USA Pro Challenge starting in Steamboat Springs

Stage 2 of the USA Pro Challenge will take riders from Steamboat Springs to Arapahoe Basin.

The cyclists will climb Rabbit Ears Pass out of Steamboat Springs and ride south through Kremmling, Silverthorne and Dillon.

Fremont Pass if first on the agenda Wednesday with a sprint through Leadville. The week-long race covers 865 miles, passes through 16 Colorado cities, and climbs more than 42,000 feet.

A fast descent into Aspen and a quick lap through town for the Main Street finish will wrap up Stage 3.

“It was kind of what I like to call “a Davis Phinney special”, where you get dropped and then come back and win”, he said, referring to his father, Davis Phinney, the most winning cyclist in USA history and multi-time Tour de France stage victor.

The biggest impact to local traffic this week from the USA Pro Challenge will be on Independence Pass. That event will begin on Friday and last for three days. The time trial course includes a climb up Moonstone Road and a rapid descent of Boreas Pass. The route will feature climbs to Carter Lake and the infamous Rist Canyon along with the rollers along Horsetooth Reservoir.

Comcast does not offer Universal Sports Network, the channel carrying the majority of coverage of the cycling race in Colorado, which started Monday and will finish Sunday in Denver, according to the Denver Post.

It starts with a loop through Golden before the 4-mile climb of Lookout Mountain before another pass through Golden.

The women: When the Coors Classic was discontinued in 1988, women’s participation in the premier cycling competition went with it. However, in the fifth incarnation of the USA Pro Challenge, the women are back, and the quality of the field shows that they’re here to stay.

The race will have its traditional ending in Denver and this year’s finale is a repeat of the final stage in 2011.