USA Pro Cycling Challenge

In the first episode of the USA Pro Challenge's "Spotlight" series, Citizen Pictures profiles Levi Leipheimer at home in Santa Rosa, California

The penultimate stage of the 2012 USA Pro Cycling Challenge will finish on Flagstaff Mountain above Boulder, Colorado

Leipheimer will have a hard time defending his title against fellow Americans

“We tried to set up the whole course so that it provides a good experience for the fans and they can visit more than one stage”

The 2012 edition of the USA Pro Cycling Challenge will cover some familiar ground and take in some new territory, organizers announced on Thursday.

BOULDER, Colo. (VN) – The USA Pro Cycling Challenge will return with an upgrade in 2012 after the UCI last week awarded the event 2.HC status. The second-year Colorado race will upgrade to the highest registration level short of the World Tour and will run August 20-26.

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Christian Vande Velde on his USAPCC

Leipheimer on his USAPCC win

USAPCC stage 6 finish-line analysis

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How Pearl Izumi's Speed Shop made sublimated clothing for the USA PCC category leaders

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Casey B. Gibson catches all the action in the spirited finale to the inaugural USA Pro Cycling Challenge.

1. Daniel OSS, Liquigas-Cannondale, at 2. Elia VIVIANI, Liquigas-Cannondale, at s.t. 3. Fred RODRIGUEZ, Team Exergy, at s.t. 4. Daniel SUMMERHILL, Team Garmin-Cervelo, at s.t. 5. Frank PIPP, Bissell Pro Cycling, at 00:02 6. Levi Leipheimer, Team RadioShack, at 00:02 7. Sergio HENAO MONTOYA, Gobernacion De Antioquia-Indeportes Antiquia, at 00:02 8. Rory SUTHERLAND, Unitedhealthcare Presented By Maxxis, at 00:02 9. Daniel LLOYD, Team Garmin-Cervelo, at 00:02 10. George Hincapie, BMC Racing Team

Levi Leipheimer (RadioShack) sewed up his overall victory in the inaugural USA Pro Cycling Challenge on Sunday as Daniel Oss (Liquigas-Cannondale) won the final stage before a packed house in downtown Denver.

Editor's Note: Throughout the 2011 USA Pro Cycling Challenge, VeloNews.com will be publishing and analyzing SRM power data from UnitedHealthcare’s general classification star Rory Sutherland, who was seventh at the AMGEN Tour of California earlier this year. TrainingPeaks is providing the race data to us, as well as making Sutherland’s interactive race file available to the public.

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Andy Schleck 'sad to lose the race in the final 300 meters'

Leipheimer's 'another day closer to Denver'

1. Elia VIVIANI, Liquigas-Cannondale, in 4:04:31 2. Jaime CASTANEDA, UNE-EPM, at s.t. 3. Daniel OSS, Liquigas-Cannondale, at s.t. 4. Dennis VAN WINDEN, Rabobank Cycling Team, at s.t. 5. Jeffry LOUDER, BMC Racing Team, at s.t.

Liquigas-Cannondale's Elia Viviani did it again on Saturday, winning stage 5 of the USA Pro Cycling Challenge in Breckenridge, Colorado.

STEAMBOAT SPRINGS, Colo. (VN) – The Liquigas-Cannondale train lined up 20km from downtown Steamboat Springs Thursday with a young Italian on the back. When he stormed through the middle of Bike Town USA for a fierce win, Elia Viviani stormed onto the radar for American cycling fans and the Italian world championships team.

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USAPCC stage 4 finish-line analysis

Levi Leipheimer expects attacks Saturday

Stage 4 winner Viviani - did he win a trip to Copenhagen?

VIDEO: Christian Vande Velde, looking for a way to win in Colorado

" I suffered in fifth position on Gesink's wheel. Then Levi said, "go, Ben." Way above my limit, brain oxygen-deprived, my vision narrowed. I emptied myself pulling back the attack in three minutes. The world spun, as I regained my breath and settled into a comfortable pace, leaving Rovny and Deignan to fend for Levi. "

STEAMBOAT SPRINGS, Colo. (VN) — Liquigas-Cannondale's 22 year old Italian speedster Elia Viviani won Friday's stage 4 of the 2011 USA Pro Cycling Challenge, outsprinting a large field in this cowboy ski town that went bike crazy for the occasion.

Stage

• 1. Elia VIVIANI, Liquigas-Cannondale, in 2:58:14
• 2. Michael MORKOV, Saxo Bank Sungard, at s.t.
• 3. Kenny Robert VAN HUMMEL, Skil-Shimano, at s.t.
• 4. Robert FÖRSTER, Unitedhealthcare Presented By Maxxis, at s.t.
• 5. Dennis VAN WINDEN, Rabobank Cycling Team, at s.t.

• 1. Levi Leipheimer, Team RadioShack, in 13:28:43
• 2. Christian Vande Velde, Team Garmin-Cervelo, at 00:11
• 3. Tejay Van Garderen, HTC-Highroad, at 00:17
• 4. Tom DANIELSON, Team Garmin-Cervelo, at 00:21
• 5. George Hincapie, BMC Racing Team, at 00:53

It was gastroenteritis, not food poisoning, that flattened Tom Danielson going into Thursday's Vail time trial, according to the Garmin-Cervélo team doctor.

Colorado gallery: 12,000 feet with Brad Kaminski

Power analysis: Rory Sutherland’s Vail time trial

VAIL, Colo. (VN) – Ten miles. A vertical gain of 1,100 feet. Two completely different riders and two completely different equipment choices ended with a .58-second difference between Levi Leipheimer (RadioShack) and Christian Vande Velde (Garmin-Cervélo). The two Americans sit atop the GC after the third stage on Vail Pass, but how exactly did such different circumstances lead to such a narrow stage win for the former?

