Oram (Nzl) Bontrager Livestrong Team
94. Ben Jacques-Maynes (USA) Bissell Cycling 15:13
95. Biao Liu (Chn) Champion System Pro Cycling Team
96. Sergey Klimov (Rus) RusVelo 15:13
97. Artem Ovechkin (Rus) RusVelo
98. Frank Kevin Pipp (USA) Bissell Cycling
99. Karl Menzies (Aus) UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling Team
100. Fred Rodriguez (USA) Team Exergy
101. Morgan Schmitt (USA) Team Exergy
102. Matt Cooke (USA) Team Exergy
103. Matt Brammeier (Irl) Omega Pharma-Quickstep 15:17
DNF Sam Johnson (USA) Team Exergy
DNF Edward King (USA) Liquigas-Cannondale
DNF Matthias Friedemann (Ger) Champion System Pro Cycling Team
DNF William Clarke (Aus) Champion System Pro Cycling Team
DNF Jesse Anthony (USA) Team Optum p/b Kelly Benefit Strategies
DNF Connor O’Leary (USA) Bontrager Livestrong Team
DNF Noe Gianetti (Sui) Team Exergy

GC after Stage 4

1. Tejay van Garderen (USA) BMC Racing Team 17:34:18
2. Christian Vande Velde (USA) Garmin-Sharp
3. Ivan Rovny (Rus) RusVelo 00:06
4. Levi Leipheimer (USA) Omega Pharma-Quickstep 00:08
5. Janez Brajkovic (Slo) Astana Pro Team 00:12
6. Joseph Lloyd Dombrowski (USA) Bontrager Livestrong Team
7. Ramiro Rincon Diaz (Col) EPM-Une 00:13
8. Thomas Danielson (USA) Garmin-Sharp 00:15
9. Damiano Caruso (Ita) Liquigas-Cannondale 00:17
10. Andreas Klöden (Ger) RadioShack-Nissan
11. Lucas Euser (USA) Spidertech Powered By C10
12. Matthew Busche (USA) RadioShack-Nissan
13. Peter Stetina (USA) Garmin-Sharp
14. Christopher Horner (USA) RadioShack-Nissan 00:22
15. Jakob Fuglsang (Den) RadioShack-Nissan 00:24
16. Gavin Mannion (USA) Bontrager Livestrong Team 00:31
17. Freddy Orlando Piamonte Rodriguez (Col) EPM-Une 00:34
18. Francisco Jarley Colorado Hernandez (Col) EPM-Une 00:42
19. Mathias Frank (Sui) BMC Racing Team 00:43
20. Javier Eduardo Gomez Pineda (Col) EPM-Une 00:54
21. Chris Butler (USA) Champion System Pro Cycling Team 01:00
22. Michael Creed (USA) Team Optum p/b Kelly Benefit Strategies 01:04
23. Timothy Duggan (USA) Liquigas-Cannondale 01:21
24. Christopher Baldwin (USA) Bissell Cycling 02:12
25. Rafael Infantino Abreu (Col) EPM-Une 02:35
26. George Bennett (Nzl) RadioShack-Nissan 02:43
27. Kiel Reijnen (USA) Team Type 1-Sanofi 02:58
28. Dmitry Kozontchuk (Rus) RusVelo
29. Benjamin Day (Aus) UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling Team 03:35
30. Robigzon Leandro Oyola Oyola (Col) EPM-Une 03:40
31. Cameron Wurf (Aus) Champion System Pro Cycling Team 03:41
32. Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Liquigas-Cannondale 04:14
33. Eduard Alexander Beltran Suarez (Col) EPM-Une 05:20
34. Andrew Bajadali (USA) Team Optum p/b Kelly Benefit Strategies 05:36
35. Johann Tschopp (Sui) BMC Racing Team 06:08
36. Alex Howes (USA) Garmin-Sharp 06:22
37. Roman Kreuziger (Cze) Astana Pro Team 07:16
38. Carter Jones (USA) Bissell Cycling 08:10
39. Jens Voigt (Ger) RadioShack-Nissan 08:52
40. Michael Friedman (USA) Team Optum p/b Kelly Benefit Strategies 09:35
41. Oliver Zaugg (Sui) RadioShack-Nissan 10:14
42. Craig Lewis (USA) Champion System Pro Cycling Team 11:25
43. Paolo Longo Borghini (Ita) Liquigas-Cannondale 13:58
44. Jorge Camilo Castiblanco Cubides (Col) EPM-Une 14:13
