Mathias Frank (BMC) set himself up for a high overall result in the USA Pro Challenge when the Swiss climber won today's 2nd stage in solo fashion. Having joined a 15-rider group, he dropped Lachlan Morton (Garmin-Sharp) on the final climb and finished the stage on his own while Morton held on for second and took over the leader's jersey.

BMC may have had a difficult season but since the finish of the Tour de France, the team has really started to clock up wins. Today it added further to its tally when Mathias Frank won the 2nd stage of the USA rPro Challenge.

The Swiss climber had entered a very strong 15-rider group when the day's early breakaway was neutralized at the midpoint stage. Initially dropped by Lachlan Morton, he made it back to the Australian with Lawson Craddock (Bontrager) and those three riders hit the final steep 15% climb together.

Morton was the first to accelerate but Frank had no trouble responding. Instead, the Swiss kicked on his own and crossed the top with a 5-second gap on his Australian chaser while Craddock was even further behind.

Frank held onto a 3-second lead as he crossed the line but the Swiss had been caught behind a split in the bunch sprint on stage 1 and so had started the stage 5 seconds behind Morton. Hence, the Australian took over the leader's jersey, less than two weeks after his stint as race leader in the Tour of Utah.

In what was a fabulous day for BMC, the team's pre-race captain Tejay Van Garderen was the only rider who could match an incredibly strong Peter Sagan (Cannondale) on the final climb and those two riders combined forces to cross the line with a 14-second time loss to Frank, having overtaken Craddock on the descent. Hence, BMC now have two climbers in prime position as the race heads towards the crucial stages 4 and 5.

First they have to overcome tomorrow's 3rd stage. The big Rabbit Ears Pass is located 34km from the finish but that climb is not overly steep and so a sprint finish from a decimated bunch or a breakaway win can be expected.

A difficult stage

The 203,4km stage from Aspen to Breckenridge was regarded as the first big test of the GC riders. From the start the riders had to climb the mighty Independence Pass whose top sits at more than 3600m, and the race finished with another giant climb, Hoosier Pass, a fast decent and finally the short 15% ramps up Boreas Pass just 4km from the finish.

There was a tactical battle going on right from the beginning as the big teams all wanted to have a rider in the early move. One of the first to get clear was Japanese Ryota Nishizono (Champion System) but he was quickly brought back.

A dangerous move

Instead, a very strong group containing Jens Voigt (Radioshack), Andrew Talansky (Garmin), Danny Pate (Sky), Tiago Machado (Radioshack), Mathias Frank (BMC), Lawrence Warbasse (BMC), Jesper Hansen (Saxo-Tinkoff), Alessandro De Marchi (Cannondale), Chris Jones, Jeffrey Louder (both UnitedHealthCare), and Marsh Cooper (Optum) went up the road but being way too dangerous, it was quickly reeled in by the peloton.

Michael Schär (BMC) launched a counterattack and a few kilometres further up Independence Pass, he was joined by Davila Lemus (Jelly Belly) and KOM leader Matt Cooke (Jamis). The latter's Jamis team had been very active in the early part to make sure that Cooke got into the day's move in an attempt to defend his jersey.

Battle for mountain points

Those three riders were allowed to build up a solid gap but the peloton kept riding a steady tempo that sent some riders out the back door. At the top of the highest mountain of the entire race, the main group was around 4 minutes behind the three leaders.

Cooke attacked to take maximum points  but Schär had also set his sights on the KOM jersey and managed to beat him in the sprint. Lemus was momentarily dropped but got back on the descent.

Two riders join the front group

As it headed down the wet descent, the peloton significantly slowed down, partly because of a crash that brought down a number of riders. David Millar (Garmin) and Kanstantsin Siutsou exploited the lull to go off the front and the two time trial specialists did a fantastic job to bridge across to the leaders. With 116km to go, a front quintet was formed while the peloton was now more than 7 minutes behind.

The main group upped the pace as they neared the bottom of the descent and started to reduce the gap with numerous teams contributing to the chase. At the first intermediate sprint with 103,2km to go, the advantage was down to just 3.55.

An organized chase

Radioshack and Cannondale both continued their fierce tempo and when the cap was down to less than a minute with 80km to go, Lemus decided it was time to go off on his own. Meanwhile, his former companions were picked up by the peloton from which new attacks were now launched.

Richie Porte (Sky) was the first to try and he was joined by Jens Voigt (Radioshack) and Damiano Caruso (Radioshack) and later also Stephen Cummings (BMC). The peloton had, however, no interest in allowing them any leeway and so they were reeled back in.

Attacks are launched

Instead, a big group got up the road as Rohan Dennis (Garmin-Sharp), Andy Schleck (Radioshack), Michael Rogers (Saxo-Tinkoff), Alessandro De Marchi (Cannondale), Kevin De Mesmaeker (Novo Nordisk), Jeffry Louder (UnitedHealthCare), Lucas Euser (UnitedHealthCare), Antoine Duchesne (Bontrager), Tyler Wren (Jamis), Carson Miller (Jamis), Serghei Tvetchov (Jelly Belly), Sean Mazich (Jelly Belly) and Ryan Anderson (Optum) made it up to Lemus. Once again that break was deemed too dangerous and moments later, it was once again back together.

