Peter Sagan (Cannondale) took his third stage win in the USA Pro Challenge when he emerged as the fastest in the sprint that would decide the stage. The victory was a real team win as his teammates had to chase the entire stage to reel in a very strong 15-rider group on a very fast day that saw Tejay van Garderen (BMC) comfortably defend his leader's jersey.

Peter Sagan continues his domination of North American racing. Today they Slovakian took his third stage win in this year's USA Pro Challenge in a sprint on a very fast and hard day in Colorado.

Sagan may have been the one to step onto the podium but the victory was as much due to his team as it was due to his own fast sprinting. A strong 15-rider group containing some serious horsepower threatened to spoil the sprinters' party and the Cannondale team had a very hard day in the saddle as they tried to reel in the escapees.

When more teams joined the chase inside the final 20km, the Italian team managed to neutralize the break inside the final 10km. All was, however, not safe as the team had used up most of its domestiques and attacks were constantly launched.

Rory Sutherland (Saxo-Tinkoff) made his move with 700m to go, and the Australian appeared as though he would take a stage win for the second year in a row. Only a huge work by Kanstantsin Siutsou (Sky) and a long sprint from Greg Van Avermaet (BMC) reeled in Sutherland just 200m from the line and then all was set for a Sagan win. The Slovakian powered clear of the BMC sprinter who was also overtaken by Luka Mezgec (Argos) just before the line.

Tejay van Garderen finished safely in the bunch and so defended his overall lead ahead of tomorrow's final stage. With just a flat circuit race in downtown Denver remaining, only bad luck can prevent van Garderen from taking his second North American stage race win of the season.

A fast start

The penultimate stage of the race was held on a 185,4km course that took the riders from the start in Loveland into the Rocky Mountains and a mighty climb up Devil's Gulch. However, the ascent was preceded by along flat downhill and a mostly flan run to the finish and so a sprint finish was expected.

Many riders planned to change the script though and so the race was off to an extremely fast start. One of the first riders to attack was Chad Beyer (Champion System) and while the American had no luck, he move was countered by several other riders.

Froome tries his hand

None other than Chris Froome (Sky) decided to try a move alongside Tom Zirbel (Bissell) but they too were brought back. That was the signal for his trusted lieutenant Richie Porte to move clear and he was joined by David Millar (Garmin) to form a very strong duo.

They were quickly reeled in but Porte refused to give up. He went again, this time dragging along a very strong group containing also Andrew Talansky (Garmin), Michael Rogers (Saxo-Tinkoff), Martijn Verschoor (Novo Nordisk), Antonie Duchesne (Bontrager), Luis Romero (Jamis) and Alex Hagman (Jelly Belly). When Thomas Dekker (Garmin), Danny Pate (Sky), Andy Schleck (Radioshack), Sutherland, Damiano Caruso (Cannondale), Craig Lewis (Champion System), Lucas Euser (UnitedHealthCare), Jeffry Louder (UnitedHealthcare), Nic Hamilton (Jelly Belly) and Jesse Anthony (Optum) also bridge across, the move became too dangerous and so it was closed down.

More attacks

More attacks followed but nothing was successful until Rogers made another attempt. He was joined by Josh Edmondson (Sky), Louder, Anthony and teammate Timothy Duggan and those 5 riders gradually built up a gap.

Fabio Duarte (Colombia) also bridged across and a little later Dekker, Talansky, Tiago Machado (Radioshack), Bruno Pires (Saxo-Tinkoff), Simon Geschke (Argos), Javier Megias Leal (Novo Nordisk), Chris Jones (UnitedHealthCare), Jonathan McCarthy (Bissel) and Kirk Carlsen (Bissel) followed. Hence, a 15-rider group was now clear and they quickly had more than a minute on the peloton.

Cannondale starts the chase

Cannondale immediately sensed the danger and so they moved to the front with Juraj Sagan, Alessandro De Marchi and Nariyuki Masuda doing much of the early work. Machado was only 6 minutes down on GC and so BMC could not allow the group too much leeway, adding Julien Taramarcaz to the team of chasers.

The stage involved into a pursuit between the two main groups. Up the day's major climb, the break appeared to be the strongest and at the top, they were a little more than 2 minutes ahead.

A dangerous move

Cannondale and BMC continued to share the duties but there rhythm was broken when they passed a small climb on the plateau that followed on top of the major ascent. Porte launched an attack and drew along 5th placed Lachlan Morton (Garmin).

BMC was quick to react, sending 2nd Mathias Frank into the break. Hence, they didn't face a day-long chase as Frank was now the best-placed rider in the break.

Sagan joins the move

Porte fell off the pace while Cannondale tried to avoid being isolated with the chase work, launching Damiano Caruso up the road. The Italian was unable to get across and when Janier Acevedo (Jamis) and George Bennett (Radioshack) set off in pursuit, Sagan decided to join them.

Those three riders caught Morton and Frank but BMC decided to bring the anarchy to an end. Van Avermaet moved to the front to up the pace, bring back the break and discourage any further attacks.

The race settled back into its rhythm with Cannondale and BMC sharing the chase duties while the gap now started to gradually come down. With 38km to go, the front group was, however, still 1.40 clear despite Cannondale really giving it their all.

The break splits up

A couple of smaller climbs followed in this part of the course. Machado broke the harmony in the front group by going clear on one of these ramps, dragging along Carlsen.

Geschke and Duarte bridged across but the German had no intention of slowing down. He continued past the front duo and was now the lone leader of the race.

A group is formed

The chasing trio was caught and instead Rogers, Edmondson, Dekker and Megias joined Geschke on the front. Those 5 riders started to distance their former companions while Pires and Jones set off in pursuit.

The peloton started to pick up many of the escapees and continued their fierce chase. On another small ramp, Geschke fell off the pace while Caruso decided to really string out the peloton up the steep slopes.

More teams start to chase

The peloton exploded to pieces but many managed to rejoin the main group when it once again slowed down. Sagan now only had De Marchi and Caruso to support him and the breakaway appeared to have a solid chance of making it to the finish.

However, Optum, Argos and Jelly Belly decided to join forces with Cannondale and BMC and the added horsepower was enough to bring the gap down to just 35 seconds with 15km to go. Sensing that the break was doomed, Megias attacked and only Rogers wanted to join him. Moments later it was, however, all back together.

An aggressive finale

Argos-Shimano was now in control and they quickly reeled in Christopher Juul-Jensen (Saxo-Tinkoff) when the dane tried an attack. Lucas Euser (UnitedHealthCare) was the next to try but like Juul - who refused to give up - and Jarlinson Pantano (Colombia), he had little success.

Argos-Shimano was in control when they passed the flamme rouge but their plans were almost foiled when Sutherland made his move. Siutsout took a big turn to reduce the gap and then Van Avermaet opened his sprint. He made it up to the lone Australian, only to see Sagan power across the line to take his third win of the race.

Result;

1. Peter Sagan 4.01.33

2. Luka Mezgec

3. Greg Van Avermaet

4. Edwin Avila

5. Alessandro Bazzana

6. Andrea Peron

7. Rory Sutherland

8. Fred Rodriguez

9. Michael Olsson

10. Robinson Chalapud

General classification:

1. Tejay Van Garderen 20.11.33

2. Mathias Frank +1.30

3. Tom Danielson +1.42

4. Janier Acevedo +2.10

5. Lachlan Morton +2.34

6. Gregory Brenes +3.25

7. Lawson Craddock +3.42

8. George Bennett +3.58

9. Rory Sutherland +4.11

10. Philip Deignan +4.12