To the victor go the spoils. Patrick Gretch won USA Pro Cycling Challenge prologue on Monday, Aug. 22 in Colorado Springs and received victory kisses along with the race leader's yellow jersey. (Photo by Bryan Oller Photography)

USA PRO CYCLING CHALLENGE COVERAGE

 

STAGE 6

Leipheimer rides away with yellow jersey

STAGE 5

Viviani captures second consecutive stage win

STAGE 4 

Elia Viviani sprints to victory in Steamboat Springs

STAGE 3

Levi wins Vail time trial, reclaims yellow jersey

STAGE 2

Big George sprints to win in tough mountain stage

STAGE 1

Levi finds his legs on final climb to Mt. Crested Butte

From Randi Hitchcock, UpaDowna - Time Trial: From the photos of UpaDowna

PROLOGUE

STORY: HTC Highroad's Patrck Gretch wins prologue in Colorado Springs

PHOTOS: USA Pro Cycling Challenge, Gallery 1

PHOTOS: USA Pro Cycling Challenge, Gallery 2

PHOTOS: Gallery from Randy Lindblad

PHOTOS: UltraRob's gallery

VIDEO: Tour de France champ Cadel Evans blows through the Garden of the Gods

VIDEO: Andy Schleck puts the hammer down

A lot of hard work goes into planning a major professional bike race, but you have to figure Chris Carmichael had some fun choosing the prologue time trial route for the USA Pro Cycling Challenge.
Carmichael is the owner of Carmichael Training Systems and the coach of seven-time Tour de France Champion Lance Armstrong. He was also a pro cyclist and he knows what works in a bike race.
On Aug. 22, many of the world's top riders will begin Colorado's new stage race in the Garden of the Gods. They'll finish in downtown Colorado Springs.

 

Map of prologue race route here.

"This is just about the perfect way to highlight the best  of Colorado Springs," said Carmichael, who is leading the local race organizing committee. "Racing in the Garden of the Gods, in the shadow of Pikes Peak, and finishing about a half a block from the new U.S. Olympic Committee headquarters, that's what I wanted and it all worked out." Read the story here.

Race organizers change name from Quiznos Pro Challenge to USA Pro Cycling Challenge
Versus to broadcast Quiznos Pro Challenge
Volunteer for the Quiznos Pro Challenge

Professional cycling is coming to Colorado Springs. Organizers of the Quiznos Pro Challenge bike race have announce that Colorado Springs will host the prologue stage on Monday, Aug. 22, 2011. Read more here.

VIDEO: Chris Carmichael talks about Colorado Springs hosting prologue stage
VIDEO: Shannon Sharpe loves cycling and he's jazzed to have a pro race coming to Colorado

The 2011 Quiznos Pro Challenge Stages
August 22 – Prologue time trial, Colorado Springs
August 23 – Stage 1, Salida to Crested Butte, mountain-top finish
August 24 – Stage 2, Gunnison to Aspen, mountain stage
August 25 – Stage 3, Vail, time trial, former Coors Classic stage
August 26 – Stage 4, Avon to Steamboat Springs
August 27 – Stage 5, Steamboat Springs to Breckenridge
August 28 – Stage 6, Golden to Denver
Exact routes to be determined.

From CyclingNews.com Michael Creed is hoping that an early start to his winter training will re-ignite his career. Creed, 29, who grew up racing in Colorado Springs, has signed on with US-based Continental team Kelly Benefit Strategies in September of this year and has been training in Lucca, Italy, in a bid to rediscover his racing appetite.
Two races that Creed and his teammates will be hoping for invites from are the Amgen Tour of California and the newly created Quiznos Pro Challenge in Colorado.
"I'm sure the biggest races they're looking to get into are the Amgen Tour of California and the Quiznos Pro Challenge. The Colorado race would be huge just because the prologue is in my home town," Creed said. More here...

Louisville, Colo., company Pearl Izumi lands USA Pro Cycling Challenge Sponsorship
USA Pro Cycling Challenge website

Denver Post report: Quiznos Pro Challenge was close to riding off cliff

From the Denver Post

By John Henderson

If the inaugural Quiznos Pro Challenge bike race were an actual bike in the race, it wasn't careening off the track toward a high cliff but it seemed headed there.

Thanks to the Feb. 9 announcement that veteran race director Shawn Hunter is coming aboard as co-director, the Quiznos race is back in the peloton.

If Hunter hasn't come to the rescue, he at least adds badly needed credibility to a foundering Quiznos organizational team. Who headed the organizational team four months ago?

A wedding planner.

Race president Joe Moller came to the Quiznos Pro Challenge from Joe Moller Events, a Los Angeles-based event-organizing company specializing in weddings.

Very early his credibility — not to mention the race's — took a beating. During the ballyhooed race announcement on the steps of the capitol on Aug. 4, Moller said, "It's about time we got great international cycling back in the great state of California."

While race catalysts Gov. Bill Ritter and Lance Armstrong gave speeches to a throng of fans, Moller was seen behind them texting someone.

Moller was gone by October, replaced by Quiznos Corp. PR director Ellen Kramer, who is trained to promote sandwiches, not to organize bike races.

Like a mechanic racing through the mountains to a cyclist with a flat, Hunter arrived in the nick of time.

Read more here...