During Saturday’s pre-race press conference, BMC’s Rohan Dennis told reporters he was worried about Colorado’s thin air. Dennis, who hails from Australia, proclaimed that he expected to suffer in the high altitude. 

After two days, Dennis does not appear to be suffering. On Stage 1, he nearly held off the entire peloton into Steamboat Springs. And during Stage 2, Dennis pulled the entire length of Loveland Pass, dropping most of the riders in the process. While his BMC teammate Brent Bookwalter surged ahead for the stage win, Dennis took the unofficial award as the race’s strongest rider. 

Bookwalter now leads the race, with Dennis in second place, just six seconds down.

Dennis’ own teammates have laughed off his pre-race worrying about the altitude. Dennis, however, said that he is not playing possum.

“I was riding in Park City [Utah] a week ago climbing Guardsman Pass, and I was only pushing 330 watts and my heart rate was close to maximum,” Dennis said. “That’s how I was judging myself. Today I surprised myself.”

If Dennis’ performance is a bellwether of his strength, then he looks poised to win the Stage 5 time trial in Breckenridge. He’s also poised to challenge for victory at the UCI World Championships race in Richmond, Virginia. Dennis wants to win both the Individual and Team Time Trial races. 

“At worst I want a medal,” he said. 

Riders Head Up High before the USA Pro Challenge 
Jelly Belly’s Australian rider Lachlan Morton scored an impressive ride on Stage 2, finishing in 6ht place, just 25 seconds down. Morton said he knows Loveland Pass well. In the month before the USA Pro Challenge, Morton and his brother Angus left their home in Boulder and secluded themselves in a house in nearby Breckenridge. They rode between three to seven hours a day, he said, and trained on Loveland Pass multiple times.

“Boulder gets so crazy in the summer — we wanted to get away,” Morton said. “This is pretty much our favorite place to train.”

Morton said he followed a disciplined diet during the training block. He only drank one beer after his rides, he said. 

The Morton brothers weren’t the only riders to head uphill in the lead up to the race. Tucson native Travis McCabe of Team Smartstop lived in a cabin atop Arizona’s Mt. Lemmon for three weeks before the race. Each day, McCabe descended the hulking mountain, did his training ride, and then rode back uphill to his home away from home.

“Last year I didn’t focus enough on training at altitude and it was absolutely brutal,” McCabe said. “Those guys from Colorado know what it’s like, but for us from lower altitude, it’s a real shock to the system.”

Danny Summerhill, Man for the Breakaways
Fans often miss the formation of breakaways during The USA Pro Cycling Challenge. Riders attack relentlessly during the opening miles of each stage. The peloton chases many of these groups down, but eventually one group usually gets away.

Danny Summerhill of Team United Healthcare has already spent much of the race riding in breakaways. On Stage 1, Summerhill attacked during the opening miles until a breakaway finally got away with his teammate, Johnny Clarke. On Stage 2, Summerhill attacked up Rabbit Ears Pass, drawing out nine other riders. 

Summerhill said the success of a breakaway often depends on a combination of luck and timing. The riders in the break must also adopt an aggressive attitude. Summerhill said he regularly yells at his breakaway mates when they initially pull away from the peloton, to motivate them to keep the pace high.

“I probably yell too much — I’m like a drill sergeant,” Summerhill said. “I try to be positive. There are always a few obscenities.”

A Denver native, Summerhill credited his hometown status and his pre-race jitters for the aggressive riding.

“Honestly, I’m a stress cadet — I get riding and I’m antsy,” he said. “I want a jersey — either the mountains or the aggressive jersey.”

About the author:
Fred Dreier is a journalist living in Denver, Colorado. He has written about professional bicycle racing since 2004, and his work has appeared in a wide variety of magazines and newspapers, such as The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and USA Today. Dreier has covered the USA Pro Cycling Challenge since its debut in 2011. He regularly rides his bicycle on many of the roads used by the race.