VAIL, Colo. (VN) — Tom Danielson met his match, or perhaps his bug, Thursday in Vail when an overnight bout with food poisoning cut into what he had hoped would be a stage win and leader’s jersey celebration. Danielson (Garmin-Cervélo) lost 33 seconds to Levi Leipheimer (RadioShack) and Christian Vande Velde (Garmin-Cervélo) in the 10-mile uphill time trial that suited each of them perfectly.

Bike and gear choices for the Vail time trial

Stage 3

• 1. Levi Leipheimer, Team RadioShack, 25:47.08
• 2. Christian Vandevelde, Garmin-Cervélo, s.t.
• 3. Rafael Infantino Abreu, Epm-Une, at 0:04
• 4. Tom Danielson, Garmin-Cervélo, at 0:33
• 5. Stef Clement, Rabobank Cycling Team, at 0:40

GC

• 1. Levi Leipheimer, Team RadioShack, 10:30:29
• 2. Christian Vandevelde, Garmin-Cervélo, at 0:11
• 3. Tejay Van Garderen, HTC-Highroad, at 0:17
• 4. Tom Danielson, Garmin-Cervélo, at 0:21
• 5. George Hincapie, BMC Racing Team, at 0:53

Levi Leipheimer (RadioShack) regained the overall lead of the inaugural USA Pro Cycling Classic on Thursday after winning the 10-mile Vail individual time trial.

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VIDEO: Finish-line analysis in Aspen

ASPEN, Colo. (VN) — After three days of racing, five Americans stand atop the general classification standings at the inaugural 2011 USA Pro Cycling Challenge, separated by 45 seconds with the decisive Vail time trial on the horizon.

ASPEN, Colo. (VN) — With a rough cattle grate and thousands of fans lining the high mountain roads in central Colorado Wednesday a number of riders — and race staff — hit the ground.

ASPEN, Colo. (VN) — Twenty miles downhill in the rain turned the 2011 USA Pro Cycling Challenge on its head Wednesday and with two climbs topping out over 12,000 feet, no one expected it. HTC-Highroad’s 23-year-old American Tejay Van Garderen was as surprised as anyone when he ended up the biggest winner, taking enough time on a dispatched Levi Leipheimer (RadioShack) to pull the overall leader’s jersey in Aspen.

ASPEN, Colo. (VN) — BMC's veteran George Hincapie won the queen stage of the first 2011 USA Pro Cycling Challenge on Wednesday, winning out of a six-man breakaway that formed on the tricky descent of Independence Pass.

Stage

• 1. George HINCAPIE, BMC Racing Team, in 5:26:10
• 2. Tejay VAN GARDEREN, HTC-Highroad, at s.t.
• 3. Tom DANIELSON, Team Garmin-Cervelo, at s.t.
• 4. Eduard BELTRAN SUAREZ, Une-Epm, at s.t.
• 5. Janier ACEVEDO CALLE, Gobernacion De Antioquia-Indeportes Antiquia, at s.t.

• 1. Tejay VAN GARDEREN, HTC-Highroad, in 10:04:08
• 2. George HINCAPIE, BMC Racing Team, at 00:16
• 3. Tom DANIELSON, Team Garmin-Cervelo, at 00:22
• 4. Levi LEIPHEIMER, Team RadioShack, at 00:34
• 5. Christian VANDEVELDE, Team Garmin-Cervelo, at 00:45

How did the USA Pro Challenge attract the Tour podium?

MOUNT CRESTED BUTTE, Colo. (VN) — He entered the favorite and Levi Leipheimer stamped his name on the USA Pro Cycling Challenge with a stage 1 win Tuesday here. Leipheimer (RadioShack) said Wednesday night that the finale gave him confidence against the underdog Colombians from Gobernacion and EPM-UNE, but that the race would be difficult to control.

CRESTED BUTTE, Colo. (VN) — The motivation running through the Garmin-Cervélo squad to win the inaugural USA Pro Cycling Challenge runs wide and deep.

CRESTED BUTTE, Colo. (VN) — Claiming that the only other times he’d been close to 10,000 feet elevation was “in an airplane,” Leopard-Trek’s Fränk Schleck said he was “surprised — very surprised” by his third-place finish in Crested Butte Tuesday on the opening road stage of the 2011 USA Pro Cycling Challenge.

Erik Slack’s Team Exergy Felt F1. An unusual selection of parts.

Stage 1

• 1. Levi Leipheimer (USA) Team RadioShack in 4:29:22
• 2. Sergio Luis Henao Montoya (Col) Gobernacion De Antioquia - Indeportes Antiquia 0:00:04
• 3. Fränk Schleck (Lux) Leopard Trek 0:00:07
• 4. Cadel Evans (Aus) BMC Racing Team
• 5. Christian Vande Velde (USA) Team Garmin-Cervelo

• 1. Levi Leipheimer (USA) Team RadioShack 4:37:47
• 2. Christian Vande Velde (USA) Team Garmin-Cervelo 0:00:11
• 3. Tejay Van Garderen (USA) HTC-Highroad 0:00:17
• 4. Cadel Evans (Aus) BMC Racing Team
• 5. Robert Gesink (Ned) Rabobank Cycling Team 0:00:30

BOULDER, Colo. (VN) — The ongoing 2011 USA Pro Cycling Challenge traces its inspiration back to the Coors Classic (1980-1988), and its predecessor, the Red Zinger Classic (1975-1979). But stage racing in the Colorado Rockies dates back even earlier, at least to the 1965 North American Bicycle Championships.

Nick Legan ferrets out some tech tidbits from the USAPCC prologue

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Cannondale's new aero Slice. Ready for Basso's use.