USA Pro Cycling Challenge

For the final 4:55 of Sutherland’s ride he was able to churn out 426 watts, averaging 35.2 mph. Over the entire time trial he averaged 414 watts, for an average speed of 35.8 mph.

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (VN) — Cadel Evans rode into Colorado Springs on the tail of a whirlwind publicity tour following his Tour de France win last month. After finishing ninth in the prologue Monday, Evans was satisfied, but stopped short of predicting big things when the race heads uphill Tuesday.

A look at the new lightweight SRAM cassette that Levi Leipheimer used in the USAPCC prologue

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (VN) — There haven’t been many instances during his 15-year career that Christian Vande Velde has ridden a downhill prologue — and even fewer times that he’s started off a time trial stage as one of the first 12 riders out of the start house.

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (VN) — HTC-Highroad's men's team, in the final half year of its existence, continues to post top results. On a sweltering day with Pikes Peak as a backdrop, the team's 24-year-old German time trial specialist, Patrick Gretsch, powered to a win here Monday on the largely downhill 5.2-mile prologue of the first USA Pro Cycling Challenge.

USA Pro Cycling Challenge prologue starting times

Cadel Evans dismisses reports of a rift in the BMC Racing team over world road champion Thor Hushovd's signing and says the Norwegian's ability to perform in the spring races would take some pressure off of him early in the year.

Billed as a rematch between Tour champion Cadel Evans and runner-up Andy Schleck, the USA Pro Cycling Challenge is the first time the Tour’s top riders have crossed paths since the final podium presentation on the Champs-Élysées.

Who are the big names in the smaller teams you should look for on the Colorado roads next week? These riders didn’t feature in France in July, but could very well win stages or even contend in the overall in Colorado in August.

Editor's Note: Earlier this year VeloNews tech editor Nick Legan rode with the Rapha Continental team to scout the stages of the 2011 USA Pro Cycling Challenge in Colorado. VeloNews and Rapha partnered to produce videos about the stages. Today we are sharing the fourth video from the ride, focusing on the final stage, from Golden to Denver.

VeloNews has made its home here since 1989. We know the state inside and out and with the USA Pro Cycling Challenge just days away, we thought we would fill you in on our choices for coffee and eats across the state.

Redant, who left the Omega Pharma-Lotto team late in 2010 to join the failed Pegasus Racing project, will join UHC as European team director beginning with the USA Pro Cycling Challenge next week.

2011 USA Pro Cycling Challenge teams

Earlier this year VeloNews tech editor Nick Legan rode with the Rapha Continental team to scout the stages of the 2011 USA Pro Cycling Challenge in Colorado. VeloNews and Rapha partnered to produce videos about the stages. Today we are sharing the fourth video from the ride, focusing on stage 5, from Steamboat Springs to Breckenridge (see map below the video). Watch for the rest of the videos to be posted over the next week and a half.

BOULDER, Colo. (VN) — Nearly 140 riders will start the USA Pro Cycling Challenge next Monday, but only one can win. Here’s a look at five that pose the biggest threat to take victory in Denver.

SALT LAKE CITY – Recovery time is over. Cadel Evans is ready to get back to work.

Check out Brian Holcombe's author page.

Editor's Note: Earlier this year VeloNews tech editor Nick Legan rode with the Rapha Continental team to scout the stages of the 2011 USA Pro Cycling Challenge in Colorado. VeloNews and Rapha partnered to produce videos about the stages. In today's video, the crew tours the Moots bike factory in Steamboat Springs, which hosts the finish of stage 4 and the start of stage 5. Watch for the rest of the videos to be posted over the next week.

BOULDER, Colo, (VN) — Tour de France champion Cadel Evans and his fellow podium finishers Andy and Fränk Schleck will headline the inaugural USA Pro Cycling Challenge later this month. Organizers announced the BMC Racing and Leopard-Trek riders as part of the preliminary startlist Tuesday.

Check out Nick Legan's author page.

Earlier this year VeloNews tech editor Nick Legan rode with the Rapha Continental team to scout the stages of the 2011 USA Pro Cycling Challenge in Colorado. VeloNews and Rapha partnered to produce videos about the stages. Earlier this week we posted the first video and Nick's article about the ride. Today we are sharing the video about stage 1, from Salida to Crested Butte.

BOULDER, Colo. (VN) — Tom Danielson has waited his entire career for a major stage race in Colorado and the Garmin-Cervélo rider thinks he has the genetics and experience at altitude to contend for the overall win in the inaugural USA Pro Cycling Challenge.

Taylor Phinney will skip the opportunity to inherit the leader’s jersey his father Davis last held at the Coors Classic in 1988. Phinney’s BMC Racing team confirmed Thursday that the neo-pro would start his first grand tour, the Vuelta a Expaña, this month, instead of the USA Pro Cycling Challenge.

