USA Pro Cycling Challenge

The 6 stage, USA Pro Cycling Challenge came and went, but not without a significant amount of fanfare.  Several top Tour de France riders came out which makes me wonder which teams are fully represented at the Vuelta de Espana.  The Schleck brothers, Cadel Evans and George Hincapie all came to town.  Team RadioShack’s Levi Leipheimer took the yellow jersey and hometown Team Garmin-Cervelo’s Christian VandeVelde took second.

Versus television had excellent coverage with a pre-view and wrap up.   The website also provided live feeds.  I did not venture up to the mountains to take part in the festivities, but I did take the family to a corner of Stage 6 to see the peloton come through.  As it was less than 10 miles from my house, I would have felt foolish for not going out.

Cycling spectators are great and there were about 400 people out to see the riders for all of about 30 seconds.  The hoopla of the support vehicles and law enforcement caused more stir than the riders.  We waited about 30 minutes for the riders to come through which is about my kid’s maximum attention span.

I would have liked to follow more of the event on television or blogs.  I am really glad that Colorado was able to host a world class event and hope the riders and teams got the US exposure they deserve.