With 61km to go, the decisive move was finally established. Dennis and Schleck were once again involved and this time they were joined by Morton, Tiago Machado (Radioshack), Frank, Greg Van Avermaet (BMC), Josh Edmondson (Sky), Bruno Pires (Saxo-Tinkoff), Davide Villella (Cannondale), Chad Beyer (Champion System), Chris Jones (UnitedHealthCare), Phil Gaimon (Bissell), Craddock, Tyler Wren (Jamis) and Jesse Anthony (Optum) while Jason McCartney (Bissell) was in lone pursuit in between that group and the peloton. With most teams represented up front, the peloton almost came to a standstill with the gap suddenly having ballooned to 4 minutes.

Saxo-Tinkoff leads the chase

Most of the big teams had genuine GC candidates in the break but Saxo-Tinkoff had missed out, Pires already being 44 seconds down on GC. Hence, it was left to the Danish team to chase as they started the long, gradual climb up towards Hoosier Pass.

Anders Lund, Timothy Duggan, Christopher Juul, Jesper Hansen and even Michael Rogers combined forces and quickly caught McCartney while Dennis sacrificed himself for teammate Morton in the break until finally dropping off. BMC, Beyer and Radioshack also showed plenty of interest in keeping the move going and so there were numerous riders contributing to the pace-setting.

The front group splits up

When the break hit the final steep section up towards the top of the climb, the gap was down to 1.30 and so Beyer and Craddock upped the pace. Edmondson, Anthony, Jones and Gaimon all fell off the pace and back into the peloton which was led by Rogers all the way up the climb.

Close to the top, Morton attacked on his own and nobody was able to respond. Craddock and Frank set off in pursuit and those two riders were just 15 seconds behind at the top of the climb.

UnitedHealthCare uses its strength

Morton decided to wait for his chasers and the front trio combined forces as they tried to keep their advantage which was now more than 2 minutes. Rogers and Hansen did the chase work on the first part of the descent but UnitedHealthCare soon decided to use their strength in numbers to further up the pace.

That acceleration saw the peloton catch the chasers at the bottom of the final steep climb and it was Jeffry Louder who continued to pace-setting as soon as the road started to point upwards. When he finished his work, the Colombia team continued the chase, the team hoping to see Darwin Atapuma mix it up with the best.

Frank is the strongest

In the front trio, Morton was the first to accelerate but it was Frank's counterattack that proved decisive. Craddock fell completely off the pace while Frank crested the summit 5 seconds ahead of his Morton.

In the peloton, Sagan decided to take things into his own hands in a final attempt to defend his jersey. Only van Garderen could keep up with the Slovakian while Tom Danielson (Garmin) and Darwin Atapuma (Colombia) formed a duo a little further behind.

An exciting pursuit

The descent developed into an exciting pursuit. Frank lost time to Sagan and van Garderen but they never managed to catch the lone leader who took a solo win. Morton limited his time loss to just 3 seconds to take over the leader's jersey while Sagan beat van Garderen to take 3rd, the two haven overtaken Craddock on the descent.

Danielson and Atapuma followed a little further behind while the peloton containing most of the remaining favourites lost 44 seconds to Frank.

Result:

1. Mathias Frank 5.05.19

2. Lachlan Morton +0.03

3. Peter Sagan +0.14

4. Tejay Van Garderen

5. Lawson Craddock +0.21

6. Tom Danielson  +0.32

7. Darwin Atapuma +0.33

8. Damiano Caruso

9. Michael Schär +0.44

10. George Bennett

General classification:

1. Lachlan Morton 7.31.22

2. Mathias Frank +0.02

3. Peter Sagan +0.11

4. Tejay Van Garderen

5. Lawson Craddock +0.18

6. Tom Danielson  +0.29

7. Darwin Atapuma +0.35

8. Damiano Caruso +0.41

9. Chris Baldwin

10. Gregory Brenes

Points classification;

1. Peter Sagan 25

2. Greg Van Avermaet 17

3. Mathias Frank 15

4. Tejay Van Gaderen 13

5. Lachlan Morton 12

Mountains classification:

1. Matt Cooke 26

2. Lachlan Morton 20

3. Mathias Frank 17

4. Tyler Wren 15

5. Lawson Craddock 13

Youth classification:

1. Lachlan Morton 7.31.22

2. Peter Sagan +0.11

3. Lawson Craddock +0.18

4. George Bennett +0.46

5. Tanner Putt +0.59

Teams classification:

1. BMC 22.35.00

2. Garmin-Sharp +0.21

3. Radioshack +1.27

4. Bontrager

5. UnitedHealthCare +1.32