Alberto Contador (Saxo Bank-Sungard) will ride a criterium in the hometown of Bjarne Riis on August 12, but whether he'll race again this season remains up in the air.

I moved to Colorado ten years ago, but it took five guys from Portland (OK, one of them lives in New York City, but he’s originally from PDX) riding black and pink bikes to get me out to explore my adopted home state by bicycle.

SAN SEBASTIAN, Spain (VN) - Leopard-Trek sport director Kim Andersen said the team has nothing to regret about its performance at the 2011 Tour de France.

BOULDER, Colorado (VN) - The maillot jaune of the Tour de France will feature on the roads of Colorado next month when Cadel Evans starts the USA Pro Cycling Challenge. Race officials have confirmed that Evans (BMC Racing) will take part in the inaugural event, which begins August 22 in Colorado Springs.

The UCI is requiring organizers of the inaugural USA Pro Cycling Challenge to reshuffle its team lineup to honor a rule prohibiting teams under common ownership from participating in the same event.

USA Pro Cycling Challenge organizers on Monday unveiled the race jerseys for the inaugural event, set for August 22-28.

Check out Brian Holcombe's author page.

Nick Legan checks in from the Dirty Kanza 200 and the Rapha Continental tour of Colorado.

BOULDER, Colorado (VN) - Two 12,000-plus-foot mountain passes. An iconic, uphill time trial above 8,000 feet. Two perfect ramps for late attacks in Crested Butte and Breckenridge. Likely bunch finishes in Steamboat Springs and Denver.

BOULDER, Colo. (VN) — The upcoming major stage race in Colorado now has its third title since plans were first made public last year.

FRANCORCHAMPS, Belgium (VN) – Chris Baldwin is back to earning a paycheck and just in time to build up for a race he’s dreamt about his entire career. A week after missing out on the overall at the Redlands Classic by one second, Bissell Pro Cycling added the two-time national time trial champion to their roster Friday.

DENVER, Colorado (VN) – In a reshuffle following the arrival of co-chairman Shawn Hunter to the management team of the Quiznos Pro Challenge in January, the race will assume a new name going forward. The inaugural USA Pro Cycling Challenge will also air on NBC and Versus networks in August as part of a multimedia distribution package. The final stage, which finishes at the Colorado State Capitol, will air live on NBC.

The Denver Post, citing an anonymous source, is reporting that NBC will broadcast the final stage of this year's Quiznos Pro Challenge stage race.

The Tour of the Moon will not rise again, at least not in the Quiznos Pro Challenge. The U.S. Parks Service on Monday denied a request to hold a stage in the Colorado National Monument, near Grand Junction.

The Quiznos Pro Challenge stage race announced five more teams for the August event in Colorado. The five new names are in addition to the five teams announced in December.

The owners of the Quiznos sandwich chain and the Quiznos Pro Challenge stage race, have invested an additional $10 million in the event, they announced Friday.

Now that Retirement 2.0 has come, what did Lance Armstrong’s comeback mean for big time American racing? And can the Amgen Tour of California and Quiznos Pro Challenge survive in his absence? One way to answer the question is to look at the effect his presence, or absence, has made on previous events.

Restructuring at the Quiznos Pro Challenge continued Wednesday when the organizers behind the new Colorado stage race announced the hiring of former AEG president Shawn Hunter as co-chairman.

The Colorado Monument says thanks, but no thanks, as Grand Junction hopes to revive a Coors Classic stage — the Tour of the Moon — for the 2012 edition of the Quiznos Pro Challenge.

FORT COLLINS, Colo. (VN)_ Five of the world’s top 18 squads will take to the roads of Colorado for the inaugural Quiznos Pro Challenge in 2011. Race organizers announced today that Team Radioshack, Liquigas-Cannondale, HTC-HighRoad, Garmin-Cervelo and BMC Racing will start the week-long, UCI 2.1 stage race on August 22.

UPDATED: More details for two of the most difficult stages of the 2011 Quiznos Pro Challenge

Even at 50, Alexi Grewal is deadly serious about mounting a comeback

Colorado's Quiznos Pro Challenge stage race is considering bids from host cities: On the menu? Maybe a monster stage in the Sawatch Mountains and the return of the East Vail time trial

Organizers are hoping to announce a route next month at Interbike. They say classic routes for climbers and sprinters are in the works.

While at first glance Colorado's stage race appears to tread on Utah's, officials from both races say there is no problem.

Seven-time Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong and Colorado governor Bill Ritter announce the Quiznos Pro Challenge, a new Colorado stage race for August 2011.