45. Rory Sutherland (Aus) UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling Team 14:34
46. George Hincapie (USA) BMC Racing Team 15:32
47. Michael Schär (Sui) BMC Racing Team 17:20
48. Alexander Candelario (USA) Team Optum p/b Kelly Benefit Strategies 19:06
49. Julian Kyer (USA) Bissell Cycling 22:10
50. Alexander Mironov (Rus) RusVelo 22:53
51. Peter Velits (Svk) Omega Pharma-Quickstep 23:07
52. Benjamin King (USA) RadioShack-Nissan 23:31
53. Tanel Kangert (Est) Astana Pro Team 23:37
54. Tom Zirbel (USA) Team Optum p/b Kelly Benefit Strategies 24:10
55. Pengda Jiao (Chn) Champion System Pro Cycling Team 24:42
56. Fred Rodriguez (USA) Team Exergy 25:14
57. Jeffry Louder (USA) UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling Team 25:48
58. Christopher Jones (USA) UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling Team 26:06
59. Serghei Tvetcov (Mda) Team Exergy 26:07
60. Alessandro Bazzana (Ita) Team Type 1-Sanofi 27:03
61. Caleb Fairly (USA) Spidertech Powered By C10 28:42
62. Ivan Santaromita (Ita) BMC Racing Team 29:08
63. Moreno Moser (Ita) Liquigas-Cannondale 30:10
64. Andres Diaz Corrales (Col) Team Exergy 31:28
65. Sergey Firsanov (Rus) RusVelo 31:37
66. Gang Xu (Chn) Champion System Pro Cycling Team 31:38
67. Martin Velits (Svk) Omega Pharma-Quickstep 33:25
68. Georg Preidler (Aut) Team Type 1-Sanofi 34:20
69. Tyler Farrar (USA) Garmin-Sharp 37:23
70. Javier Megias Leal (Esp) Team Type 1-Sanofi 39:06
71. Artem Ovechkin (Rus) RusVelo 39:19
72. Ben Jacques-Maynes (USA) Bissell Cycling 41:00
73. Evgeny Petrov (Rus) Astana Pro Team 41:45
74. Valerio Agnoli (Ita) Liquigas-Cannondale
75. Matt Cooke (USA) Team Exergy 41:46
76. Arkimedes Arguelyes Rodriges (Rus) RusVelo 43:13
77. Fabio Aru (Ita) Astana Pro Team 43:54
78. Nathan Haas (Aus) Garmin-Sharp 44:07
79. David Zabriskie (USA) Garmin-Sharp
80. Frank Kevin Pipp (USA) Bissell Cycling 44:35
81. Cadel Evans (Aus) BMC Racing Team 44:56
82. Taylor Phinney (USA) BMC Racing Team 47:34
83. Daniel Summerhill (USA) UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling Team 47:44
84. Julien El Fares (Fra) Team Type 1-Sanofi 48:03
85. Yevgeniy Nepomnyachshiy (Kaz) Astana Pro Team
86. Joey Rosskopf (USA) Team Type 1-Sanofi
87. Ivan Basso (Ita) Liquigas-Cannondale 48:25
88. Lachlan David Morton (Aus) Garmin-Sharp 48:54
89. Jeroen Hoorne (Bel) Omega Pharma-Quickstep 49:22
90. Jeremy Vennell (Nzl) Bissell Cycling 50:26
91. Rubens Bertogliati (Sui) Team Type 1-Sanofi 50:42
92. Jake Keough (USA) UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling Team 51:51
93. Hugo Houle (Can) Spidertech Powered By C10 52:10
94. Ryan Eastman (USA) Bontrager Livestrong Team
95. Brian Vandborg (Den) Spidertech Powered By C10
96. Ryan Roth (Can) Spidertech Powered By C10 53:07
97. Robert Förster (Ger) UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling Team 55:05
98. Matt Brammeier (Irl) Omega Pharma-Quickstep 56:38
99. Biao Liu (Chn) Champion System Pro Cycling Team 58:28
100. James Oram (Nzl) Bontrager Livestrong Team 59:13
101. Sergey Klimov (Rus) RusVelo
102. Morgan Schmitt (USA) Team Exergy
103. Karl Menzies (Aus) UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling Team